The sun is about to set while tired farmers begin to walk their way home. Several children are still playing but the rest are silent. Billows of smoke from the burning incense fill the small hut. The scent reaches outside where a long line of hopeful patients are anxiously waiting. Most of them have travelled a long way just to reach the place. Tatang Selmo is the only faith healer in the barrio.
Finally it is Lina’s turn. She ducks under the curtained doorway and sits on the couch made of bamboo where countless customers had sat on with similar hopes of being cured of their ailments. She feels the uneven surface of the bamboo seat with her hands wrinkled by her day-long laundry job. The wind suddenly strikes her gray hair, covering her tired face.
Before her are odd figures formed by drops of melting candle floating on a basin half-filled with tap water. The old man picks the figures and inspects it.
“Wag ka na ulit dadaan sa may malalaking punong ‘yon. Delikado.”
“Bakit ho?”
“Pinamumugaran iyon ng mga masasamang espiritu. Naiingayan sila ng iyong mga yapak. ”
Tata Selmo rummages around his small hut that has grown weary with time. After some time, he finally finds in one of the shelves the perfect concoction to drive away Lina’s peace-loving tree dwellers. He emerges from the back of his abode where he keeps all his ornaments and charms.
“Kunin mo ‘to”
She gingerly reaches for the vial containing the medicine Tata Selmo made himself out of rare herbal plants. Lina sips the potion, the same potion her mother used to remedy her illnesses when she was still a child. “Anak, sumasakit na naman ba ang tiyan mo?,” her mother would often ask her.
“Opo, kakagaling ko lang kina Tata Selmo,” Lina answers out of habit.
Even the moment her mother was in her deathbed, Tata Selmo seemed to be the sole person who could relieve them from their despair. Up to the time she married and had several children and grandchildren, until now that she’s in her late fifties and ill, she still turns to the old man’s ability to cure.
Lina gets over with the medicinal drink and passes back the vial, “Magkano ho?”
The old man abruptly replies, “tulad lang ng dati.”
She fishes for the coins in her pocket, finally having a grasp of four five-peso coins and hands them over to him.
“Buti naman natapos din,” she hears from an old man next in line as she walks out of Tata Selmo’s hut. Lina simply shrugs and goes her way.
Following Tata Selmo’s advice, she chose to tread a new route, roughly three kilometers longer than the usual. It was dark and eerie. The night was getting colder and colder. But she had to endure the distance since houses in the barrio are greatly dispersed.
Lina passed by a small field where cockfights are held. A cockfight has just been over.
“Hay naku! Ano ba namang mga tao yan. Hiarap na nga sa buhay, panay pa rin sa kakasugal. Alam naman nila na bihira ang nananalo, kadalasan pa nga puro talo. Pero heto pa rin sila. Sa sabong umaasa,” Lina tells herself.
From a distance there were voices of playing children, a man yelling over the kids’ laughter.
She was not wrong; it’s the typical setup in their house – her husband, drunk again after gambling in a cockfight, infuriated with the kids’ noise.
On the other side of their small house, are her four grandchildren of sequential ages. Her eldest daughter, Elisa, married early and raised her kids alone, but still lives at her parents’ house. Ely, on the other hand, the second among her children is almost in his twenty’s but still struggles in high school. Finally, the youngest is Emilie. She is diligent in her studies and the only hope of the family to be alleviated from their present situation.
One of the grand children notices her arrival and rushes to her.
“Nanay Lina, mano po,” other grandchildren followed reaching for her hand and asking her blessing.
“Kaawaan kayo nang Panginoon,” Lina says while signalling them to go ahead and continue what they were doing before she came about.
Emelie, after hearing her mother’s voice, hurries inside from the back of their house preparing for the next day’s lessons. She kissed her mother’s hand and went back to put away her things to help her mother get ready for dinner.
“Naroroon na naman ba si Kuya Ely mo kila aling Magda? Hay naku ‘yang si kuya mo. Paano pa yan makakagradweyt kung panay ang pagbabarkada? Hala, sige! Tawagin mo na’t makakain na tayo.”
“Opo ma,” Emelie irksomely answers.
