Buy books here. Donate through Paypal or here. 🧡🌸
#MahalagaBooks #Children
Alona’s Quest for the Golden Tree
Chaper 16: Nuno sa Punso’s Curse
BY NIGHT, THE situation was no longer comical. It was serious.
“What happened?” asked Joseph. He saw me as I fetched Albularyong Kadyo and followed me home.
I shrugged.
He followed Albularyong Kadyo inside the house but found the door closed on his face, too.
“What was that all about?” he demanded, turning to me.
I pressed my finger to my lips, signaling for quiet. With a meaningful mischievous look, I directed him towards the sizeable gap between the window shutter. Joseph was reluctant to follow. I waved my hand at him, more urgently. He conceded.
The two of us contented ourselves to peering behind the gap.
Kuya Habagat was lying prostrate in the wooden bed, naked except for the blanket that covered half of his lower body. He looked like he was in great pain. Maybe very embarrassed too.
Albularyong Kadyo danced around him, as if in a trance. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw him danced. Albularyong Kadyo was such an eccentric character. He wore leaves twined around his forehead, looking like an Earth God. Except he looked too comical to be one. He whipped up strange concoctions and uttered strange incantations.
Joseph elbowed me. Hard. That shut me up.
“Lumayo kayo! Nuno, nuno! Katok katok! Aaaaallisss!”
He chanted, growing stronger by the minute.
He was holding branches of leaves and sweeping the air hither and dither. He was chasing bad spirits away, apparently.
Nanay nibbled on her lower lip, worry etched in her face.
All of a sudden…
Albularyong Kadyo stopped. He closed his eyes, his whole body shaking and convulsing.
Joseph and I looked at each other, puzzled.
Just as soon as he started, he stopped. Albularyong Kadyo opened his eyes.
“What did you see, Apo?”
Albularyong Kadyo chuckled tragically.
“Iho,” he said, “did you by any chance offend a nuno?”
A nuno dwelt inside the punso. They were magical little dwarves who liked to annoy the people who would foolishly disturb their punso. They used to be the guardians of the earth. As earth started turning into pavements, they became useless. Playing with local folks had become their hobby.
“Why!? What did you see?” asked Nanay.
Albularyong Kadyo chuckled. If he was going for the mysterious, he’s mastering it down pat.
Instead of answering, he busied himself into preparing a bowl, where he poured a glass of water.
We looked on, still puzzled.
“Have you any spoon?”
A spoon was presented almost immediately. Albularyong Kadyo accepted it without looking.
He chanted again, uttering whispered incantations. He lit the candle and tipped it into the bowl. The candle drippings started to form a shape, a figure. It started to look like a disfigured, obese little kid.
“Aha!” he yelled triumphantly.
All of us jumped. Joseph bumped his head into the window banister. It was my turn to elbow him.
“What is it Apo?” asked Nanay, peering beyond Albularyong Kadyo’s arms to see the figure clearly.
“It’s a nuno!”
All of us visibly gasped.
“This is the nuno that your son offended!” he pointed at the disfigured figure at the bowl. “This one is particularly vengeful he wanted to cut your son’s ability to reproduce.”
He looked at Kuya Habagat’s problematic part, and visibly smirked.
“Hurry! Appease him! That is the only way to get the nuno’s curse back. That’s the only way to cure your son!”
“How can we do that?”
“Go to the nuno’s dwelling. Bring a thousand coins, and a basket of freshly picked fruits!”
Nay looked troubled.
“Where could we get a thousand coins? Is there any other way to cure him? One that is not too expensive?”
Albularyong Kadyo shook his head, tragically.
“Alas, that process was necessary,” he insisted. “That is the only way to coax the nuno to take his curse back.”
Nanay bit her lip.
Albularyong Kadyo sighed.
“Don’t worry, I will whip some herbal remedy in the meantime. Give it to him every four hours. For now, press hot compress on the, er, affected area.”
Before he went out, he pressed some herbs on Kuya Habagat’s lower body. Kuya Habagat drank some of his home-brewed remedy, too. After Albularyong Kadyo’s ministrations, Kuya Habagat fell into a deep sleep.
IN THE middle of the night, Kuya Habagat’s condition worsened.
We woke up to hear him shrieking with pain. Nanay got up quickly.
“Nay,” said Kuya Maliksi. “Habagat’s looking terrible.”
Nay looked frozen. She was momentarily stunned.
“What do you mean terrible?”
“He’s burning up,” replied Kuya Maliksi.
Nanay blinked.
I woke up, alarmed.
“I should have followed Albularyong Kadyo. I should have appeased the nuno. This is all my fault!” she burst out.
Nanay got up and started for the door.
Kuya Maliksi caught her arm.
“Where are you going, Nay?”
