The Caroler

 Persistent "NAMAMASKO!!!!" was repeatedly chanted in escalating voices and banging of the gate.  It was so annoying that Ana decided not to answer the commotion outside.  Jacob and Lloyd"s sleep was disrupted.

There are several kinds of carolers.  Just a few off my list:

 Savvy 1 2 3 sends a printed "soshyal" card requiring your presence in your house that same night.  They carol for the sick, the infirmed, the lonely and the dead.

The "Taynk you beery much taynk you" would call Gloria even if there is no one by that name in your household : "Glo hu hu hu hu hu, hu hu hu hu ho ri ya, inex shell shet de he yo... taynk you beery much taynk you!" 

Karaoke Gang will regale you with a portable minus one in blasting sense surround and the videoke king usually dominates the carol.  They either come in an overloaded tricycle or a jeep.

The Street Urchins from Azucena road are the regulars.  They shake their baby brother's rattle or  a DIY tambourine (fashioned from tanzans pounded to flatness and strung in a wire clipped from a neighborhood's clothesline or "sampayan").  If they get five pesos and there are 6 of them, they would be back until they can divide the money equally.  The gang will split in two or three groups in several combinations: 2-2-2, 2-3-1, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1.  This makes for a good thesis in Social Psychology.  You can always speculate through the combinations the interrelationship among the members.

Then this 'NAMAMASKO'.  They were not singing.  They were just shouting and bullying.  Attack is a better term.

Do we give but choose who to give?  Do we set conditions?  Do we succumb to the "pressure" to be generous because it is the season to share?  Do we moralize or do we judge? 

Well, irritation prevailed.   Gone was the Christmas spirit. Ana decided to fold her arms stubbornly, especially after the feral pack woke up the house monsters.  She is not going to let a coin go from the caroling fund in the jar.  It was a "human" choice.

God will not punish us for being human.  He created us to be humans. You see, when you are human, you want the house monsters to sleep! 

Lloyd went out to see the pack.  Lloyd's thoughts are always lost in translation whenever he tries to communicate in Tagalog.  Nonetheless he said something about them making so much noise, the little boys were still asleep and that they... suddenly, a  hand was waving,  one hand holding an umbrella. "Sir! Sir! Sir!" spoke her body language as she bobbed up and down behind a taller guy. 

Jacob was looking outside the bedroom windows, sleep still evident.  He was staring outside.

La Loba was there waving, one hand holding an umbrella. "Hey Sir! you know me! I know you, remember? remember me sir?  Sir! Sir!"she said without speaking.

Lloyd recognized her but got blind in his brain.  Jacob stared recognizing.

For twenty minutes, the pack was howling on a Christmas day.

The house monsters woke up one by one.

Zen moment over.

 



I

The Ending: Shades of RED

Warning!  Warning to myself:   This blog could turn out to be in the league of E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey except that I can only write about the beginning and the ending.  I will try to be minimal to be less profane and vulgar.

Shades of Red: a continuation of The Help

Sultry red:
Great body I suppose.  Well toned.  Honey skin.  Good-looking.  Petite. 

Brown red:
Masculine energy...

Brass red:
She does escrima when she sautees.  Would shock you with a recount of her state of bowel distress and discomfort right after you swallow the last scoop of dinner.  Her shock treatment ensures that she gets the attention she wants.  She was all over, groping us, bumping us.  The room was very crowded with just the two of you.

Rose red: 
Heavenly laundered clothes and sheets.  "No Downey"  I said.  She gets it.  I can wear my shirt for days and would smell as sweet as the first moment I put it on - chocolate with cream and vanilla dipped in Sakura bloom tea, for days...

La Loba:  Blood RED
Something unsettling and wild... raw sensuality, virile and steamy- while she launders our clothes or while she works downstairs saddled on the wide and deep sink or hanging our wet clothes, cleaning our windows or bringing fresh laundry to our room, her motto: "Be prepared".  She has a minimalist philosophy when working downstairs -  Her fashion is Winnie the Pooh:  with only a shirt and a short yellow one to be exact, while she hangs our clothes to dry,  Tarzan while she launders and a werewolf at different times of the day.  She transforms from red to skin.  She saw two full moons in Frogglerocks and all throughout these cycles, chaos reigned amongst the helps.  She was the most controversial, graphic and sensational creature who bathed and prowled beside the Tungtong River.    