Emelie was forced to go on her way to Aling Magda’s house which is about four hundred meters from their house. The way she was travelling was very dimly lit by incandescent bulbs positioned in distanced gaps, flickering, on and off. She feels the cool wind of the night fondling her skin and sweeping her long hair to her back. The ambiance suddenly changed her mood from being so exasperated, to the feeling of placidity as she leisurely makes her way to where his brother is hanging around. She gaits her way to Ely under the beautiful crescent and twinkling stars that add to the illumination of the yellow light from the posts.
Fifteen minutes has passed since Emelie left home and finally arrives at the façade of Aling Magda’s almost-demolished domicile.
“Tao po… Tao po... Aling Magda… Aling Magda?” Emelie calls from the outside.
“Sino yan?”
A woman almost as old and wrinkled as her mother looked out of the doorway shoving the curtains that served as the house’s main door.
“O, Emelie. Ikaw pala ‘yan. Halika pumasok ka muna. Gabi na ah? Anong mabuting hangin ang nagdala sa iyo dito?” asked Aling Magda after recognizing Emelie’s presence.
“Hinahanap ko po si Kuya Ely. Dumating na po kasi si nanay galing sa paglalabada kila Ma’am Evelyn at inutusan po akong hanapin si kuya. Kakain na po kasi kami. Nandito po ba si kuya?”
“Ganoon ba? Si Ely nasa likod-bahay kasama ang anak kong si Jun-jun at iba pa nilang mga kaibigan. Kaarawan daw kasi ni Boyet, ‘yong kaibigan nila na nagtatrabaho sa bayan. Ayun, dito sa bahay napiling mangambala,” Aling Magda smirks. “Sandali lang at tatawagin ko ang kuya mo. Dito ka na muna sa loob.”
Emelie enters the hut as Aling Magda hurried to their backyard. While Aling Magda calls her brother, she sees photographs of Aling Magda’s family—Jun-jun and Mang Karding who is currently in another town working as a construction worker. The picture is old and almost faded, displayed on top of the television set, the one that displays grained, blurred, and black and white images. They were lucky to have owned a television set. Their family was one of the five households with goggle-box out of thirty three kinfolks. Fortunate as well they were to be one of the few families who are not blathered about in their barrio because of their family’s good reputation and good terms with almost everyone in the barrio.
Aling Magda then appears from the backdoor, still shielded by another piece of curtain, with Jun-jun supporting Ely to stand erect.
“Nasobrahan ‘ata si Ely. Buti pa samahan ko na kayo pauwi. Gabi na at delikado. Baka kung mapa’no pa kayo,” suggested Jun-jun.
“Lagot ka kuya kay Papa! Ha ha ha!,” Emelie teased his brother who doesn’t seem to hear anything now because of drunkenness.
Jun-jun immediately left, worried because he left his mother alone in their almost devastated house, as Ely and Emelie reached home. Their father, Mang Eleno was almost asleep and snoring at the old and rugged sofa which Lina got from her parents’ old house. At least Ely is safe now from his father’s wrathful words.
Elisa is already home from work. She is seated at one of the spaces around their small dining table with her children gathered around the same table waiting for Lina, Emelie and Ely to sit and join them in feasting over sautéed kangkong and fried tuyo which Lina bought before she went to Tata Selmo’s healing sanctuary.
Finally, everyone is seated, with Mang Eleno’s exception who had comfortably fallen into slumber in his ‘throne’. Emelie led uttering the graces before the meal. There was silence for a while but not for long.
“Ma, matamlay ka. May sakit ka po ba? Masama ho ba pakiramdam mo?” Elisa dearly asked.
“Pagod lang siguro yan si mama sa paglalabada. Hayaan mo ma, kapag nakapagtapos na ko nang pag-aaral, aalis na tayo sa dampang ito,” assured Emelie.
“Ang mga anak kong ito, oo. Ayos lang ako. Medyo nakaramdam lang ako ng kaunting hilo at sakit ng ulo kanina. Pero ‘wag na kayong mag-alala. Nanggaling na ako kay Tata Selmo at pinainom niya na rin ako nung gamut na ipinainom sa akin nang lola ninyo noong bata pa ako. Medyo bumuti na rin nga ‘yung pakiramdam ko.”
