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.

 



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