Chapter 3 - Childhood Memories

 Marie was in deep thought as she tried to find her things. She was in her melancholic mood. More than a decade already after she left Iloilo for good.

“If only I can go back to Iloilo now. I, perhaps still enjoy seeing the greenery, playing games, and talking with my friends and relatives. But my parents are here. They love their work. We are four in the family now. Hard to be the eldest. I need to finish my assignments, so I can watch my siblings outside.” Marie thought while looking for her notebooks. She reached them together with her books at the upper part of the shelf, and an envelope appeared which was full of papers. She decided to arrange them. Then, she smiled when she saw a few pictures on the folded paper. She vividly remembered everything.

In San Miguel, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo, the place where she spent her childhood years, she and Lou had memories she treasured now and then.

“I have enough. Want to add? Look at the other branches,” Marie urged Lou, her bestfriend, who at the other branch of the Indian mango tree had settled while reaching the fruits. They reached the top of the mountain at the plain side overlooking their houses from the trees.

Mangoes were one of the fruits that can be found in the area. At the foot of the mountain, fields filled with root crops were there. Her grandparents and her father’s parents did the work. Partly, the mountain was covered by "cogon" grasses, which can be alternately seen in every other tall tree covering the third part of the land.

The deep well was located near their house, and she found it easier to fetch when they need water for washing and other purposes except for drinking. This was one of Marie’s favorite spots.

Her thoughts remembered everything about their former place. She smiled while holding the pictures and knew exactly what had happened every time a season of mangoes came.

“Good! We gather two plastics already. This is awesome. More mangoes are about to get ripe after three to five days. There are four mangoes in the branches near your left arm. Get it, Lou,” urged Marie as she as well searched the nearby branches around her.

“Wow! This is mouth-watering. What a good smell and sweet taste undoubtedly!” Lou exclaimed.

“Well, mother will be happy about this. Usual you know, when fish is not on the plate, mangoes turn our pair to the rice!” Marie cheered loudly.

“In our house, too. Father tells us to look for mangoes if we do not have anything to eat. Or he may tell us to get some sweet potatoes. That becomes our rice and dish at the same time. And you know as well that my stepmother will be furious if I cannot make any food when they get home,” Lou answered while coughing as she made her way from the upper branch and directly jump to the ground.

“That is the reason why mother wants to give some of our food since most of the time you do not have rice in your house. Even with your cousin Amy. I always ask my mother and father to share something. Once in a blue moon, I recall that only they can afford to buy fish, egg, or meat,” Marie continued.

“Lou, go home!” Elena, Lou’s stepmother shouted in a distant thirty minutes later.

“Yes, Mother. Coming,” she shouted back.

Soon, she was in their house, and her stepmother waited for her with a small guava branch in her hand.

“Where have you been? For almost five minutes I keep on looking at you. You left your siblings here. Did I not tell you to stay and watch them even if you are done with your chores?” Elena shouted while giving Lou a young guava stem spank on the buttocks as her punishment.

Lou cried hard and she sobbed and was heard even in Marie’s house, a few walks away from them.

Elena shouted as she hit Lou. Lou cried and wanted to explain, yet her father suddenly appeared and hit her with his belt as well. Lou jumped a little from the pain and tears fell from her face as mangoes slipped from the plastic bag. They scattered now on the ground.

Meanwhile, Marie heard her mother as she arrived at their house. “You and Lou come to the mountain again. Now, she is beaten by her father. The two of you keep on doing this again and again,” Le reminded her.

“Yes, we did,” Marie answered while gathering some white plates to prepare for dinner.

“Even you need a spank if we are not here, especially when we find out that there is no food to eat yet. But remember that Lou’s father is quite stern and stricter than your father. Next time the two of you go, be sure to be home early,” Le lectured while getting the lamps made of empty bottles with cloth, using kerosene gas to give light.

Her father, Lan reminded her of what to do the next day. “Mar, help your Mamang to pull weeds in the ricefield tomorrow. She plans to replant some of the vegetables there. Tomorrow is Sunday and you have plenty of time to finish it."

