I had asked my brother to make
reservations for 9 nights at Amil’s Pension House which was directly across the
street from our mother’s apartment. I stayed there my first night in Zamboanga
but since Mama’s landlady offered a vacant apartment for us to stay in, I moved
in the next day. That saved us a few thousand pesos. A few days later, I asked
Madie, the landlady if we could settle the accounts for the duration of our
stay and she declined payment. Thanks Caloy and Madie, for your generosity and
hospitality.
The night I stayed at Amil’s, I was
awake by 3 a.m. and watched the U.S. Open and when that was over, I tried
reading an ebook. Still, I was unable to go back to sleep and couldn’t wait
until dawn came so I could go out for a walk or a run. Exiting the hotel in the
morning, I turned right. In my disorientation the night before, I thought that
led to Veterans Avenue, the street my mom’s hospital was in. After a short
block I saw Plaza Pershing. Hmm, I should not be in that area if I wanted to go
to the hospital. So I turned around and on the other end of the street, I hit
Veterans Avenue. Well, I only made it halfway to the hospital because I was
rapidly approaching the time I allotted myself for exercise that morning. So I
walked back to the hotel, took a shower and stepped outside looking for Jimmy’s
Satti House to satisfy what I was craving for in decades. Well, immediately to
my left from the hotel entrance was Morning Sun Satti House so I went there
instead. The man there showed me some liver cubes skewered on a stick but I
opted for cubed chicken meat instead. I consumed 10 sticks of chicken and 3
tamus (rice cubes) in my first taste of satti since 1989. When I went to pay,
it only the equivalent of less than 2 dollars for the meal.
I went back to the
hotel to get myself ready to go to the hospital and as I passed Morning Sun,
the man I ordered the satti from earlier asked me in the Tausug dialect if I
was Noel. Detecting my surprise, he introduced himself as Solomon, a former
elementary school classmate in 5th grade. Of course I remembered who
he was because there was only one Solomon who was ever my classmate. We
exchanged pleasantries and stories. He also happened to know Mama lived across
the street so he asked how she was doing. I told him I was just on my way to visit
her at the hospital.
Fifth grade classmate Solomon - owner of Morning Sun Satti |
Just then, I received a text
message from Famy, a high school batchmate that her husband (an esteemed Jolo
judge, no less) was on his way to my location to deliver some durian. So I
waited for him before going to the hospital and a few minutes later, he showed
up in his SUV with a box on the roof. I was expecting durian in a plastic
container that was ready to eat and not 7 whole unopened durian fruits in a
huge box on top of a judge’s car! The durian was sent from Jolo by another
batchmate, Delia, the previous day. Oh my, my classmates sure know how to
welcome me back after having disappeared from them since 1973. The judge was on
his way to play tennis so I took the durian and brought it to my mother’s
apartment. The hotel did not want the fruit in their premises due to the smell.
I took up Mama’s landlady’s offer and moved in to the vacant apartment after
checking out from Amil’s Pension House. Then I took a tricycle ride to the
hospital to see Mama.
Aside from the nurses, Mama was
being cared for by a recently hired caregiver – Neneng, and a helper – Andrea. So
they were there attending to her needs when I arrived at the hospital. Mama was
not very talkative and was grabbing some shuteye here and there. I told her
about meeting Solomon and the durian delivery and how her apartment now smelled
of durian, so she won’t be surprised when she went back home. Neneng left
shortly (she worked the night shift) and I was left with Andrea who was busy as
usual texting with her boyfriend (Mama already informed me of this in our
telephone conversations). Well, that’s better than having no helper at all so
it was a compromise she was willing to make. Around noontime, I begged my leave
from Mama to go to lunch and also told her I was meeting my classmates at
Amil’s at 3 p.m. for a small reunion. I walked down Veterans Avenue heading
towards where the apartment was, looking for a place to eat. When I reached
Pilar Street, I was resigned to having another round of satti. That’s when I
saw Fat Belly restaurants’ offering in pictures on their front window. It
showed pyanggang, tiula itum, and kulma among the items, and I felt as if I was in Tausug heaven. I
immediately ordered one of my favorite Tausug foods – pyanggang with rice. I
polished off the first cup of rice and ordered an extra one. Oh my, was that
meal a gustatory delight! And get this, it was a low fat meal to boot. The
cost? Less than two and half bucks. I vowed to go back to that restaurant to sample
more of their offerings.
I went back to the apartment and
tried to take a nap before meeting my classmates. I heard the doorbell ring and
looked out the window. In comes Leonard whom I wasn’t expecting. Remember
classmate Leonard who visited the U.S. two years ago and whom I toured around
Shoreline Village? He just happened to check Facebook and saw that a bunch of
classmates were meeting that afternoon and having known Mama’s apartment, took
a chance and came to see if I was in. So we talked a little bit but he had to
leave. He said he would be back for the reunion at Amil’s.
Just before 3 p.m., I headed to
Amil’s and immediately saw a lone female sitting in the hotel’s eatery. It was
no other than Mimi. We hugged each other then tried to catch up about goings on
in life. The others slowly trickled in – Cecile, Lorna, Nayda, Salma, Dolly,
Famy, and Leonard (did I miss anyone?). We left Amil’s and walked a short way
downtown to look for a place to eat. Pretty soon we entered Love Life Snack
House which specialized in pastil, empanada, and halo halo and that was exactly
what we ordered. Incidentally, at least 3 of us in the group were unmarried,
thus did not have a love life. I offered to pay for the snacks but my classmates
kindly declined. The lot was already funny when communicating on Facebook and
were even funnier in real life with their facial expressions. Since I couldn’t
carry too much weight in my luggage, I passed around dollar coins to everyone
as a souvenir. After the snack, they vowed to see me again before I left
Zamboanga.
I went back to Mama’s hospital and
saw that the Nono family was back keeping her company. Together we awaited my
brother’s arrival from Manila. Well, the airline changed its schedule so Larry
didn’t arrive till 8 p.m., about the time I texted him and he responded that he
just landed.
Larry came inside Mama’s hospital
room shortly and the three of us were finally reunited after thirteen long
years. Mama mustered a weak smile when a photo of the three of us was being
taken. What was left of Iking’s family was together again.
Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
1 comment:
I remember Mama's first sentences when she saw me upon my arrival at her hospital room. She said, " I already have seen a priest. I had confession and received holy communion".
Prior to this meeting, I asked Mama over the phone if she already saw a priest and received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. She said not yet. She just received communion regularly from the Oblate nun who was ministering in the hospital.
She was a devout catholic and she proudly proclaimed, with all the strength she could muster, that she has received the holy sacraments.
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