HER DEVU : DEVU PREPARATIONS BREAKFAST & MORE

CHAPTER TEN DEVU PREPARATIONS, BREAKFAST AND MORE. Saturday May 3rd 1997: The sounds of the "crowing roosters" echoing everywhere woke me up just before before sunrise at 6 AM. Ate MERCY was already up, dressed, and preparing breakfast as the 'aroma" of freshly-made rice & coffee filled the entire room along with that of "smoked fish. Just outside of the window, the morning sunshine poked through the many palm trees. The sounds of children playing could be heard along with the songs of the Mann tropical birds. People were walking around carrying baskets (some on their heads) baskets of fruits, vegetables, freshly baked Filipino bread (called pan da sal). The "grunting & snorting" of neighbor's pigs in the next yards were also heard. It was getting warmer & more humid by the minute as the sun rose. Everywhere, I could see clothes hanging out to dry. Felling drowsy, I got up, walked over to the back window and looked out. Through the many coconut trees, I could see the vast open rice fields stretching all the way to the distant mountains, which loomed off in the distance. A few tiny heads and a karabow could also be seen, way off in the fields. It was a typical morning in Bikol Province, Philippines. TOM & JUDE were still sound asleep but I could then hear the wives & girls upstairs walking around, giggling, yaking along with their radio playing. JUVY'S two children were running around, while my wife & "Miss Bikol" were also yaking away in their native language of Bikolese. Filipino pop music and a commercial for Champion Cigarettes blared out: "Champion! Champion! Champion! Champion Talaga!" Just then I heard Ate MERCY call out to everyone, " Hamusna! Hamusna! Ang dito sa breakfast! Lahat lahat es mainit at sa masarap!" (English: "Come on down here! Breakfast is ready! Everything is hot & delicious!) In the middle of a commercial for San Miguel beer commercial: "De nebra ng San Miguel Beer! De numinam tuni ana laki!" The radio was immediately shut off and the sounds of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. "LUISA, JUVY Hamusna!" I heard MARIAMELDA say. "Te Kamuunah" One of them replied. (English: "LUISA, JUVY Come on down stairs! "In a minute") by now TOM, JUDE & ROGER were awake. Ate MERCY knocked upon our door "Sigue, Tito RICK, TOM, JUDE Hamusna sa breakfast" Then I heard my wife say," "Matoolog sa buong buon si asawa ko?" (English: Is my crazy husband still asleep?") Splashing some cold water on my face, I got dressed to go to breakfast. I heard MARILYN & MARIAMELDA call upstairs again to LUISA & JUVY, who were still dressing. "LUISA JUVY Hamusna! Papa RICK, JUDE at Sa TOM Ng dito!" "OO Mama! Te Kamuna! Brushing ni buhuk ko. Kasi hay buhuk ko hay pangit!" (English: I'll be down in a minute, I'm brushing my hair, because it's a mess!" was LUISA'S reply. TOM, JUDE, ROGER & I then joined our wives in the dining room and sat down at the long table which Ate MERCY had set up for breakfast. JUVY & her children came & sat at the table along with us but LUISA was still upstairs. TOM, JUDE, ROGER, & I sat in a row together opposite our wives. After thanking the Lord for the food, the huge bowl of hot, steaming rice came around, followed by a plate-full of smoked fish. Then came a plate full of langanisa (Filipino sausages.) JOHNMARK & CECIL were trying to put their little fingers into the bowl of hot rice. We were all ready to eat. Cold water & rice coffee was served for drinks. Just as I had a full plate of food, I thought I could hear someone's footsteps slowly coming down the stairs. & Then just as I was biting into a piece of langanisa, I happened to look up & there was MARIALUISA standing in the entrance to the dining room! She was so beautiful! Her long, black hair was parted down the middle with a large bouquet of white sampaguita flowers affixed to the side of her head! She wore a long white Filipina dress! (I thought that I was going to "crash" right there!) ROGER, TOM, & JUDE sat in between me and where she was standing so she may have not seen me just yet! I tried to concentrate on my food and follow along with the "bilingual" conversation. Then LUISA suddenly disappeared! Ate MERCY