A distant relative of Adna had been crying. She is the owner of the store where Papa Mar purchased all the needs for food in his house and would have his pension check paid to her. She was a very business minded woman having her course in Bachelor of Science in Commerce. Her father was the first degree cousin of Mom Rona. She had a very close friend who was a good dressmaker who worked with Aunt Felip. She used to come to the house and she baked Adna’s birthday cake without an icing. Still the cake was very tasty. She liked having pen pal from foreign countries, in fact one family had came to visit. A whole family from America and then one of the daughters who was same age with Adna became a friend to Aunt Felip’s family especially Adna. They stayed quite long in the house of the distant relative of Adna. Her pen pal writing also had lead her to find her partner in life, a widower from Australia. The old man about sixty years old, and that dressmaker who was in her early 50’s came to Adna’s house. She told Adna that her pen pal now her fiance has a son whom she liked to be introduced to Adna for possible relationship. Al was already there always visiting Adna at their house, Adna was so unhappy with what she did. She was the only one who liked to have pen pal because she is already in her midlife age, but why she also look for Adna’s match? ‘’I did not ask her that favor,’’ she told Aunt Felip. On the other hand, the distant relative of Adna who was 41 years old had told Adna, ‘’she found me a pen pal, a black American, i will give him to you Adna.’’ Adna answered with angry tone, ‘’what???? Are you both having a sound mind?’’ Adna that time was only 17 years old. Before her 17th birthday, Al and Adna were already sweethearts. March 5 they became sweethearts then March 28 was Adna’s 17th birthday. She then told Adna, that black American is coming to see her and then she already is committed to a widower much older than her but a great businessman from another island. They are getting married, but that man have many children. The dressmaker who worked with Aunt Felip thought she has control with Adna because she baked cake on her birthday.

When the distant relative became pregnant, at the age of 42, they asked Aunt Felip to prepare dinner as they would come to the house together with the dressmaker. While eating, they used to discuss about Adna and her boyfriend Al. Adna just kept listening but did not say anything. She really liked Adna to matched with her pen pal’s son. Aunt Felip, Papa Mar, and Mom Rona as well as Aunt Feliz, were just closing their mouths. They very well know Adna’s character. For sure Adna would not speak with them when she gets mad. The dressmaker went to Australia, their wedding was held there. A year later they came back and then she brought a pair of earrings for Adna. When they came to the house, Al was also there and then Adna just spent a few minutes time for them, she received the earrings and then she showed it to Al, the gift is worthless. There is no way she could convince my mind by giving me gifts. One time. Adna was surprised, she received a letter from Australia, not an old man and there was an introduction about himself and then his work is from the tin factory. Mom Rona who was already bedridden laughed. She remembered Adna who went with her friend to gather empty cans of sardines, they brought empty sack to place their gathered empty cans of sardines and milk. Adna’’s friend would have it sold at the junk shop because they had no money. Seeing no cans in that place, Adna brought her friend to her house and went straight to a glass cabinet. She took one of the glass jars of Mom Rona, it was a big glass jar. She brought it outside and told her friend to help her break the glass by throwing a stone into it. That could be sold at the junk shop, the broken glass. The price was per kilo, so Adna told her friend, if you need some more, i would get another glass jar inside the glass cabinet of Mom Rona. When Mom Rona knew about it as well as Papa Mar, they did not scold Adna, they felt so much love for Adna because she tried that kind of experience, picking up empty cans to be sold. This had happened also to Lex when she did not like her preparatory teacher. She told Adna, ‘’mom, when i consume my notebook, i will stop going to school and i will just pick up empty cans and sell it to the junk shop.’’ Adna who checked Lex notebook was alarmed, only three leaves of the notebook were left. Adna then went straight to the school and talked with the preparatory teacher. Adna learned Lex did not like her because she was not as pretty and as kind as her nursery teacher in the other school. Lex saw how she handled her classmates by hitting them with sticks. The teacher became aware of it so she tried her best to be kind to her students.

Adna understood why Mom Rona laughed with the job of that man from Australia who wrote to Adna was working at tin factory. It was because of her experience in trying to help her friend looked for empty cans and have it sold at the junk shop and together with Mom Rona’s glass jars, which was intentionally broken just to be sold too per kilo and gave the money to her friend. Adna also saved money and gave it to her friend to prepare foods for the birthday of her father. Azia has the same heart with Adna, she always help her friends too. Adna went close to the distant relative who looked so thin and the way she dress is really not presentable. She told Adna, ‘’help me sell my house, it cost a multi million. Adna asked her, ‘’why sell your house?’’ She then answered, ‘’i still have my four door apartment, we will just move there. I need to pay a debt and that amount of the house, i will only have very little amount left.’’ Adna then learned that her only son is an addict and incur huge amount of debts. He could no longer recognize her as a mother. Adna suggested to her to have her son in a rehabilitation center so that he could still have a chance to have a new life. Adna then tried to find a buyer, but later she knew that the house was already mortgage to someone else and he will just add a little amount left to complete the price of the house. She also told Adna about her dressmaker friend, whom she wanted to see when she visited the country, but she stayed away. According to her, ‘’she might be afraid that i would borrow money from her.’’ A year after, Adna learned that the dressmaker now lives in a home for the aged, too old already. Adna said to Al, ‘’she wanted to arrange my life, but she was not able to foresee and prepare a beautiful life for herself.’’ Another secret of life is ‘’Go for your dreams, do not let anyone or anything stop you’’.