Nothing 03

MAY 04, 197x

“We should go to the plaza later tonight to join the baile. I've heard there will be a lot of city boys coming since it's already summer vacation!” Nenita, Valentina's cousin, told her excitedly.

The teenage Valen sat beside her as they both sought rest inside a small nipa hut after harvesting unhusked rice under the drastic heat of the sun for the whole day. She removed her straw hat and used that to fan herself.

“As if they would notice us.”

Nenita teasingly elbowed her. “Come on, Valen. We're not going to find boyfriends. We're just making friends.” She then chuckled.

“But I don't want to make friends with them. Tatay told me they're very lazy. They don't even know how to plow the rice fields,” she argued and Nenita laughed heartily.

“You'll not be able to survive the city if your standards and mentality are very primitive and provincial. You see, not all men are like our fathers. Some grew up someplace urban with very different ideals and environment and it's okay.”

Valentina stared intently into her cousin's eyes. They were twinkling with excitement and hope. Perhaps Nenita's really that eager to find a city boy to finally leave this province, she thought.

Valen suddenly wondered whether her life would turn out differently if she was born in the city. Will she be able to proceed to high school if she lived there? Or will her parents believe this time that graduating from primary school wasn't enough to be called well-educated?

“Do we really have to dress up like this?” Valentina asked Nenita as they made their way to the plaza.

“Of course! Doesn't mean we're from the province, we can not be presentable–Stop pulling it! It's already a midi dress!”

Her cousin lightly slapped her hand that's kept on pulling the hem of her floral button-front dress.

“I'm not comfortable with it!” Valen honestly remarked.

“You should get used to it. It's not every time that you can wear your flannel shirts and dungaree.”

When they finally got to their destination, Valentina immediately scanned the venue. The plaza was well-lit with all its lampposts and other string light sources displayed. The song ‘Pers Lab’ by the Filipino band Hotdog filled more of the already romantic atmosphere of the night with its slow-paced rhythm and catchy lyrics one would surely get sentimental while reminiscing their first love, and perfect for couples who were indulging themselves at the dancefloor.

Nenita pulled Valentina inside the plaza. She met with her friends who introduced her to some of their colleagues from the city. Valen suddenly felt left out as she couldn't keep up with that circle and the crowd as a whole. When she noticed that Nenita was too engrossed conversing with her friends, she decided to walk towards the concrete bench nearby and took a seat there.

She ran her gaze through the plaza once again. Everyone seemed to enjoy the company of another, and there she was, just sitting and wishing for the time to speed up so that they can already go home. She instantly looked away when she locked eyes with a guy standing from afar. He was catching up with his male friends. He was all ears at the conversation with a smile on his lips but his eyes never left Valen's direction.

“Excuse me, brother,” the guy politely excused himself from the conversation when he had the chance.

He then walked towards the woman who seemed withdrawn from the entire group and event happening at the plaza.

“Good evening, miss,” he greeted Valentina with a friendly smile.

“Good evening,” Valen responded out of courtesy and not of friendliness.

“You're alone?” he asked.

“Oh, no, I have my cousin with me. My big brothers as well...” she lied so that the guy would know where to draw the boundaries.

He nodded. Valen looked at him intently. The guy was dressed nicely. He was wearing a blue button-down shirt that was neatly tucked in his belted white trousers and had it paired with brown oxfords shoes. She knew by then that he wasn't from the province. Men from their place don't wear something like that. They just sported simple outfits and simple shoes, and sometimes, they just settled in their best pair of slippers. Valen tore her eyes off the city boy.

“Can I sit here?” he asked, referring to the space beside her.

She frowned as she looked at him again. “Why don't you just dance with the people over there?”

“You looked like you're feeling out of place. I just thought that maybe it's better if someone approached you first so that you wouldn't feel so bad about your situation.”

“What do you want, really?” she blurted. The city boy was stunned at the manner in which her question was delivered.

“I was just trying to make friends with you–”

Valen scoffed and cut him off, “I don't believe you.”

“Why?”

“Because you're a city boy,” she admitted.

The guy slowly smiled when he realized where her hesitation to socialize with the people around her stemmed from. He then offered his hand for a shake.

“I'm Johnny,” he introduced.

He slowly put his hand down when he actualized that she wouldn't get it.

“I guess you've watched too many soap operas, that's why you instantly equate all city boys to bad boys.”

“We don't have television at home...” Valentina honestly retorted.

Johnny's lips slightly parted in surprise. He pressed them again when he recovered before nodding at her thoughtfully.

“Oh, I see and I'm sorry... What's your name?”

Valen didn't want to answer him, yet she saw the sincerity in his eyes. He seemed genuinely apologetic.

“Valentina.”

“That's a unique name. Let me guess, you were born on Valentine's Day?” he jested.

She narrowed her eyes at him when he chuckled lightly.

“No, but see? I was right all along. You have a lot of prejudice in your body.”

“Looks like you're the one who has it more,” Johnny countered.

“I mean, you've already painted a picture of us, city boys, in that little head of yours. You've already got a lot to say even without fully knowing me yet,” he explained.

Valentina just looked away and didn't bother answering him.

“‘I know that I know nothing,’ said Socrates to his student Plato,” he continued.

With a creased forehead and confusion evident in Valen's face, she returned her attention to Johnny who smiled at her.

“The Socratic paradox explains that those who have no knowledge and doesn't think they know something are wiser than those who have no knowledge but think they know something.”

“Are you showing off? Speak in layman's sentence because some people aren't as privileged as you are and had only finished until sixth grade,” Valentina admonished.

She then stood up and was about to leave but Johnny was quick to hold her arm to stop her.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I was just saying that... it's better that we admit to ourselves that we know nothing about something because that's the truth. Just like what we discussed earlier about prejudice towards city people. You don't personally know each one of us and even if you do, you will still not completely know everything,” he clarified as he tried his best to make Valen understand his point.

They looked at each other's eyes intently for a couple of minutes until Valen sighed silently before nodding. Johnny smiled again, finally relieved that she got his point.

He let go of her to offer his hand again for a shake. “Let's just repeat the introduction, but let's make it better this time.”

“I am Johnny Geronimo. Sixteen years old and a freshman Philosophy student from the city.”

•|• Illinoisdewriter •|•

DICTIONARY

* Tatay — refers to father or grandfather in Filipino; as for this chapter, it pertained to father.

* Baile — refers to the gathering of people in the plaza to dance or socialize.

** Johnny was 16 years old when he started in college because it was only around 2016 that the Philippine education system had adopted the K-12 curriculum (or the additional two years in high school — senior high school)