Wednesday, January 24, 2007
CAGED AND CONFUSED
I was originally planning to post the second part of my entry about paranormal experiences, but at the last minute decided to save it for another day to lighten things up a bit.Anyway, while in Quiapo the other day, I chanced upon a street vendor at Palanca Street and took a picture of his merchandise — local Maya birds and those gray ones called Jaba from China. The Maya sells for twenty pesos each, while the Chinese birds, P200.
When I was a kid, I had two cages of about a dozen Mayas. It wasn’t because I was breeding them that I had that many; my father bought me one every Sunday after church. I also had another cage with only a single black bird that I trained how to emulate my whistling.
At that time, my brother Taba was studying at FEU (Far Eastern University). I was fascinated when I watched him as he practiced at home how to properly dissect a frog for his biology class. I was intrigued and planned to do the same thing. So one afternoon while some siblings were out and the other folks at home were napping, I grabbed Taba’s tool set and proceeded to practice not with a frog but with one of my pet birds that I drowned in a tub of water. It was a mess, for I had no idea what I was doing.
As I finished cleaning up, I was suddenly overcome with remorse for having killed one of my pet Mayas. It also felt as if my other birds had nothing but fear and anger towards me. To show how sorry I was for what I did, I opened the door of each cage and set them all free, including the large black bird. Funny thing was, throughout the rest of the afternoon, no one even noticed that all my three cages were now empty.
That evening when my father came home from work, I sat next to him and told him the truth. Much to my delight, he didn’t get upset at all. He just sat there quietly as always as he smoked his pipe.
Since then, I never again did any act of cruelty on any other animal, except on my father’s nasty cat that I used to douse with water hoping it would rain immediately afterwards so I didn’t have to go to school. And even though a fan of western movies and TV shows, I was never fascinated enough to join my father on any of his trips to hunt for boars up in the mountains of Subic. Although my father taught all of us how to handle a gun, I was glad he never forced anyone of us to hunt and shoot some poor animals. Nonetheless, to this day, I still cringe whenever I remember how I had killed that poor bird just to play doctor on him.
So there you go, Niceheart, the third thing you might not want to know about me.
posted by Señor Enrique at 8:38 AM
18 Comments:
-
said... ei eric, the only thing I want to know about you is your mobile phone number :)
much like Ferdz and R.O. and the rest of my friends I can text for instant, unplanned photo-ops and travel.
I've yet to know if the clark hot air baloon festival involves fees.-
said...
I am enjoying this installment, Eric. That's funny how you would douse your cat with water hoping it would rain and skip school. Glad to hear that you never hurt another animal after playing doctor with the bird.
-
said...
Hahaha! This made my day. For a while I was feeling gloomy after reading one of Niceheart's archives, having some association with it.
This is the third one na? Ano yung first?
Anyway, thanks for dropping by my site, I got your comment, I don't know if there was some miracle that it appeared and not eaten as spam. But I'm embarrassed about my secrets, Eric. I think I will write a new post right now to offset it. Hehehe-
sunkissed said... wawa naman. i never liked seeing the spray-painted chicks and mayas!
-
Señor Enrique said...
Sige, Tito, email ko sayo.
I've started talking to some fellow photo enthusiasts about the hot air balloon festival bu no defnite date yet.
Since it'll be great if we could get there before dawn and leave at night to enjoy the entire presentation, I thought of us renting a van with driver an we'd all just split the cost.
Let me know what you think>-
Señor Enrique said...
That cat was my numero uno nemesis, Irene. She was really mean and nasty, but would be so nice only to my father -- no one else. She used to steal my fried fish that I would have for lunch before going to school (most of my elementary years were in the afternoon). But she had a kitten that eventually became my pet so we eventually called it quits with our battles.
Glad you're enjoying the way I'm responding to your tag :)-
Señor Enrique said...
The first, Rhoda, was my entry, Glass Medals.
I tried leaving a comment this morning, but received that same rejection message ... hhhmmpfff. And you said you got it?
Very interesting pa naman mga entries mo and I really want to put in my two cents, eka nga :)-
Señor Enrique said...
I don't like them getting spray-painted, either, G. Knotee. I think it's silly and cruel.
-
said...
Children nowadays don't know how to give importance to animals. Maybe because of lack of school and parents' values. :( I hope they realize soon that animals and nature are our best friends. Great post!
-
Sidney said...
Minimal fee involved in the clark hot air baloon festival.
Program of activities on pinoytravelblog.
If possible don't go during the weekend as it can get crowded.
Sorry for this shameless plug but I saw the question on tutubi's comment.
To be honest I wouldn't have expected this from you! ;-) Good this killing opened you eyes and that you didn't turned out a serial killer !
As usual a very lovely and well written story. Many of your stories are bitter sweet. I like this!-
Señor Enrique said...
I hope that better awareness programs are also initiated in our loocal schools to encourage chilren to be kinder to animals, LAR. Such programs can make a big difference in the long run.
-
Señor Enrique said...
You never know, Sidney, something might just trigger that dark side of mine -- that serial killer personality ... hahaha.
I have another bitter sweet story coming up.
Yes, I thought about a Thursday or Friday would be the most ideal to attend that hot air balloon festival.
Are you planning on going this year?-
said...
When I was a boy we used to put firecrackers ( lebentador) on frogs' mouths and blow them up :( Boy I did for fun but was heartless and sadistic to the max :( I realized as the grew older how stupid I was. I felt guilt and remorse too which was important becuase it meant I recognized my stupidity.
-
Señor Enrique said...
That was funny, though very sadistic, indeed, BW! Now I feel better; I thought I was mean ... hahaha! But then again, kids sometimes don't see the line between fun and mean.
-
Sidney said...
I don't think I will go this year. It is worth to see it once but then it gets a bit boring. Of course I would go if I could fly with one of them !
-
Señor Enrique said...
I understand, Sidney. And from what I hear, to cover the event fully, one has to be there for the early morning launch and then the late evening arrival. Actually, I'm drawn more to a kite flying festival.
-
-= dave =- said...
When I was a kid, I've done worse to animals...and insects...and other critters. The creatures that died quickly under my hands were the lucky ones. But I did some nice stuff too like adopt kittens (although I usually harass cats, they look funny when troubled, I'm kinder to dogs) and raise hatchlings (because I snatched them from the nest in the first place). That black talking/whistling bird must be a mynah (if it has a yellow beak) or a martinez (white beak, had one as a pet) or a crow (all black). Is it obvious that birds are my favorite pets? I especially like those intelligent talking ones, and I'm amazed by birds of prey.
At present, I'm a harmless creature, but just like you, still harbor some violence within. It's like we both have Kenshin's dark side: Battousai the Slasher (this is from an anime entitled "Rouruni Kenshin" or "Samurai X").-
Señor Enrique said...
Martinez, Dave. That was what I had! But now I'm intrigued and would like to have a Mynah now that you've mentioned it, but I'm afraid the roving cats in the yard might kill it even though it is in a cage.
My parents had a talking parrot when I was very young. BTW, at CNN the other day, they kept showing this parakeet who does amazing tricks.
At my age, Dave, it'd find it too straineous to even think of committing violent stuff; too much work ... hahaha!
