Anecdotes
My father was literally driving down the memory lane last weekend when we went to his ancestral home in Manila. And it felt weird that being with him all my life didn’t guarantee no surprises. Maybe because it’s hard to see people, especially parents, as separate people other than the context we’ve already been given to see them with.
Anyhow, my Daddy said he used to get arrested for climbing roofs. For no particular reason. He just liked climbing roofs, he told my sister when she asked why. This was sometime when Martial Law was still in effect. Then one night as he was climbing his house’s veranda patrolmen happened to come by, and instantly they were on his element, pointing a rifle at him and threatening to shoot him. Panicked, with one leg still hanging over the railing, he knocked at his parents’ bedroom window with all the sense of urgency he could muster while calling out a very frightened “’Tay, Tay!” simultaneously. My grandfather woke just in time, and after affirming my Dad was his son and not some thief, he settled the score of abbreviated slumber by giving my Dad a whack in the head.
It has become my favorite anecdote about my Daddy since.
***
Wake blues, as told by my Uncle Nonoy to my Dad:
A group of fags, friends of his older “brother/sister” Herby, huddled in a table for a drinking session. They were a boisterous lot. The baranggay tanod looking things over just shook his head, sat in a corner, and watched. A few hours later another group would take the same place after its other occupants had gone. They were a bunch that drank rather heavily, and to the tanod’s admiration, quietly. So the tanod approached Uncle Nonoy and said, “Buti pa ‘tong grupong ‘to, hindi katulad nung mga maiingay na bakla kanina. Ang tahimik.” Uncle Nonoy looked at the group the tanod was referring to, and upon seeing which group it was, could not help but laugh. His reply was, “Paano naman pong hindi tahimik e mga pipi po yan.” [1]
[1] Uncle Nonoy’s younger sister Rowena is mute [2]. It was her crowd that the tanod was mistakenly raving about.
[2] Both amazing and puzzling fact: My Aunt Rowena’s husband is mute as well. They have two children now—and surprisingly, both can speak normally.
Anyhow, my Daddy said he used to get arrested for climbing roofs. For no particular reason. He just liked climbing roofs, he told my sister when she asked why. This was sometime when Martial Law was still in effect. Then one night as he was climbing his house’s veranda patrolmen happened to come by, and instantly they were on his element, pointing a rifle at him and threatening to shoot him. Panicked, with one leg still hanging over the railing, he knocked at his parents’ bedroom window with all the sense of urgency he could muster while calling out a very frightened “’Tay, Tay!” simultaneously. My grandfather woke just in time, and after affirming my Dad was his son and not some thief, he settled the score of abbreviated slumber by giving my Dad a whack in the head.
It has become my favorite anecdote about my Daddy since.
***
Wake blues, as told by my Uncle Nonoy to my Dad:
A group of fags, friends of his older “brother/sister” Herby, huddled in a table for a drinking session. They were a boisterous lot. The baranggay tanod looking things over just shook his head, sat in a corner, and watched. A few hours later another group would take the same place after its other occupants had gone. They were a bunch that drank rather heavily, and to the tanod’s admiration, quietly. So the tanod approached Uncle Nonoy and said, “Buti pa ‘tong grupong ‘to, hindi katulad nung mga maiingay na bakla kanina. Ang tahimik.” Uncle Nonoy looked at the group the tanod was referring to, and upon seeing which group it was, could not help but laugh. His reply was, “Paano naman pong hindi tahimik e mga pipi po yan.” [1]
[1] Uncle Nonoy’s younger sister Rowena is mute [2]. It was her crowd that the tanod was mistakenly raving about.
[2] Both amazing and puzzling fact: My Aunt Rowena’s husband is mute as well. They have two children now—and surprisingly, both can speak normally.
posted by hija_giovanna at 1:01 AM
2 Comments:
i've been typing and then hitting backspace.
parang i should be talking to you over drinks at sted's and we'd be laughing and drunk.
yeah, let's! i know there's not much replacing sted's but maybe we could find someplace that will come close.
oh well, reunion is near. next tuesday, the 27th? maybe it's high time we pull a dumaguete drukenness/ senseless laugh trip stint again. now at least that's something to look forward to=)
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