Nothing 10

I RETREATED TO where Basha and Aunt Anita was and helped them in cleaning up the table. Bart and Uncle Bert went with Valen and the other farmers to work on the farms. I was kind of worried for Valen because she was not getting any younger and she was sick. She had to rest for all I know and retire. She had to take care of her health and condition, too.

I saw Basha carry a pile of empty dishes. She could hardly take them with both of her hands, so I left my post in wiping the table to walk towards her to help her.

“Let me carry it,” I told her.

She just frowned at me and kept the pile away from me.

“I can do it,” she replied, sounding serious and unwelcoming.

“You could hardly carry it. Just let me do it.” I insisted and tried snatching them from her.

She was also persistent to keep the pile of dishes away from me, so we ended up just pulling and pushing, almost scrambling for it. She groaned and gave up afterward and just pushed it hard on my chest. It was so hard that I ended up holding the aching part and consequently dropping the pile on the ground. Fuck…

She looked shocked then conflicted and worried until she moved to pick them up one by one when we caught Aunt Anita’s attention.

“What is happening here, Basha?!” she asked as she checked on me. “Are you alright, Baste?”

“I think I’m dying…” I answered dramatically while still holding my chest.

Basha scoffed and then I caught how vexation replaced the worry on her face. She stood up when she finished gathering the plates while Aunt Anita was still caressing my back concernedly.

“What did you do to him, Basilia?”

“He wanted to take them from me, so I gave it to him. And just look at him now, he’s overreacting.”

“You can just give it to me less harshly,” I argued.

“Well, you deserve it.”

“Basha,” Aunt Anita called her warningly.

The matriarch let out a sigh and looked at me. “Does it still hurt, son? You can just go home and rest.”

“Stop babying him, ma!”

“Basha, why are you like that? He’s our guest. Treat him nicely, hija.”

“Ma, I don’t really understand. Why are you just letting him here? I mean he’s a stranger. He can be greedy and manipulative for all we know. He can take advantage of all of us here, especially Nanay Valen, and worst, he was from the city!”

I snorted after that. “Well, sorry to disappoint you that I came from the place where your ex hailed, Miss Perfect.”

She scowled at me defiantly, and I just returned the equal expression. Aunt Anita stood between us even before a serious fight ensued.

“I still don’t and will never trust you!” she shouted.

“Save your trust for all I care. I don’t need it, anyway.”

“You!”

“Basha!” Aunt Anita stopped her before she could reach for me. “Just go inside the house. I will take care of what’s left here. Now.”

Basha darted me her dagger looks but she still did what Aunt Anita ask her to do and just left us there. Aunt Anita sighed before looking at me apologetically.

“I’m sorry for my daughter’s behavior. She has always been protective of us, especially to her Nanay Valen because she loves her so much.”

“I understand, Aunt Anita. I hope you don’t mind me asking this. How are you related to Valentina? I remembered Bart telling me something, but I just want a detailed explanation because I tend to remember that more,” I honestly told her.

“Nanay Valen is the cousin of my late mother, Nenita. She died due to typhus when I was in high school. I have no one else because my father who was from the city abandoned me. It was Nanay Valen and her husband who gave me shelter and helped me finish my studies. I was a teacher before but then I decided to stop and build a sari-sari store here and just become a loving housewife to take care of my family. Basha continued my dream, though. She’s an elementary teacher.”

“Where is she teaching? I didn’t see any school around here.”

“It’s far from here, son, around two mountains far.”

“Seriously?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, there will be times that she has to stay there for a week because climbing up and down of those mountains is not easy. They’re not exactly big but still hard.”

“Really?” I asked again, and that was why she chuckled heartily.

“Yes, son. My daughter was like an A****n because she purposely trained herself that way. She has to have courage and strength in her profession. It takes a great deal of those qualities to persist.”

“Guess, she’s really that passionate.”

She smiled at me as she tapped my shoulder. “She was influenced by Nanay Valen. All of us here, actually.”

It took me long to process the information I found out, so Aunt Anita continued to get me out of my musings and to remind me of what I should do next.

“What else did she instruct you to do after this?”

“Clean her house, water her plants, and cook dinner. She will then take me tomorrow to the farm to work.”

“Just go do it so that you can rest. I can take care of everything from here. My daughter over there would not be helping me if you’re still here,” she said as she subtly gestured her head towards the front of their sari-sari store where Basha was frowning while guarding it.

“Are you sure?” I asked when I returned my attention to Aunt Anita who nodded in retort.