Someone sits by the Frogglerocks bridge to nap, drink coffee or contemplate.  A shadow of a wet, half naked woman struts... waiting for her prey.  The prey is shocked and immobilized just like in the wilds.  Sugar level goes up in disbelief!  

The gardener turns into a figure of stone as her natural beauty was exposed before his eyes.  Poor one for he is so good, pure and gentle!  (NOTE:  this is only one of a number of possible scenarios)

Ana's Nightmare
A MMS was sent.  A few photos ala Playboy greeted Mister S a very Merry Christmas!  (La Loba's phone photos were actually for show to anyone she wished to flaunt her beauty to.)

Ending 

Goodbye La Loba.  Peace and quiet restored.  The night before I sent her home, she was beside a man in my kitchen.  As I entered, there was no one else excep La Loba.  "Good evening Ma'am!" she said alone.  I swear I saw!

Epilogue
I have been under the weather before she came.  My sore throat week after week was depressing.  I am in great health now.

I called a friend who's been in the dumps lately and for the first time in months, I made her very happy with my scary Christmas true story. 

An old friend came.  She did me wrong before.  She was uncomfortable at first.  I gave her a dose of La Loba story to put her at ease.

Indeed it was a great and effective antidote to depression.


HAVE A MERRY AND SAFE CHRISTMAS NENETTE AND FRIENDS!!!

The Help!

I just reminded a new maid something that is quite strange and very queer:

"you may not greet us at all times of the day" I said.

Is this irritation  part of growing old? 

She greets us "GOOD MORNING SIR/ MAM!" and that starts off our day jumpy and out of sorts as we move to the next moment of the day when she greets us another resounding GOOD MORNING MAM/SIR when we bump into her after a few steps.  And she would demand a full attention and contact as she tries to search your face to catch your eyes. 

Isn't she the happiest lark in town?  The day is further punctuated with a noon, afternoon and evening greetings and not to mention the ones in between if you happen to be around.

 She is 51, in great shape and quite handsome for a woman her age. 

She loves to hang onto the grills of the full length windows holding on to a bar or whatever slot she can hang on to with one hand, while she washes the windows with the other one like a monkey wearing red.  Except that she is also doing a Hathaway purposefully.  This she does without paying attention to her chore and while she seeks our gaze in case it meets hers.  This is now what I call a regular window show  that she happens to do during mealtime, when everyone is just hanging around in the living room or while relaxing on the bridge. 

"you may not clean the windows.  Ramil does that once a month" I said.

She sweeps while we are eating if she is not fixing my spoon and fork each time I put them down or spot checks the glasses while we are about to bring them up to our lips!

"Thank you. You may leave us while eating.  We can do this by ourselves" I said.

While in the middle of a delicate and heated meeting with my Admin team, where minds and perceptions clashed and while I was obviously not pleased, she came smiling and said, " KAKAIN NA MAM!" very coquettishly.

I almost had her for lunch and I wanted to eat her alive but only managed to say this very, very angrily, "do not do that again while we are having a meeting!!!!!!!"

A RIFA Christmas Party was held in our place the other day.  Macho Coaches and Sports Directors from Metro Manila schools came.  Some with arthritis and gout.  Others with diabetes, heart condition, high blood pressure and alzheimers.  Athletes of long gone era, EAThletes now.

Before that I gave her a brief orientation.

"Just greet once.  Not loud.  Stay out of their way.  We are not in an entertainment business.  You are not a hospitality girl.  Your work is before and after the party" I said.

(When I first met her, without asking, she told me:  "hindi ako mahilig Mam."  I am not really sure what she meant by that.)

She did alright with the greeting.  Managed to bat eyelashes as she moved around, asked a guest who just arrived what she will do with a tray of glasses (with a hi-hi-hi sir) she was carrying, just to break the ice.  She wore perfume!!

Did partly as told, she was busy after lunch was served.  She stayed in the garden where the buffet table was and ate while the coaches resumed their working Christmas party.

She ate
    and ate
        and ate
           and ate
              and ate
                 and ate
                   and ate
                      and ate as the December breeze blew her hair while she struck a pose.

Everyone who came to help were watching her from the kitchen in her moment of abandon and pure delight.  I watched her from the kitchen too.

I did not say anything.

to be continued