Saturday, November 26, 2005
BY ALING MEDING
I left my husband, mind you; she, on the other hand, was abandoned by her husband. The fool ran off with his secretary. Not only that, her daughters decided to live with their father, not with her. That should tell you enough about Manang Seta!So, what is so wrong about my expecting her to help me out? She has money; I don’t. Yes, I admit if it wasn’t for her and our brother, Edward, none of my children would have gone on to college. I thank them very much, but hey, I have six grandchildren now and you know how fast time flies. Before you know it, they’ll be getting ready for college as well.
She’s telling me she has to be careful with her money and stuff, but look where she bought herself a condo; in fancy Ayala Avenue! And she got herself a brand new Civic too. By the way, when I was with her checking out some condos when she first got here in Manila, I thought she would get a two-bedroom for the two of us. Lo and behold! All along she only wanted a one-bedroom condo just for herself. How selfish!
And so what’s wrong with my padding up the actual costs of her furniture and appliances? That was a lot of work doing all that shopping for her. I got to make money somehow, no? And don’t worry she got plenty. I was with her when she opened a dollar account and a peso checking account at BPI. I was told to wait outside the manager’s office so, I didn’t really find out the exact amount, but I’m sure it was big. You should have seen those bank personnel treating her like royalty.
Don’t you worry about my oldest son, Edgar. He’s fine. He knows what he wants from his life. He’s quite a looker and there ain’t nothing wrong if he wanted to marry a rich girl. The boy deserves it. He’s a college graduate and one of these days he’ll pass his board exam. I know he failed three times already, but he wasn’t feeling so good when he took them. The boy was down with the flu. So, just let him be. He told me one time, “You know, mommy? I’ll take care of you. Promise!” That’s my baby boy!
And don’t you get me started with the money my kids borrowed from Manang Seta, now. They got themselves in a jam, you know. Times are bad these days. And that old hag had the audacity to make my kids feel ungrateful whenever they ask her for another loan or something. Well, she would tell them they should learn to be more careful with their spending habits and that they should be saving some money, too … blah, blah, blah.
Now, how does she expect the kids to save when they ain’t got no money to begin with? So, can you blame my kids if they don’t want to see their aunt no more?
I got to go. I have to take the grandchildren to see Harry Potter. Don’t wait up for us. We’ll all eat at the mall after the movie.
Bye, sweetie!
Labels: Fiction
posted by Señor Enrique at 8:16 AM
2 Comments:
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said... Enrique, you are a very good story teller - characters straight from an afternoon dula (radio plays.) I am familiar with these two characters in real life - well, perhaps, with differences in magnitude. Attitudes of characters, however, including Aling Medings children require a heavy dose of "thinking big." :}
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Señor Enrique said... You might be too young, but please ask your mom about Tiya Dely. My mom's Sony transistor would always be blasting her radio show in the afternoons while I was napping. I guess, I was subconsciously absorbing most of it even in my slumber.
Oh yes ... thinking big, you got it!
Thanks, Noel!