called out to her, " LUISA Saan Ka kopuntata?" " Sabe ni LUISA, "LUISA, Hinde gutum ni Ikaw?" "Ayoko Mama, Ang nahihiyat ko!" (English: LUISA, Where are you going?" Aren't you hungry?" " I don't want to, I am too shy!" TOM then got talking about his childhood back in Georgia and then made us all laugh with his"rendition" of his old car on his parent's farm: He started in by saying, " This is how that car sounded. "Boom! chakka..chakka. chakka. Boom chakka.. chakka - POW!" (Trying hard not to choke on my food, I started laughing at his expressions.) MARIAMELDA immediately tells me, RICHARD! Quit being gaga!" JUDE & ROGER as well as everyone else could just not help but to laugh! Meanwhile, all of the women were talking to each other in their own language of Bikolese & Tagalog on their side of the table. JUVY helped her two children, JOHNMARK & CECIL eat their rice while little MERLITA & her mother MARILYN sat together but MERLITA kept climbing down off her high chair & running over to guess who? Me! I kept saying, " MERLITA is crying! "MERLITA is crying!" "NA! NA!" She kept saying in return. Ate MERCY then called out "LUISA! Hamusna!" OO!" she softly said to her (It was while I was teasing MERLITA & chasing her around the table, that LUISA came back into the dining room & sat down next to her sister & her children. It was then that "Miss Bikol" glanced up & saw me then looked back at JUVY'S children, picked up some rice in her fingers and began to eat. I tried to be as "non-chalant" inconspicuous and relaxed as possible and not act too "self-conscious" in front of everyone here since I had that problem throughout my entire life (especially in the presence of "attractive women"!) Sitting here this morning would prove to be the " ultimate test" for me as three hefty American men and the diagonal length of a dinner table just barely kept yours truly out of the "line of sight of a Filipina beauty queen, & her first runner up older sister, in a regional beauty pageant less than two days earlier! My "saving grace" was to eat slow, act natural, not say much, and let some else "dominate" the series of bilingual conversations, which for the most part, had me miles "at sea" as for understanding everything they said to each other but the "major fear" present in my mind now while sitting & eating was that all of these Filipino people here (including "Miss Bikol" & her sister) had over-heard me speaking tagalog and a few words of Bikolese to Ate. MERCY, earlier this morning. At any second now, one of them would ask me a "basic" question in their native language that I would not understand which would then necessitate an English repeating of the "basic question" & I would sit there, feeling like an idiot! On the other hand, a question might be asked that I could easily answer in their language and get "laughed at" when I successfully answered it! So I sat and hid behind JUDE, TOM and ROGER speaking only to them thus "lowering my profile." My three man "buffer-zone worked well for a few moments or so until suddenly I "slipped & fell." I was out of rice and the bowl was located right in front of "guess who" Being way too shy to ask her directly to pass the rice, I waited for a chance to get in a word "edgewise" into the Tagalog conversation taking place on the opposite side of the table between MARILYN, NAOMI, MARIAMELDA, AIDA, & Ate. MERCY as well as the two "beauty queens." The conversations went on continuously & then AIDA was "open." Not thinking, I came right out and asked, "AIDA, Saan ang "bowl' ng kanin?" Kasi Walapa kanin Ng plate KO." (English: AIDA, Where is the bowl of rice? I don't have any more in my plate." Its not that I spoke too loud rather I spoke up right at a "lull" in their conversational subject and I was easily overheard by everyone sitting there, including LUISA & JUVY! (In order to better explain what happened next, let me take you back several years ago when I was in junior high school reading a piece of literature in English class. I was assigned to read a "short- story" entitled "Coyote Between Two Sheep" in which a coyote attempting to cross a pasture was cornered by two of the sheep that were grazing. The poor coyote found himself in a