Taytay is 10 minutes away so I went to their public market and bought 15 kilos of assorted fish endemic to Laguna de Bay. We brought a big cooler where we put all the fish and P20 crushed ice.
I don’t go deep into the market. I usually buy from the vendors closest to where we park the vehicle.
This is Arlene, 19 years old, high school grad. Her lolo and lola own the fish stall. She and her two brothers work here for P100 each per day or P50 for half-day work.
This is Arlene’s Kuya Ariel, 22, didn’t finish college. I encouraged him to go back to school
“Sayang naman Ariel, 2 years na lang, tyagain mo na”.
“oo nga ho”
“At huwag ka munang mag-aasawa o ingatan mong wag mabuntis ang girlfriend mo, at sana pag nag-asawa kayo dalawa lang ang anak, wag gumaya sa tatay at nanay nyo, labing-apat”.
“Ang dami nga ho”.
Their family lives in a house owned by their grandparents and split into two- One side for their grandparents, their other children, children-in-law and grandchildren, and the other half is occupied by Arlene, her 13 other siblings, her parents, her sister-in-law. There are 40 people living in that house. Their mother is 42 years old and their youngest sibling is baby Frederick, nine months old.
They are not sure whether their mother would still give birth in the future.
They told me they all sleep on the floor and when one stands-up to pee, someone else would take his place.
And if you come home late, you won’t have anymore food. They consume 3 kilos of rice per meal, only because half of their siblings eat less because they are still little.
Those who are dancing in Ubando, those having difficulty getting pregnant, those who take fertility pills, those who are contemplating on having test tube babies, go first to Arlene’s house and interview the parents. Paano ba? Sa ilalim ba ng batya, naka tingala ba sa buwan, dahil ba sa tilapia? Go ask questions. Get some helpful tips on making babies. They sure have a baby factory.
I will try to shake this thing off my head, kasi napi freak-out ako. During the time of President Marcos, there’s a Population Control Commission, dapat meron din ngayon nyan. My daughter said to me last week, we should have a Mazda Makati RH Bill, every year kasi lagi kaming merong young female employees getting pregnant out of wedlock and/ male employees getting their girlfriends preggy.
We brought home all the fish before going to Cardinal Santos.
Inis naman ako, I saw Dr. Agas
Dr.——- Oh, bakit ka narito.
A——— pina test ko lang sugar ko.
Dr——– Buntis ka ba?
{o} !
I had my glucose tested.
My last meal was at 9 am and it was already 3 pm when I reached the hospital kaya pwede, kasi dapat 6 – 8 hours fasting.
I paid extra to expedite the results in one hour.
The results were within normal range but still very high, 106 out of a ceiling of 110.
Those who don’t have this kind of concerns and have never been required to undergo glucose tests, 106 means Sago at Gulaman in panutsa, home-made avocado ice candy (by yours truly), halo-halo, and ube cake.
Oh, please add isang bandehadong kanin for breakfast and dinner.
