Marven’s First Novel, chapter #03

     The next day, in the afternoon, Merlito was again outdoors walking towards home in the direction of the east, stepping on the sidewalk on the right side of the road.

     A few moments later, he was now chatting with a young man who lived in the center area of the neighborhood who came his way counterflowing as a pedestrian and greeted him and started a conversation with him first. Thus, they blocked the sidewalk that way. However, their talk was brief and superficial, and they soon parted. Merlito now resumed walking.

     From afar, he saw a feminine figure going his way on the other side of the road, also stepping on the sidewalk. Before he reached the corner of the road where the public vehicles turn left, he saw her crossing it downcast. She was wearing a collared blouse and a long straight-cut skirt which gave her a formal look. Merlito was already drawn to her while yet at a distance; but when she was almost opposite him and saw her face, he was surprisingly stunned.

     "Oh," he blurted out. Then he looked away down. "Okay," he muttered.

     The young woman noticed the fuss with him and naturally looked his way, which he also noticed from the corner of his eye, causing him to look up towards her face. And their eyes met, he seeing her glowing perfectly-shaped head crowned with black dry, wavy hair; soft-looking skin and lips; and grumpy yet mellow eyes glaring listlessy at him, which confused him. After about three seconds, she again looked before her, coldly, as if she didn't see him. Merlito also looked before him, then smiled downcast, scratched his head, breathed out, looked up, and walked on.

     Half an hour earlier, he went home drenched in sweat and proceeded to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out a liter of cold water, and gobbled glassfuls with a plastic glass in quick succession. Quenched, he again went out of the house and headed to the corner where a young man older than him by about five years was waiting. When he got to him, the man said:

     "Thanks for choosing to help me. I hope it's okay."

     "It's okay," Merlito replied.

     They started walking westwards.

     "We just need more men tomorrow. Like I said, we're now at the stage of pouring the concrete slab and beams. You may already have an idea how that works. Possibly, you'd just be relaying pails of concrete mixture and do some other small things the master may direct."

     "The master is building your house?"

     "Yes."

     "They say he's good."

     "Yes, he's is. I saw it firsthand. I have nothing but respect to that man."

     When they got to the vacant lot that had a giant tree at the corner fenced around with moldy hollow blocks, before passing it, they turned left, entered the inside street, and got to the construction site where workers were at work. They went up to the master silently busy at work, and Merlito's friend briefly introduced him to him. Then he said as he was leading Merlito out:

     "So, can I expect you tomorrow? Do you think you can do the same as they?"

     "I think so," Merlito answered.

     "Again, thanks for choosing to help me. As you can see, I'm about to realize the juice of my overseas work. Aren't you interested in working abroad too?"

     Merlito smiled. "I don't know. Probably not. I'd rather work in construction here for a friend like you."

     "Huh? Why?"

     "Because I'm lazy... and ignorant and don't wish to learn." Merlito then walked homewards.

     The following day, five minutes before eight, Merlito arrived at the site and was reminded by his friend that that day was the pouring day. The man passed to him some protective wear. Merlito then went up to and stuck himself nearby the master like a shadow so that he would promptly know what to do. Then at eight o'clock, the work started.

     As it went on, Merlito saw that the work that day was indeed in a fast-track mode. Merlito often asked the master who did mostly the main and crucial parts what to do. The latter told him what he wants to know unassumingly, as was natural to the man. So by the man's instructions, Merlito, along with others, shoveled over and over the mixture mound of sand, gravel, and cement. This part was heavy and tedious. Then he, as did others, carried it on two pails and relayed it upwards or received it. Also, he carried hollow blocks and did some woodwork. The work was purely manual and didn't use any mixer, so the the work dragged on even after five o'clock. Merlito's friend assured him and other helpers of a generous overtime pay. They just have to finish the pouring on that day as it should be.

     At night, the entire flooring was poured on and leveled and everybody received the pay they toiled for on that day. Merlito's friend asked him to come back the next day to continue helping. Merlito said sure and went home.

     Therefore, Merlito returned the next day, now with a renewed appreciation of the building process. Thus, whenever he gets close to the master, he would talk to him using the terminologies he learned from some of his books and the master would confirm those. Sometimes, he would ask him questions to learn something and compare the answers he receives happily every time to the concepts he learned from the books. Then he would carry on with helping out exultant at his learnings.

