Have you any experience with what I call ‘ravaging’ rain?
It happened to me last night after my family and other friends had our sumptuous dinner at Dencio’s at MetroStar Mall, Las Piñas. We were celebrating the despedidas (send-off party) for Jenjen, a close family friend, and my niece Layla and brother-in-law Joby who would all depart for San Francisco the following day. My just-married brother, Icko and her dashingly gorgeous wife, Mariam, also came. Mariam brought along with her her parents Mommy Gemma and Daddy Ali for the occasion. Icko and Mariam’s ninong at the wedding, Tito Noel, who was not able to attend the Boracay festivities due to time constraints, offered to treat us all for this night of camaraderie and renewed friendships. My dearest wife Joy, who also missed the wedding celebrations because she’s still nursing Ivan with her immunity-boosting breast milk, came to celebrate with the group for the first time. My mother-in-law, Nanay Filomena, was left at home to look after my two-month old son.
After we’re done at Dencio’s, somebody pitched that we’re going to a KTV bar sans the kids. This is understandable, because you know karaoke bars, they are always
pa-morningans, and somebody suggested that the kids should stay at our house first in Sterling Life Homes and they’ll be fetched once the adults were done with their vocal histrionics later.
It rained just that morning. Florita. Here in Metro Manila, classes were suspended not so much due to the hard winds or rainfall but more on the eventuality of flashfloods interrupting motorists and commuters on their way home.
But that very moment when we were peacefully walking the stretch from
Dencio’s up to Music Box 25 along Zapote-Alabang road, the dark skies seemed to have stood still. The weather was peaceful. There were rustles of winds, but they caress the dampness on your cheeks more like zephyrs. In the muted silence, you can only hear my daughter Belle and niece Alizza’s intermittent coughs.
Belle, in the few days that she got to spend time with my niece Layla, seemed to have developed this Older Ate-Younger Sister syndrome whenever they were together. In an instant, they became best friends. Of course just like any other kids, there were times when they get sore with each other. “Why is she such a whiner?” Layla griped at me one time. “Because you’re her Ate, and she’s your little sister.” “She’s not little, she’s five!”
Every time I took hold of her arm to keep her by my side, Belle would repel me. She’d say, “
Huwag mo kong hawakin, ano ba, I want to be with Ate Layla.” Did she rightfully sense that it was her Ate Layla’s eve of departure for the States?
At one time, my sister Ate Jhe heard Belle saying that to me, and on the dot she told me that I should not allow her to talk to me like that.
While we were on the way, I told Belle that Tita Jhe told me that I should tell her not to shout at me. Belle looked me in the eye, with fear in her eyes. A little mention of Tita Jhe’s name, or Tito Joby’s name, would almost make her shiver. She became quiet.
When we reached the entrance of Music Box 25, we forgot that we should bring the kids first back home. Feeling very tired and sleepy myself, (remember I’m a lark and not an owl), I volunteered to take the kids home via a tricycle ride because we have parked the car almost 200 meters away while the Tri-cab terminal is just a short walk across the main road. But I’ll have a hard time bringing three kids with me, so Icko suggested that he would take the car and just fetch us. But Ate Jhe suggested that I should accompany Dennies, her husband to the parking lot and we could take the kids back home.
When Denn and I were walking toward the parking lot, I felt a raindrop on my cheek. Just a friendly ‘
ambon’, I said to myself. We were about 50 meters away from Music Box 25. So that makes it 150 meters more to our car.
But I underestimated my judgment call.
Hindi siya ambon lang.
The hard rain started to fall mercilessly without warning. No trifles. No installments. The real thing.
Denn and I jerked from our leisurely strides and started to run for – for what? For cover? There is absolutely none in the middle of an open street!
The rains continued their relentless pursuits. Gushing. Fast. Cruel. Like big falling waves that threaten to make million clones of me if I were only Gizmo.
I had to admit I was at a loss. I couldn’t see clearly because there no wipers in the windshield of my myopic eyeglasses! Dennies had run fast for the car parked somewhere. I continued to run just the straightway, even forgetting where exactly did we park our van due to the congested parking space.
In that moment, I felt like Tim Robbins in
The Shawshank Redemption, raising my arms to the heavens, and deep inside my heart, I was pleading for it to stop. On the other hand, the stinging blows the rains scourged on my fully clothed body seemed to force me to remember the cold showers that I use to have whenever I felt sloppy in the morning, forcing it on my skin so it would boost my energy drive.
That hadn’t happened to me since I was in the third grade. That time, commuting was a new thing to me. After school, while I ran for home after boarding off the jeepney, the rains fell hard unannounced, almost pushing my lithe body to the mud of the soil. Feeling very afraid and helpless, I was crying hard, calling my mother’s name while my tears continue to mix with the downpour on my face.
Last night, what happened was short of unforgivable for me. For am I the type who would wait to sit out in the shed till the rains subside? For am I the type who would not go to the office, rain or shine, without my protector umbrella inside my backpack? For am I not the type who would always wait for the dust to settle before I enter a frenzied road?
Enough of this thinking, I practically whispered to myself. This is an adventure! However minuscule, this is an adventure! For when was the last time I played, really, in the rain?
That moment’s movie in my mind seemed to make me the incarnate of Gene Kelly while he danced with a lamppost in
‘Singin In The Rain. I can empathize with the jilted concubine who celebrates her freedom while basking in the rain in
The Last Emperor. And for a brief moment there, I sang Barry Manilow’s anthem of making it through the rain.
Or just like the mushy “
It’s My Turn”, I let the rain pour. Because I know that that rain ain’t gonna hurt me.
Upon reaching the car, I saw Denn catching his breath.
“
Hiningal ako d’un!”I was soaking wet myself, thanks to my slow motion in reaching the car.
Denn told me,
“Pinabalik nila tayo para maulanan.” And then he laughed.
When we got back to Music Box 25, the kids were firmly settled inside. And the adults were starting to sing with the microphones. I was not even sure if they saw our sorry state. Or couldn’t they care less? Anyway, I forced on myself, what just transpired behind the cameras was just a jolly good old adventure. I couldn’t help but sigh: So this is what’s this for? We had to go home awhile, shower, change our wet clothes and just go back to the KTV bar when we’re dry and back to our sober selves.
On hindsight, I know that what happened last night was a night to be savored.
When we bade our goodbyes, I saw Ate Jhe in one corner, with tears streaming down her cheeks. She asked herself, within our earshot, “
Bakit ba ako umiiyak?”I offered her my answer: “
Nakaka-empathize
ka kasi kay Jenjen.”
She just nodded her head.
Jenjen, the despedida girl, stood still at one corner. She is 26 years old. And this is the first time that she’ll leave the nest of her home and fly her fledgling wings alone in a foreign land. She was bidding her adieus to her family, her beloved cousins. She tried to put up a brave front, but her countenance would betray her.
Bon Voyage. God Bless You. We Love You. We will miss you.
They all sounded the same. They were all uttered with wobbly trepidation. But through the injuries of loss, I believe that they will serve their purpose to somebody out front about to go. Hopefully the purpose would be that of comfort and peace.
I love the rain!
Labels: mi familia, musings, personal essays