particularly embarrassing as well as dangerous situation when the sheep came running at him from two directions and he had no where to go! Well today in that dining room, I was a "coyote" caught between several "sheep" (One of whom I was "falling in love with") trying to run back behind my three-man "buffer zone" (or firewall as some would call it in today's computer world.) I was now trapped in the limelight of center-stage! (Even though this was only a dining room) Laughing, AIDA asked for the bowl of rice & LUISA graciously passes over to her but then she & Ate MERCY, overjoyed by hearing an American guy speaking (or attempting to) speak Tagalog, pulled me out from my hide out. Everyone then started laughing & asking me questions in Tagalog & Bikolese and yes, some I could not understand at all! Everyone noticed this & statted to include this man in their conversations. Everyone (including the two "Filipina beauty queens") now I was the one that was shy! Still trying to find my way back behind my "firewall" I kept getting pulled back out into the "open" when the wives (& LUISA & JUVY) kept asking me such questions as: "Bakit Ikaw buong! buon! Kahapon ng gabi?" or "Bakit ikaw "act" kagayan ng ELVIS PRESLEY or ARIEL ARIETTA?" TOM & JUDE eventually came to my rescue when they admitted that we drank a full glass of what we thought was just plain water and found out that it was hard liquor! My "aura" of shyness was now replaced by a feeling of craziness as I began to say to MARIAMELDA, " Buong Ilong Ikaw Ikaw Ilong!" to my wife as my two filipina "daughters"(JUVY & LUISA) would immediately start laughing at me! But by now I did not care. I was beginning to feel more at ease with everyone. Ten minutes later, being totally filled up, we four men went back into the living room, relaxed & talked while our wives & Ate MERCY stayed in the kitchen to help clean up. The two "beauty queens" and the children went off somewhere. Just then, I heard a "knock" at the front door. MARIAMELDA & NAOMI went to answer it. It was GINA & her two children O'SHUN & ISIS! (ROB, her husband had to stay behind back in Washington State, due to his military assignments and was not able to make this trip.) Now there would be five little children running around here! JOHNMARK, O'SHUN, CECIL, ISIS & MERLITA! as well as three "beauty queens" here now which I would have to somehow find a way to spoil! LUISA, JUVY, & GINA! Immediately seeing me, GINA come running over & hugged me saying, "My Lolo RICK!" I answered her in return. Komo I nay GEE GEE! Hinde sabemo!! Seguro se sabe ni JUVY at sa LUISA, "Lolo RICK kasi ikaw at sa sabemo ikaw"Lolo RICK!" (English: GINA. Be quiet! Don't call me that because if LUISA & JUVY hear you saying that, they'll both start calling me "grandpa" also, because you are saying "Lolo RICK" GINA just started laughing and started calling me that all the more so I covered up my ears! GINA then went off into the kitchen to talk to MARIAMELDA and the other wives, who were still in the kitchen while O'SHUN & his sister ISIS went running around in the dining room & played. Fifteen minutes later, GINA came back into the living room where we men were. She wanted to know where LUISA & JUVY were. " Lolo RICK, Saan se delawang batit mo?"Gustoko ng meet LUISA at sa JUVY!" (English: Grandpa RICK, Where are your two daughters? I want to meet LUISA & JUVY?"Going back into the kitchen, I then asked MARIAMELDA, if they knew where LUISA & JUVY were: "Honey, Saan se LUISA & JUVY?" Sabe ni MARIAMELDA, "Hinde ko alam pero seguro JUVY & LUISA pumutatay salabas nasa adoon ng backyard. Juga se anak se JUVY" (English: I'm not sure where they went, they may have gone outside in the backyard to play with JUVY's children." GINA & I looked out through the back window. There they were! I pointed out to her who was LUISA & then JUVY. Sabe ni GINA, " Hoy Delawa batit mo hay maganda pero LUISA hay magayon! (English: RICK, Your two daughters are both pretty but LUISA is beautiful! Cecil was taking a nap & JOHNMARK was playing with his toy truck. JUVY was cleaning the yard "Miss Bikol was hanging some of the children's clothes on the backyard clothesline. GINA & I both walked down the back