     Merlito continued to be a helper for about three days until his friend politely thanked him and let him go as the number of workers no longer needed to be that many. Merlito assured his friend it was definitely okay and he kind of breathed free. The work was heavy anyway, and he has generated enough earnings for him to buy some chicha or something to bite or munch on while reading his books and enough learnings for him to let the theories of construction marinate in his mind. Money, indeed, doesn't grow on trees but has to be earned through worthwhile backbreaking exertions. That was also what he found out as he went back flipping through the pages of history and fiction accompanied by some ube, langka, and chocolate treats.

     In the morning of a good sunny day, Merlito could now be seen at the kitchen table dipping torn chunks of pandesal into his coffee mixed with creamer, taking care to empty the paper pouch of its crumbs which he calls its "soup". Outside, through the open door, he saw his mother talking to Emily, his cousin, who looked sharp and shiny in a business attire and who was holding in front of her her son, Hans, who appeared to be quiet and unlively. Merlito tried to make something out of this chat scene, inaudible to his end, as he looked listlessly outside like one who definitely just woke up in the morning until Emily left without her son and his mother cordially led the boy into the house. The latter still appeared to be quiet and unlively. Merlito then asked what that was about, and his mother replied that Emily requested that her son be accompanied to the health center for a scheduled check-up since she couldn’t do it herself, having to go to work.

     "Where's her mother?" Merlito asked as if complaining.

     "Apparently not around their house," was the answer.

     "The health center? Why not in a nicer hospital in the city?"

     "She has no time. She's very busy... as you can see. Why go far when one near is available?"

     "It's for the poor only."

     "I think the doctor is her personal acquaintance or something."

     "Have you met this doctor?"

     "I haven't. But you will."

     Aldo fell from his chair. Underneath, he muttered, "I kinda knew it. I shouldn't have spoken," he said. Then he rose up and sat back.

     His mother continued, "You heard me, didn't you?"

     "Yes, I did," he said grimacing.

     "Don't worry about the dishes. I'll take care of it."

     Merlito drank coffee.

     "The person you'll be looking for is Dr. Hermenegildo. Show him this paper. Go there as soon as you can, huh. You can do it.” She left and went to the boy.

     Merlito went on tackling the pandesal while staring listlessnesly outside.

     His mother caressed the crown of the head of the boy who was very unresponsive to the endearment and baby-talked him mostly about his condition. Then she turned their small TV set on by pulling a small knob and turning it right and then turned a bigger knob to a channel where there was cartoon in the morning. She watched it with Hans who was still quiet and unlively. Eventually, Hans became deeply immersed in the cartoons as can be seen in his eyes.

     When Merlito finished his breakfast, he stood up and did the necessary preparations for a doctor visit and afterwards looked fresh and nice in a t-shirt, a pair of denim jeans, and a pair of sandals as he usually wears when going outdoors for a walk and not just buying vinegar from the sari-sari store. At about 9 o’clock, Merlito took off and went out with Hans to the health center which is just nearby.

     Upon getting there, Merlito went through all the preliminary transactions at the windows in the lobby using the paper in his hand. After that, he was directed to Dr. Hermenegildo's clinic. He noticed that everytime he came across ladies wearing house clothes, they looked at him weirdly while holding his nephew's hand, seemingly finding the combination of the two of them, or simply his mere presence, unnatural.

     "Yeah, I knew it," he muttered chucklIng. "Haaay. I just hope this finishes soon. My goodness. Why do I feel suddenly sleepy and just want to lie down in my wooden bed?"

     Finally, he located Dr. Hermenegildo's clinic. When he, holding his nephew’s hand, reached it, he turned the knob and the first thing that met his view was a neat-looking young woman sitting behind a desk and wearing a white coat over a black shirt and whose face was lighted by the faint sunlight that shone through the glass of a window.

     "What? For real?" he muttered skeptically.

     The slight creaking sound of the hinges of the opening door caught the girl’s attention and made her turn her head towards the visitors a little gracefully. “Good morning,” she greeted.

     “Good morning. We're looking for Dr. Hermenegildo, miss. Are you Dr. Hermenegildo, miss?” Aldo replied.

     “Yes, I am. Come in,” she said confidently and then looked down.

     Merlito, still holding his nephew by the hand, stepped inside. Once there, he approached the desk and presented the magic paper he had brought from home. “Here, doc,” he said and then brushed his hair to simply arrange it.

     The girl looked up at him while taking the paper and saw his face, illumined from the window, burnt in the sun yet ruddy, indicating he had been doing hard labor lately. Then she started reading.