“Yes, son. It is going to be a tiring day tomorrow for a first-timer like you. You will need all the rest and energy you can have today to prepare you for tomorrow.”  

I did not want to go because I felt like I have not helped them enough, but Aunt Anita insisted and assured me that she was fine. I then gave up and just went home to Valen’s house. I have never been this grateful for my hotel experience because the cleaning and watering of the plants were easy. After ensuring that everything was cleaned and fixed and watered, I retired to my bedroom in the attic for a rest I have long wished for.

“Finally… Good night, everything,” I whispered before closing my eyes to sleep.

I stirred awake abruptly and lightheadedly when my alarm rang. It was already five in the evening and the sun was already setting down from my bedroom’s window. I hurried to stand up to descend from the attic to go to the kitchen to cook dinner for me and Valentina.

If I had it easy with the cleaning earlier, I will surely have it difficult with the cooking later because I do not fucking know how to cook! Whenever I watched the chefs in our hotel do their thing in the kitchen, I always thought and considered them doing magic. They flipped omelets in the air, fought with fire without getting their dishes burnt, and made something odd-looking actually taste sweet or better.

I was here to earn Valen’s trust. I wanted to prove to her that despite us being total strangers, I am trustworthy and deserving to inherit her land as indicated in the contract. If she will not give me her whole land, at least, just a parcel of it. Pitong Gatang stole my heart. It was more than good enough to develop for tourism. I wanted this to become one of my hard-earned triumphs in life. I wished for it to become one of those things I would have the honor of telling my children and grandchildren that I gained through hard work and not through illegal and evil means like those that previously did and had.

I rummaged through her cupboards and other kitchen cabinets for something to cook, but I only found some vegetables in the baskets. I could not help but also chuckle when I wrenched open an ice cream container only to find dried fish inside. Who on earth would put dried fish inside an old ice cream container and needles and threads in a cookies canister? Filipinos, only Filipinos.

When I found nothing, not even an egg, I decided to go to the Soriano’s sari-sari store, hoping to buy something we can share for dinner. I used my money, of course. It was like my simple way of giving back to her even before we can start.

“What can I do—” Basha held her tongue to scowl immediately when she saw and figured out that her next customer was actually me. “What do you want?”

“Why are you so mad already?”

“Because I don’t trust you.”

I chuckled at that. Fuck, me too.

“Likewise,” I teasingly replied as I finger-gunned her and winked. She scowled at me even more.

“What do you need so that you can leave now before I can smack you with a durian in the face?” she asked, really annoyed.

“What does Valentina want for dinner? Give me something easy to eat… an easy-open canned good, perhaps.”

Now it was her turn to smirk at me mockingly as if judging my entire existence with the fact that I do not know how to cook. She reached for a local brand of corned beef and another one of it before she gave it to me. I handed her my money but she refused to accept it.

“We don’t let Nanay Valen pay for any items here. You should know that, city boy.”

“Noted, Miss Perfect,” I answered, equally sarcastic.

I took the canned goods and left their sari-sari store. I hurried back home to cook the things I bought. I prepared the table in haste when I heard her coming inside the house.

“Let’s eat?”

I smiled at her, but she just looked and simply nodded at me. She placed her straw hat on the hook attached to the wall and then she sat in her seat at the dining table. I followed her to join her for dinner. I led the prayer before the meal. I was not a strong believer but I have to do it for her because of her memory problems. I could not also help but think that maybe I should always be the one in charge of the kitchen because you know, some accidents can happen, especially with her condition now.

We ate silently in our respective seats until I heard a loud thud. I was so shocked and worried, so I quickly looked at her. She immediately hid her shaking hand and composed herself to crouch to get the spoon she dropped on the floor. I stood up and took it from her hold.

“I will just replace this with another one,” I told her.

She did not speak and just nodded at me. I turned my back on her then walked to the kitchen counter to get a new spoon for her. She did not want to lie, so she resorted to not speaking about it instead. She was getting weaker. She needed to be really taken care of. I returned to the dining area and gave her the spoon. I watched her carefully as she resumed eating.

“Stop staring. Just focus on eating your food.”

“I’m worried about you. What is really your condition?”

She did not answer. I heaved a deep sigh and did not force her to speak up. She will warm up to me in time. By then, I am sure that she will be already willing to share. For now, I just have to be patient in waiting for her to be ready.

|• Illinoisdewriter •|•

Filipino Vocabulary

Durian — tropical fruit with a spiky outer shell for its appearance with pungent smell but actually tastes good and is common to the Philippines.

Hija — an address for a daughter and a young girl in the Philippines.