Marie was the eldest of the three children of the Sieran family at that time. The second was Gie and the third was Yen. After dinner, she washed the dishes and made her way ready to sleep. But of course, she cannot since she had to hear first her favorite radio drama. She was an avid listener of the DYMF Bombo Radio Station - from current news programs to drama. She even knew the radio anchor men and women and even the radio dramatists.

One day, while her mother taught her.

“Now, read the letter that I wrote!”

“Uh, M-m!” Marie uttered.

“What is wrong with you? I told you what the letter is already. Why you cannot recall?” Le angrily asked and suddenly reached for the radio and off.

“You are not listening or even focusing. No drama during study time!” Le shouted as she raised her voice for her to focus and follow.

Marie was hesitant to read anymore and felt bad not hearing the climax of her favorite drama. She had always forgotten how to read a letter. She wrote a little, but cannot read the letters. Because of this, her mother was furious and determined not to allow her to hear any drama from her favorite radio station during study time. The routine continued. Now, when Marie and Vangie, her grandmother, were on the farm the next morning, she told her to make chocolate when they got home.

“Our chocolate will be served when we return home. A ready-made cocoa, cacao!” her Mamang comforted since she knew she did not want to work that day. Then, she smiled and talked about her favorite sugarcane.

“Mang, can we eat that violet sugarcane as well planted in your backyard?” Marie cheered as she answered her loudly. She was used to calling her grandmother Mang or Mamang same as her parents.

“Of course! We have a lot there. Meanwhile, let us finish planting the vegetables,” her grandmother agreed.

“Marie, Von is crying outside,” a voice suddenly made Marie wake from her deep thoughts back to the present. “Oh, thirty minutes passed,” she hurriedly stretched her arms and legs as she made a quick glance at the clock on the wall. Then, she went outside.

While she cleaned the reception room the other day, she saw the new magazine left at the corner table inside the room. Curiosity pulled her to open it for a while. She scanned the pages until she saw the familiar face, she was thrilled to see it again but hate it at the same time.

“He looks handsome and elegant. Oh! He is scheduled to graduate soon, as I graduate from my fourth year, too. But he was rude and stern, and besides he is a royal,” disbelief overwhelmed her heart while continued her cleaning after.

 “What course will you take? Le asked one day as they did the laundry. She thought of her father was now for days busied working the greenery in the garden of the palace. He was the chef and a gardener as well.

 “Don't worry. The president will help us. Scholarships are made to all of you who live here. Just think wisely about the course that you want to get,” her mother consoled her as she looked sad thinking she cannot go on.

 “Mother, can I play the piano in the music room later?” Marie remembered how she loved to do it since her elementary grades. It started when her music teacher introduced the notes and pitches to their class.

 “I ask the head of the Music Room. I know you will make fun of it. I plan to buy your father a guitar on his birthday after your graduation. One day, your piano will be in your room. Your father can help you with that,” Le said smiling at the thought of their favorite family pastime.

 Their family loved music and Marie witnessed how the family on her mother's side bonded to sing using the guitar her grandfather owned back in Iloilo. In fact, during her grandfather’s birthday, they always sang his favorite songs using his own guitar.

  “I guess I know already what course fits me,” she smiled silently as she extended her feet to reach the web using the bamboo broom. After her routine during that Saturday morning tasks, she looked for her friend in the next room. Joe, son of the couple servants, Rhea and Aljhon Cruz, was one of her classmates in Ramon Magsaysay High School in Sampaloc, Manila. He became her Lou after she left Iloilo.

 “There you are. Are you done with your work?” Marie happily greeted him at the door of their room.

 "Yes. Got plan today?” Joe slowly stood as he placed the pails together at the wall of the last room in the maid’s quarter.

 “Hahaha! You always thought me ahead,” she teased. “I know already what I become someday,” Marie proudly emphasized as she walk fast to his side. “Guess what?”

 “Well, you are good at music, making poems, and painting, too. I saw it when I visited your room many times when you are not here,” he laughed loudly. “This will lead you to your desired course,” he answered while he initiated the walk in going at the back of their building that overlooked the river.