     “Do you know Emily, doctora?" Merlito asked. "I'm a cousin of hers. She couldn't make it because of work and unavailable family members. She sent me here instead for her son, Hans, not to miss his scheduled checkup."

     "Okay," she replied as she finished reading the paper. She slid it back towards him.

     Merlito turned back and forth from Hans to her and then said, "I'm sure you know this sweet little boy?" He presented her Hans. "Can you see how cute he is?"

     Doctor Hermenegildo rested her chin on her hand and looked at Hans and said, "Yes, of course, I remember you."

     "Listen to everything Dr. Hermenegildo says, huh, Hans," Merlito seconded. "I'll just sit there on the bench, doctora."

     "Okay," she said. Then she proferred the bench with the graceful wave of her arm and said, "There."

     Merlito stepped away and sat on the bench by the wall facing the window. There, he sat up straight, crossed his arms, and busied himself with reading the health-reminder posters on the walls and looking at their accompanying pictures. He also re-explored the human anatomy whose picture is similar to that in one of his books. He constantly heard the conversation between the two, with Dr. Hermenegildo earnestly asking Hans questions and the latter answering truthfully. When he turned his gaze towards them, he saw her constantly nodding. Then he turned his gaze back before him towards the window.

     She continued her conversation with the boy for a few more seconds. After that, she rose up, went up to Hans, and used some tools on him.

     Merlito turned his head left and looked at them again to see this change and saw her examining him and asking him additional questions.

     She turned her head towards Merlito and looked at him.

     Merlito looked up, met her gaze, and then looked down again.

     She turned her head back towards Hans. 

     "You look familiar, doc. I think I've seen you before."

     "You have? Where?"

     Merlito was about to answer; but instead, he turned away and reverted to his relaxed waiting posture. Then he said after a few seconds, "What kind of doctor are you, if you don't mind?"

     She smiled. Then she answered, "Uh... General practitioner?" without looking at him.

     "Ah," he said nodding. "Like a usual, typical doctor, from what I understand?"

     "I guess.... That's right." When she seemed to be finished, she returned to her chair, asked yet a few more questions, and then started writing on a notepad. It took about ten seconds. Then she looked up towards where Merlito sat, gently beckoned at him and said, “Would you please come up here, tatay?" and looked down again.

     Merlito promptly did as told and sat on the chair opposite Hans' and faced him and talked to him a little.

     "Now listen, sir."

     Facing her, he said, "I'm too young to be his father, I think."

     "What? Oh. I'm sorry."

     "I'm just twenty-five. Hans is seven. It's not possible."

     "Okay. I got it."

     Merlito muttered to himself, "Do I really look that old?"

     "No, no. Of course, not," Dr. Hermenegildo replied.

     Merlito went on slightly sulking downcast on the surface of the table.

     "Now listen," she continued.

     "How about you? How old are you, if you don't mind?" he blurted out.

     Doctor Hermenegildo frowned, said, "I'm twenty-nine," pushed back a little, and looked away.

     "Wha..." he said, mildly gaping and looking away towards Hans.

     She proceeded to gave him pointers. Then pointing with her pen on her scribbles, she looked up from the paper into his face intently every single time. It didn't look staged but natural and involuntary.

     In response, Merlito chinned up, frowned, and squinted like a gangster as he listened to her carefully and comitted to memory everything she said so that he can relay it accurately to his mother or to his cousin herself.

     Finally, she tore the sheet from the pad, gave it to him, and said, "That's it. Thank you for listening. Have a nice day."

     “Thank you," he said as he took it and rose up. "Let’s go, Hans.”

     The boy jumped from the chair, went to Merlito, and took his profferred hand.

     “Get well soon, Hans,” she said, following the boy with looks as the two were making their way out.

     Merlito slowly and carefully shut the door until the mechanism of its knob clicked shut. Then he walked away pulling his nephew by the hand.

     Back at home, Hans spent the whole day in the house, and Merlito's mother entertained and took care of him. Merlito gathered some wood pieces from around the house that he had overlooked before and took them to their front yard and there stared at them to figure out what to do with them based on his conceptualizations. Then he started measuring and drawing lines.

     From time to time, his father would send him out to run errands; and everytime he passes the hardware stores, he would start canvassing for the materials he needs for his concept.

     It was already night when Emily arrived in the house. Now she could be seen seated with her aunt on the bamboo sofa in the living room in her business attire that was already past being fresh, talking about was everything the doctor said which Merlito already relayed to his mother earlier. Emily listened seriously to her while carrying her son in her lap and caressing the crown of his head and kissing it from time to time. When Merlito came near the scene and heard their conversation, he came up and sat opposite them to help clarify things as he thought he should.

