The Young and the Beautiful

Chapter 8

The American troops dominated the Japanese as the day passed by. . Until one day they dropped a bomb at Nagasaki and Hiroshima which damaged the nation. Japan is in the brink of surrendering. The newspapers have said that the war will be over soon but they said the same thing a week ago, a month ago. We just want everything back to normal.

December 1939

Andres and I just came back from Spain for good, it was a long journey. Transferring to several flights, I can't even feel my legs. They're so tired. One transfer from Madrid to Athens, then to Istanbul, to Karachi, to Kolkata, to Bangkok and finally to Manila. Air travel was just new but at least the travel time was cut from months at sea to just a few days. The colder Manila air made me feel I was in a summer in Madrid, but at least the weather isn't boiling here. 

We weren't planning on going back to Madrid anytime. The war is over and the nationalist fascists government of Francisco Franco took over Spain. Madrid looked different from what I was used to. Several buildings were destroyed and everyone looked different. The sad thing is that they were killing each other just because of political beliefs, believing that one belief is better than the other. Families, friends, and even lovers turned against each other. Pápa arranged that we must leave Madrid immediately as the bombings have started, we stayed in his cousin's estate in a small town of Tavira in Portugal near the Spanish border. In 1939 we came back to Madrid for our flight home. We left Madrid a few weeks before Christmas but it doesn't look like Christmas at all. The toy stores, department stores, and clothing stores were closed. The luxury hotel near our apartment was seized by the fascists and their flag is drawn on the balcony. The freezing winter weather made me want to wrap myself with five layers of coat and then light it on fire just to make myself warm. 

A week just before we left Madrid when the war started, a Spaniard classmate and friend of mine named Diego was executed by the nationalists for espionage, he was nineteen at the time. His girlfriend, a daughter of the nationalists discovered that Diego has been using the information he learned during the social gatherings that her father threw. Diego was giving it to the republicans. Until one day, we found Diego hanging from a tree in a plaza near our apartment. We all knew who did it.

I was on brink of joining the other youngsters who left school and joined the army to fight for the republic but I realized that my country will need me more in case a war breaks out there too. There has been rumors around here that another war might be coming, the whole world might be included, and not just Europe. Germany, and Italy gained a new ally in Asia, which is the Empire of Japan.

The first second I set foot in Manila I realized that a lot has changed since I was here three years ago. Andres and I will be staying here now, no matter how different our life was in Madrid. We were independent there, without any servant to follow us everywhere and treated us like princes. I just feel a little useless here.

Our house was still in its glory. The Narra wooden dining table was filled with enormous amounts of food. Most are Hispano-Filipino classics like Caldereta and Paella ala Valencia, Rosa made flan, some rice cakes and finally, rice. I haven't eaten any rice the same with Manila's rice for the past three years.

While having lunch, the table was filled with laughter, we had several stories to tell to our parents on how Madrid looked before and after the civi war and they  were so enthusiastic upon our arrival home. Máma  cried  when she heard how we escaped Madrid. She was crying on how her hijos survived such a tragedy, we lived better in Tavira in our uncle's estate, but still wasn't good as the pre-war days of Madrid. Patricia, my youngest sister can't stop talking about how excited she is to go to Europe when she's older.