June 28, 2009

Looking out the window of the now-landing plane, Gerald enthusiastically hums a lullaby. A lullaby that his mother would frequently sing to him when putting him to sleep or comforting him after his father had beaten him. He was worried about the plane shaking as it touched down, but this lullaby gave him a strange sense of warmth and calm.

Waiting for the bus near the airports exit, Maria asked his son.

“Pretty hot, right?”

“A bit” replied Gerald,

He was sweating enough to be compared to someone who just took a bath, his clothes were wet, his hair dripping and his throat felt dry but nonetheless, he felt refreshed. This was a new chapter for him, away from his stressful, painful past thus he felt liberated.

‘Am I taking this too lightly? I don’t feel anxious at all, in fact I feel light, perhaps light enough to fly. Sure it is a bit hot but this is due to the weather unlike the burning sensation of an alcohol pressed to a wound or the nightmare inducing fevers I had, this is nothing, I pretty much look forward to living here’ Gerald thought, as he look forward to living in this new environment.

“But don’t worry, my home town is much colder as it is situated at the mountains” Maria assured Gerald, worried that his son might be experiencing discomfort.

“ah its fine, don’t worry mom, I like it here” replied Gerald, addressing his mom’s needless worry.

-

“Manong, para po” yelled one of the bus’s passenger.

*Manong term used for older brother, “Para” means to stop a moving public transport, “po” used to show respect.

Awoken by the sudden yelling. Gerald noticed his mom Maria looking out the window, smiling, curious at to what she was staring at, Gerald peeked, what he saw was a bunch of crudely built houses sticking together, the houses were not made of concrete, but a bunch of plywood and iron sheets. Though what caught his attention was a woman surrounded by children probably in her eighteenth or twentieth years of age comforting a crying child as he tripped and hurt his legs, she reminded him of her mothers kindness.

“She’s pretty don’t you think” asked his mother, noticing that his son was ogling at the lady with a brown complexion, silky black hair tied in a ponytail, and a cute height.

Surprised at his mother’s sudden question, Gerald blushed and looked away.

“Yup, obviously kind too” he replied. Scratching his cheeks, Gerald pulled his hood down and slept yet again.

“my mother would often take me here to sell the vegetables, we grew” said Maria feeling nostalgic, recalling the days she spent with her mother and regretting the days she couldn’t, Burdened with the guilt of suddenly leaving her family, she felt bitter with herself, the least she could have done was contact them when she settled but to no avail her husband had prevented her from doing so.

‘No point regretting it now, I was young back then’ she thought comforting herself.

She found her reason as disgusting, but she was young at the time, easily influenced by her emotions, impulsive, and truly believed that love overcomes all, which is total nonsense because his son Gerald never had the quality of life he deserved. Aware of her mistakes, She caressed Gerald’s head.

“Wake up Gerald, it’s our stop”

-

Gerald noticed that they were surrounded by a lot of pine trees, he could see one or two lines of trees but beyond that was pure darkness, and the houses were much farther apart than the neighborhood he was used to. After thirty minutes of walking, they came to a halt in front of a two-story house that appears to be an antique but still tidy, with the lights turned on, implying that someone is inside. Maria stood for a good five minutes in front of the door, composing herself; she is worried as to how her mother will react.

‘What do I do if she tells us to leave?' Maria pondered, having no plans and still as impulsive as she had always been.

Gerald noticed that mosquitoes were starting to pile on her mothers un moving legs, concerned about the dangers of mosquito bites, he stepped up to knock on the door.

Maria panicked and dropped her bag. “Gerald!!??” She said softly with a hint of anger, She hurriedly picked her bag as the door opened, slowly looking up she saw an old woman’s wrinkly toes, thin legs, wrinkly fingers, thin arms, and now staring at her mother’s old wrinkly face accompanied by tear filled eyes and white hair.

“Maria?…oh my god, it’s you…. My daughter…my baby,” the elderly woman wailed, stepping forward to hug Maria.

Maria hugged her mother back tightly, recalling all the memories she had with her from when she was a child to the day she left. She remembered how her mother would brush her hair, take her to the park, scold her, kiss her on the forehead, and how her mother held tightly to her as she turns her back on her. Attacked by the feeling of guilt, the now-crying Maria uttered the words “I’m sorry” not once but until her voice felt hoarse and her throat became dry.

“its fine, I never hated you for it” replied Anna, caressing her daughters hair.

Gerald touched by his mother and grandmothers reunion, spreads his arms to join the hug.

-

Maria dozed off on the sofa, still clinging to her mother. Gerald, who had just finished unpacking, was looking around the house, when her grandmother called out to him.

“Your name is Gerald right” inquired Anna, smiling at Gerald.

“Ye-yes po, grandma” replied Gerald, he stuttered a bit as he was not familiar with the use of Po and Opo.

*”Po” and “Opo” are words that Filipinos are using to show their respect when talking to elders and/or to someone that they respect.

“You must have had it rough considering how childish your mother is” said Anna seemingly want to comfort his grandson and to build a good impression.

“She is a great mother Po” replied Gerald as he smiled at her grandma, not wanting to worry her ,he omitted the fact that they suffered years of abuse from his father.

Now putting a blanket on her daughter who fell asleep on the sofa Anna looked at Gerald.

“You should take a rest too apo, you can use the left room upstairs” she said.

*Apo is Filipino term for grandson.

“Okay po, goodnight grandma” he replied as he made his way towards the room her grandmother told him to rest at, he noticed that the room had her mothers pictures on the wall and a bunch of teddy bears aligned at the top of the bookshelf implying that this was his mothers room, what surprised him was that all this time the room was kept tidy, not even a spec of dust to be seen.

‘Mother was really loved' he thought as he laid down and closed his eyes.