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Alona’s Quest for the Golden Tree
Chapter 15: Different Person
A GOOD skipping and running around was enough to lift someone’s spirit.
As I walked home, the destruction that the storm brought didn’t look as dangerous and miserable as before.
It was easier to be a kid really. It was happier.
Until I fall down on my feet.
I swore silently.
Trying to repair my tumbling dignity, I stood up. No one seemed to pay me any attention. Everyone’s minding their own business.
Good, I thought, sighing my relief.
A group of men were drinking in the corner, pitchers of tuba and bottles of gin in front of them. They were laughing boisterously.
I scrunched my nose.
I know them, especially the one on the left side. The tall thin man, wearing a face hewed with sharp cheekbones and red eyes, was Clara’s father. Drinking, that was his favorite pastime. He never did anything else.
One time, his wife nagged him about it. I was supposed to go play with Ate Rachel, but I immediately retreated back and concealed myself when I heard them arguing. I was careful not to be discovered. It was embarrassing to be caught listening to their conversation.
“Utang na loob, go to work! Your children are crying from hunger! You lazy bastard, get up!” Ate Rachel’s mother nagged, swearing loudly. She hurled words that were not fit for the ears of little children.
“Shut up woman!” growled Ate Rachel’s father.
Ate Rachel’s mother did not shut up.Â
Something heavy shattered.
I chanced a look inside.
Ate Rachel’s mother, her eyes full of fear, was running away from her husband.
The tall thin man ran after her, fists balled firmly, surprisingly strong. And violent.
I looked away at once.
From that moment on, I feared Ate Rachel’s father.
The circle of men was wolf-whistling. Manang Gelai’s daughter, pretty in her short skirt and pink blouse, just walked in.
I quickened my pace.
WHEN KUYA Habagat came home, he was a different person. For sure, he was no longer a roaring tiger. In fact, he was so tame and so docile I thought it was weird.
“What’s up with Kuya?”
Nanay was folding clothes and piling them up neatly on one side.
She sighed, then frowned, but didn’t answer.
I shrugged. There was a cold war, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.
I sat down, determined to mind my own business. I spread my homework before me. A blood-curdling scream pierced the silence.
I’m kidding.
But it sure was close to that.
Nanay jumped up, looking for the source of noise. Kuya Maliksi, who had one foot inside the door, ran inside. I jerked up.
It was Kuya Habagat who uttered the horrified shrieks. Nanay pushed the bathroom door open, but Kuya Habagat pushed back. Whatever it was, he seemed to be preventing Nanay from knowing.
“What’s wrong with you?”Â
He didn’t answer.
“Open up! What are you doing there?”
Kuya Habagat reluctantly opened a crack and, to my utter horror, wailed.
Uh huh, I chuckled, that was bad.
“What happened?” asked Nanay, worried.
Intrigued, I elongated my neck to see what’s happening more properly. Nanay, faster than a bullet, went in too fast and adeptly pushed me out of the way.
She gasped when she saw what was wrong.
I couldn’t see it. How unfair.
“Maliksi,” called Nanay, in a voice full of chagrin. “Come here a moment.”
“What? Why? No!” reacted Kuya Habagat’s protesting voice.
“Just a moment!” was Kuya Maliksi’s shouted reply.
He sprinted so fast I thought he was a lightning bolt. I followed him, and found the door closed in my face. Again.
Then, when he saw what was wrong, he laughed. So hard, uninhibitedly.
 “What? What’s wrong?” I demanded from beyond the door, cross.
Kuya Maliksi laughed harder.
“Shut up, Kuya!” retorted Kuya Habagat.
“Shut up, Maliksi,” commanded Nanay.
Kuya Maliksi ignored them both.
“I did tell you to stay far away from nuno sa punso!” Nanay rebuked.
“Why?” I demanded, getting totally annoyed.
“Alona!” called Nanay.
“Yes!” I replied, fast.
“Go and get Albularyong Kadyo!”
Albularyong Kadyo was the resident healer of the village.
I don’t want to. I want to know what’s happening, like right now.
“Alona, you hear me?”
I was reluctant, but I answered anyway. “Po?”
“Go! Now!”
I grimaced. Fuming, I jumped down to call the person she told me to get.
(c) 2016, Herbel Santiago