Ely remained quiet still feeling his head hurt because of too much drink. Elisa’s children, having not a clue on what they were talking about, continued chomping on their dinner.
As they finished dinner, Ely zigzagged to the small partition of their house where beddings was prearranged by Lina while they were out earlier. Emelie washed the dishes for she was assigned that task on that night. Elisa nursed her youngest child and lulled the others to sleep. Lina sat and lazed beside her sleeping husband still feeling her head ache a little.
The sun’s heat wakened Lina. She woke up late that morning. She found herself unexpectedly curled up restfully on the couch where her husband was supposed to be. Elisa was out again for work. Ely, Emily and three of Elisa’s kids were now in school and the other one was already outside, playing with other youngsters. And her husband, out of their house caressing the rooster he takes care of for cockfighting.
“Mas madalas niya pang himasin yang manok kaysa ako,” Lina thought.
Today is Lina’s day off from work. Mrs. Evelyn let her take the day off knowing that Lina was not feeling very well yesterday. Tata Selmo’s concoction was effective. Not even a slight headache is her sentiment.
“Maaasahan talaga ‘yang si Tata Selmo. Magaling na ako.”
She then started with the household chores. Lina put in order all the beddings they have used from last night’s sleep. She washed used plates and utensils her school children made use of for breakfast which Ely intentionally forgot to do. She swept their wooden floor and scrubbed it with a coconut husk. Her days off from the laundry job weren’t always days off from work. Sometimes, taking the day off is more tiresome than just laundrying.
Chores were almost done now. She’s finally just waiting for the Rice to be cooked and she’s taking a little rest in the comfy couch.
“Aling Lina… Aling Lina… Tao po…” a person from outside interrupted her little nap.
“Sino ‘yan?... O, Alyssa napadalaw ka? Pasok ka muna,” Lina responded as she identifies her niece. Alyssa was her brother’s only daughter who was quite well-off.
“O, gusto mo ba ng maiinom? Anong gusto mo? Pasensiya ka na iha sa bahay namin. Hindi kasing ganda ng inyo.”
“Ayos lang po. Kahit ano. May proyekto po kasi kami diyan sa kabilang barrio kaya naisipan ko pong dumaan muna dito. Matagal ko na rin po kasi kayo at ng mga pinsan kong hindi nakikita.”
“Hayaan mo’t parating na ang mgapinsan mo. Tanghali na. Dito ka na rin mananghalian.”
“Hindi na po. Paalis na rin naman po ako e. hininhintay na po kasi ako ng mga kasamahan ko.”
“A ganoon ba iha? O sige. Mag-iingat ka ha. Ikumusta mo na rin ako sa mommy at daddy mo.”
Alyssa kissed her aunt’s hand and bid goodbye. Shortly after Alyssa had left, Ely came home carrying Emelie, shaking and cold.
“O, napa’no ‘yan si Emelie? Diyos ko! Dali! Dalhin na natin siya kay Tata Selmo!,” Lina hastily went out with Ely still carrying his sister trembling.
They took the short cut to Tata Selmo’s small hut to be there as soon as possible, Lina forgetting what Tata Selmo had adviced her to do.
They went in and passed over other patients in line who came for Tata Selmo’s healing rituals and potions. There they let Emelie lie on the same bamboo settee where Lina used to sit on for healing. The same scent of smoke filled the air. Same kind of incense was lighted. Words of Latin-like sound were uttered and the same concoction Lina used to guzzle was tried to put in Emelie’s system.
Finally Emelie stopped trembling. Eerie silence filled the surrounding, only the sound of the air whizzing the trees’ leaves are heard. There, Emelie who was the passport of Lina’s family of liberation from poverty is not anymore breathing, her heart stopped beating; there on the same hard bamboo couch where many were healed held a lifeless girl.
“Kasi hindi sinunod ni Lina ‘yung payo ni Tata Selmo. Dumaan sila sa may malaking puno.”
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