     "That's pretty much about it," he said in the end. "I'm quite sure it's accurate."

     "Thank you," Emily replied. She lingered for a few more minutes after Merlito left the conversation and continued chatting with her aunt about other topics. Then she left and go home with her son.

     Maundy Thursday came, which many people consider the beginning of boring days leading up to Saturday and ending in Sunday. Monday already gave off that kind of atmosphere minimally. Starting today, there are no cartoons, no metal hero series, no businesses, no traffic. Everybody's at home. Cubao is a ghost town. Quezon Arcade is not selling clothes. The lagoon near C.O.D. is gloomingly mesmerizing. Some go on excursions whether near or far because of long vacation. Children are actively at play on vacant lots. Two of them invited themselves to Merlito's house, in the living room, to fight for each other's collection of rubber bands. When one of them got lost, Merlito engaged them to form various shapes, like a house, from the t-puzzle he carved out of his pieces of wood. This entertained them for a while. Each tried while the other coached loudly in a passion. When they already got bored or gave up, they called the game quits and left. Merlito couldn't do some carpentry because he felt he had to respect the solemnity of the season and not make a noise. That was just his opinion or personal belief. Therefore, he spent most of the time reading. When he himself got bored and his head hurt with too much reading, he just took a walk outside for a change of scene.

     In the gloomy and cloudy afternoon of Good Friday, Merlito could be seen lying down on the upholstered and plastic-covered bench of an empty jeepney parked on a vacant lot and flipping the pages of a comics magazine, reading an illustrated story. He was wearing his usual outfit when strolling and not just buying vinegar from a sari-sari store. Moments later, he fell asleep and inadvertently took a nap.

     Somewhere far away, some religious folks, in observance of the day, gathered in a small chapel for what they called the "Seven Last Words". This is where seven individuals go behind the podium and explain each of those seven words. This activity went on well. After the gathering, these religious folks went out of chapel lethargically, chatting their way out and away from the place slowly. They looked happy, and most of them looked unwilling to go home just yet. Thus, a few circles of chatterers were formed in front of the chapel. After a few minutes, in one of these, someone, smiling good-naturedly to the people she was talking to, broke away and went on her way slowly and gently. She was wearing a formal dress and clasped some folders. She was one of those who stood behind the podium. Now away from the crowd, she suddenly found herself alone and preoccupied in the sudden quiet of the street between some trees, keeping her head down and all of a sudden smiling sweetly out of nowhere, probably about a humorous topic she just bantered about with the people in that circle. Suddenly, her reverie was shaken off by a feminine voice calling out her name. She looked back from where the voice came from, turning her head gracefully, and saw a young woman walking fast, almost running towards her. Looking past her towards the chapel and the people, her grumpy eyes mellowed as if worried and her lips trembled and parted slightly, showing the whiteness of her teeth. Still in that expression, she immediately lowered her eyes back at the person calling her and then changed her face into a smile. Then she looked again before her when the latter was about to join her; and when the young woman has stopped and started walking beside her, she started:

     "Hi. What is it?"

     "I came late and didn't have a chance to talk to you earlier."

     "Ah... I saw you too, but I failed to approach you and shake your hand."

     "Something good just happened, and I just want to say thank you."

     "Really? What is it?"

     This became the subject of the conversation of these two two as they walked. When they reached a house that had a neat yard, she said:

     "Hey. Thank you for going out of your way to walk me. Would you like to come in? Come on. Let's continue our conversation inside."

     "No. I'm going home now. I just wanted to talk to you. Goodbye. See you on Sunday."

     "All right. See you on Sunday" The young woman then entered their gate and then their main door and disappeared from the street.

     Somewhere else, inside a classroom, students were flocking together by groups of friends. There was no teacher, and they were just idling around. In one of those groups were Merlito, Jim, and Jake. But not in their present forms but in their teenage forms. Merlito couldn't be distinguished at once because he looked skinny and had a long neck, protruding Adam's apple, pouting lips that naturally showed his two front teeth, and disorderly dry hair.

     Still elsewhere, a motorcycle rider with a woman riding with him at the back were plying speedily along a solitary road. Suddenly, Merlito realized that it was he riding the motorcycle and holding its steering handles and it was his waist that the woman wrapped her arms around as she also rested her cheek on his back. He was surprised because he knows he doesn't know how to ride a motorcycle. When Merlito quickly turned his head towards the woman he was with, he saw, smiling at him, the face of someone he had seen before.