“I’m going to the forest,” she said. “I’m going to beg the nuno to take his curse off my son!”
Nanay was hysterical.
“Nay,” called Kuya Maliksi, “get a grip!”
“If that didn’t work –” she shook her head, thinking aloud. “I’d got to gather herbs. There were some really effective herbs in the forest. And then —”
She shut up, as if she couldn’t think of anything else.
“Nay!” shouted Kuya Maliksi. “It’s dangerous in the forest. There are lots of snakes. They might bite you!”
“I’ll bite what bites me,” Nanay snapped.
A mother was always the most fearless when their cubs were threatened.
“Nay, what are you talking about?” demanded Kuya Maliksi. “Habagat’s burning up. We should bring him to the hospital!”
Nanay blinked again.
“Nay, I’ll borrow Manong Daluyong’s carabao,” – Manong Daluyong lived five houses away from us – “And we’ll hitch the kanga. We’ll bring Kuya Habagat to the hospital!”
The hospital was really just a health center, the Dimasalang Health Center. It was miles away from our place. We need a sturdy form of transportation if we want to go there fast.
Nanay looked like she wanted to protest. It was dangerous for a little girl to run around in the middle of the night. Her protestation died in her throat when Kuya Habagat moaned in agony.
I jumped down, and ran fast.
“MANONG DALUYONG, Manong Daluyong!” I knocked, almost breaking down the door.
There was a moment of silent confusion. Then…
“Who is that dratted thing?” said a groggy voice. “If you don’t want to sleep, let me sleep. Damn it!”
“It’s Alona, Manay Hayag,” I answered.
Manay Hayag was Manong Daluyong’s not-so-nice wife.
The door opened. Manay Hayag looked irritable. There were rollers in her hair. She was wearing her sleeping clothes.
“I’m sorry, Manay Hayag,” I said urgently. “Can we borrow your carabao? It’s an emergency!”
Her eyes looked at me sharply.
“What do you mean?”
“My brother is sick,” I answered, quite unable to contain the pleading out of my voice.
“Who?” asked Manay Hayag, insensitive to the urgency of my voice.
“Kuya Habagat.”
“What happened?”
I wish she would stop interviewing me. Every minute counts.
“Long story, Manay,” I answered.
“Start from the beginning,” she answered, devoid of empathy.
I positively snorted in exasperation.
“Hayag, leave the kid be,” said a voice from the inside, one that was calmer, gentler. Her husband, Manong Daluyong was limping towards us carrying a torch. He had suffered from stroke so half of his body moved like a robot. Still, he was limping quite fast. “Alona, did you say you wanted to borrow Puti?”
Puti was the name of the carabao.
I sighed my relief.
Manay Hayag scowled and shot her husband a dirty look. That smelled trouble.
Manong Daluyong conveniently ignored his wife’s dirty looks.
“Yes, po,” I answered immediately. “We need to bring Kuya Habagat to the hospital.”
“Follow me, Alona. The carabao was sleeping over there.”
I followed in his wake.
The white beast, irritated at being woken up, looked sour. It deliberated what would convey its mood more succinctly, a kick or a bite?
“Hooo! Ahooo! Calm down,” whispered Manong Daluyong, calm yet firm. No doubt he knew what was going on inside the mind of his great white beast and stopped it in time. “Stop being difficult. Shhhh!”
The carabao seemed to sigh. Resigned, it got up, and switched its tail to and fro in a signal of attentiveness.
“Easy, easy,” Manong Daluyong instructed. Expertly, he hitched the cart at its back.
Swiftly, he rode the animal and used a piece of rope to guide the carabao. I rode on the cart.
Nanay and Kuya Maliksi were waiting by the door. They wrapped Kuya Habagat in a thick blanket.
Roused by the activity, Negrita barked incessantly.
“You need to go to the hospital, Mare?” said Manong Daluyong, by way of a greeting.
Nanay nodded.
“Oo sana, pare,” she said. “Do you mind giving us a ride?”
“Not a problem,” he answered. “Ride up.”
“Salamat,” replied Nanay, gratitude radiating from her face.
“Ano ka ba? Wala iyon, mare.”
Nanay looked about to cry. Because she was too worried or too grateful, I couldn’t quite tell.
I jumped down. Kuya Maliksi and Nanay, with Kuya Habagat in between them, took my place.
Nanay took the torch from me.
“Lock the door securely,” said Nanay. “We might stay at the hospital ‘till the morning.”
“Couldn’t I –”
“No,” said Nanay flatly. “Stay here.”
“But –” I started to protest. I didn’t want to stay at home.
“Out of the question,” said Nanay with finality.
I grimaced.
I contented myself to watching the retreating cart, the whiteness of the carabao a disappearing speck in the darkness.
(c) 2016, Herbel Santiago