My Kuya Lito was based in the US. After several years, he put up his own office here in Manila so he visited every few months for a few weeks. Instead of staying in five star hotels in Makati, which he used to do, he just stayed with me and Aileen in the apartment in Basilio. The money he saved went to the payment of the apartment. The three of us shared a room, while some townmates from Binangonan stayed in the other room on the second floor.
Kuya Lito bought us an Atari (video game), a tv, etc. I furnished the apartment with a maroon carpet to match the vinyl sofa my parents bought for us. I had paintings on the wall, fresh potted plants at the entrance and in the sala, dining and plants in the tiny kitchen.
The part tiles and wooden stairs were steep. The steps were narrower than standard. I fell down the stairs every few months.
We had one maid every single time. My mom’s maids: Ima, Cora, Liza, and one more. They were rotated every few months.
Edmund was always there, he visited me practically every single day. One night, he parked his KC truck (it looked like a Ford Fiera), when he was leaving, the vehicle didn’t want to start. Someone had stolen the starter. It happened twice.
The starters cost some money too especially for the two of us. Wala naman kaming parehong pera. And that’s not his vehicle, he was only borrowing it from his father.
One time when we were in Cubao, he was worried and so upset that someone would steal the starter again. I remembered telling him to keep our faith in God na hindi na mananakaw yung starter. I think napikon sya sa akin. He told me “huwag mo ngang isama dito ang Dyos”. I just kept quiet.
I should have known that that’s not a safe place to be. Pugad ng mga magnanakaw. A couple times our jeans were stolen from the sampayan. My jeans were all made in HK or the US. Hindi pa uso nun made in China. Even if I marked the inside of my jeans with my name using Pentelpen, ninakaw pa rin, syempre.
One morning we woke up with an almost empty living room. Some guys broke into our apartment in the middle of the night and stole our colored tv, atari, computer games, electric fan, my maroon carpet. The refrigerator was already taken out of its spot but for some reason they left it behind. Maybe they ran out of space in their truck or they heard movements.
Omb standing at Basilio St. corner Espana Blvd. in Sampaloc, Manila