     The next thing he saw was the glossy painted roof of the jeepney. He also distinctly heard the noises of the children playing at the vacant lot where he was at. He kept himself reclined as he slowly inured his awakened senses to the look, feel, and sounds of reality. Then he rose up unsteadily and then turned and looked outside the window listlessly as someone who had just waken up from sleep. There, on the vacant lot, he saw the children at play and, across the street, people going to and fro.

     Black Saturday passed very uneventfully and very unproductively.

     Sunday morning brought back to the streets everything that was in them before.

     In the afternoon of that day, Emily showed up at Merlito's door and looked for him. But he was not around; he was outside, said his mother. Emily said to her aunt, "Please tell him to come to my house and dress presentably, huh, Auntie." Then she left.

     Moments later, Merlito came home, drank cold water, and sat relaxedly on the sofa in front of the TV.

     His mother related the message to him.

     "Okay? What could it be?" Merlito said as he went up to the TV set and pulled and turned up the knob, went back and focused the electric fan on him, and finally reclined on the bamboo bench. He relaxed for a few minutes, staring listlessy at the 13-inch cathode ray tube screen. When he thought he had rested enough, he rose up, went to the sink, and washed his face and freshened himself up. Then he changed his clothes into a cotton sweater, jeans, and slip-ons and finally went out of the house again.

     When he was already near Emily's house, he saw her coming out of her main door with someone who was on her right and whose back was turned as the latter looked at and listened to her talk as they made their way out of the gate.

     "Oh. What is this?" he said as he went on.

     What intrigued him was the presence of a young woman alongside Emily who stood about an inch or two shorter than him whose wavy hair covered by the back portion of her long sleeves. She also wore pointed blue jeans that fell short of covering her ankles and round-tipped black shoes.

     When he was already close, Merlito greeted, "I guess I came at the wrong time."

     Emily shouted back, "Yes, you've come late. I've been waiting for you since an hour ago."

     "I'll just come back later."

     "I can at least introduce you to my friend since you're already here."

     "Okay."

     Emily's visitor was already agitated as can be seen in her softened petulant eyes as she seemed to recognize that approaching voice too well uttering sentences so melodiously, initially, as far as she was concerned.

     Emily looked her in the eye and understood she needed to calm her. "Hey. I'm sorry. This was my idea. I wanted you to meet him."

     "Hi. Excuse me," Merlito said.

     "Merlito, meet my friend, Mikayla," Emily said.

     "Hi," Merlito greeted.

     Emily turned her visitor by the shoulder, and the latter turned almost like a penguin. Facing Merlito, she closed her eyes tightly and kept her head down. Next, she her laughed to herself and covered her mouth.

     Merlito frowned and said, "Huh? Are you okay, miss?" Then he eyed Emily inquiringly from from her direction to that of her visitor and back.

     "She's not like this on a normal day," Emily answered.

     "I suppose. To think that it was I who's weird."

     "No, she's not weird like you."

     "I was just joking. Sorry, miss."

     "I'm Mikayla, Emily's friend. Nice to meet you," the visitor said, only extending her hand.

     Merlito took her hand, still intrigued, and looked into her face. Afterwards, he sighed, "Ough... I see." After a pause, he continued, "Yeah, I agree... Your friend... I mean, Mikayla. Nice to see you too, Mikayla. My name is Merlito... Hello? Earth to Mikayla."

     "Merlito?"

     "Yes."

     "Merlito."

     "Yeah... Uh... You can open your eyes now. Or I'll just go home."

     "As you wish." She loosened her eyes first and then opened it to look up at him.

     Merlito met her gaze and said, smiling, "My goodness. Hi." 

     "Hi," Mikayla replied, smiling back nervously, bashfully. "I've actually heard your nephew mention your name."

     "Nice. I didn't. Thank you."

     Moments later, Mikayla waved goodbye to Emily and Merlito saying, "Bye Emily. Bye Merlito."

     "Bye Mikayla," the two said in unison. Then she walked away and they lingered in that street to continue chatting about other topics.

     The main road, down which, Mikayla carried herself confidently, was lively with people going to and fro. They were particularly crowding into the church at a distance. The speaker on its top was resounding with some highly-trebled music and announcement. When Mikayla passed it, she saw that it was presently having an afternoon mass. People were continuously coming in through the front door and the sacristy.

from The Simple Adventures of a Simple Simpleton

by: Marven T. Baldo