steps and outside into the yard where they were. I then reminded GINA one more time to not call me Lolo RICK while I introduced her to the two "beauty queens"but in the back of my mind, I knew exactly what she was going to say. Startled a little by our sudden presence, LUISA looked up & then asked me in her soft sweet voice, Papa RICK, Sinoto?' Sabeko, LUISA Ang dito se bigan ni nanay mo at sa ako pagaling sa GINA! I then introduced them GINA Ang dito se MARIALUISA LOTA. Adoon nasa sister ni LUISA pagaling sa JUVITA LOTA FEDERESSO. JUVY came over to meet GINA and then the three of them started talking to each other in Bikolese as well as Tagalog. After I thought that they'd been introduced, I thought that I'd go back upstairs to the living room to rejoin the other men but just as I was trying to leave, GINA calls out to me, " Lolo RICK, Saan ka pumuntata?' (English: Papa RICK whose this?"This is GINA, A friend of your mother & I." GINA this is my daughter MARIALUISA LOTA & her sister MARIAJUVITA LOTA FEDERESSO. LUISA immediately upon hearing the name Lolo RICK caught onto it in an instant! Then all three "beauty queens" laughed at me and "labeled me Lolo RICK. Sabeko, " GINA Goloongung! Sigue! Although she was still a little shy yet, LUISA started teasing me with that new name! As both her & JUVY started laughing at my facial expression. Laughing & "grinding my teeth, I thought to myself, "Darn that GEE GEE!! I'm going back upstairs now and join those other men but again as I tried to leave LUISA (flirting & pushing back some of her long black hair.) asks me, " LOLO RICK, Saan ka kopuntata?" Te kamuna stay nang dito!" "Bakit Hinde mo sabeko?" (English: Grandpa RICK Where are you going? Wait a minute! Stay here & talk to us! Why aren't you talking to me?") Blushing a little when she asked me, I then answered, "Kasi, Ako konte alang nahihiyat kagayan se ikaw!"(She then tried to deny her shyness! Then with a smile that suggested a laugh, LUISA "opened up" to me asking, " "Lolo RICK, Bakit ikaw buwong buwong! nasa living room kagayan ng gabi?" LUISA was no longer shy to me at all now but I could tell that she was still too shy to talk to the other guys upstairs (& even somewhat afraid to TOM as I overheard her talking to JUVY & GINA, Even referring to him as a "gurilliyah!" (I finally answered LUISA'S question: Kasi hinde alam ng vaso adoon nasa refigerator seguro kasi ako ng vaso hay tibi pero sa liquor na sa vaso! Gising na mama ikaw kasi wala matooloog ng musika!" (When we opened up the refrigerator last night we saw glassed that we thought had water in them but when we drank it, we found out that it was hard liquor instead!" Immediately "Miss Bikol" answers, " Lolo RICK, Lahat lahat ikaw Buong ka! Ng vaso nasa adoon refrigerator es por ng party bukas!" (English: RICK, You guys are all crazy! "Those glasses in the refrigerator were for the party tomorrow!" Mama is angry at you all for waking us up with your singing!" You guys were all drunk!" GINA & JUVY were laughing at me again! Laughing, LUISA was now getting "critical" of my mistaking water for liquor! "Gising na nanay ko ng ikaw " (English: "mama is mad at you.") JUVY & GINA just stood there and laughed. " That's my Lolo RICK!" she then replied. At that very instant, I looked up at the window, TOM & JUDE were looking out at us. Feeling like I wanted now to show off in front of " Miss Bikol" I grabbed one of the shaneses off the line, wrapped it around myself. Swinging my arms back & forth like a "hula dancer, I yelled as loud as I could, " Hawai ke ke!" All three girls went hysterical laughing! LUISA now totally embarrassed, grabbed the shanese away from me, saying with a laugh, RICK, Ikaw baklot!" buong! buon!" Smiling as well as laughing, JUDE & TOM just shook their heads! Well I thought that I'd better get back upstairs with the other men. (My Filipina daughter, her sister and GINA must have been totally convinced now that I was "out of it". (Well what would you do if you were sitting next to and flirting with a 21-year old Filipina beauty queen, her "first runner up" sister in their back yard together? I seriously doubt if you'd just sit there & say nothing like a "wooden indian"now. Would you?