From A to Z

F

The place has woken up when they got back.

There was an ongoing trade between a farmer and a mamimili. The two were discussing the price of two sacks of sigarilyas (winged bean). The farmer, Adam heard as they walked past them, was telling the middleman that he knew of another trader who was willing to buy his harvest at a price higher by two pesos than his offer. The mamimili insisted that his price was the best he could give. If he would increase his offer even by just a peso, he would be at a loss. But the farmer was firm. He told the mamimili that if he does not increase his price at par with — or more than — the offer of the other trader, then he would have no choice but to sell his harvests to the other trader. He calmly reasoned with the mamimili that he has a family to take care of and that he would always choose the option where he would earn more. Eventually, the mamimili yielded and increased his offer by two pesos, but he made the farmer promise not to tell the others about their exchange.

After handing the farmer the payment for his harvest, the mamimili said something to the farmer and the two of them laughed as if the tension that arose between them a while ago was only a mere act.

Adam and Zach later learned that the two were magkumpares and have known each other for quite some time already. In fact, they were the godfathers of each other's firstborn.

The two was about to pass by the mango tree when a loud voice shouted:

"Utoy!"

It was an old bald man, aged maybe seventy years old. He was standing by the entrance of the house they passed by earlier, waving at them and calling them to come over.

Communicating only with their eyes, Adam and Zach agreed that it would be rude to ignore the old man. They walked up to the house and the old man and his wife welcomed them in. They noticed that the couple were not wearing slippers inside their house, so Adam and Zach removed theirs before entering. But the wife, an old lady of maybe around the same age as the old man and has a short whitened curly hair, told them to keep their slip-ons on, saying that she has not swept the floor yet.

Inside the house, it became more apparent that the house was not yet completed. The floor was not tiled. The two flights of stairs going to the two bedrooms were only made from rough cement. There were no doors on the doorways leading to the rooms; only pink curtains kept the insides of the rooms hidden. This house was the exact opposite of the house they were staying at.

The old lady, who introduced herself as Jacinta, led them towards the kitchen and dining area at the rear portion of the house. The table was pushed to the rightmost corner, rendering only one side of it useful. On that exposed side of the table was a long wooden chair where she asked the two of them to sit. Opposite to the table, beside the doorway, was a stove connected to a darkened gasoline tank. There was also a refrigerator which was already yellow in color due to old age, raised by half a meter from the floor by a wooden box.

The old lady cleared the table, removed the diced carrots and sayote, pots and other cooking paraphernalia, and placed a plate of warm pandesal in front of them. Adam and Zach could not help but smile at the smell of the freshly baked salt bread. This was exactly the food Adam was looking for.

Lola Jacinta handed a sachet of cheese spread and even apologized for it because it was the only palaman she could buy from the closest sari-sari store. Adam wanted to tell her that her apology was unnecessary, but Lola Jacinta was quick to leave at the back door.

Adam hesitated to grab a piece of the bread because he felt that the old lady's humbleness was too much, to the point that, Adam felt, she was seeing herself lowly. Zach seemed to feel the same since he was only staring at the pandesal when Adam looked to his direction. But when they caught each other's glances, they had a quick understanding. They each took a piece. Adam opened the sachet of cheese spread and put some in the bread held out by Zach. He was about to get his own piece when Zach handed the piece with the cheese to him.