Fiction: Road (Part 4 of 4)

(Note: The third part appeared the previous Monday.)

AS IT had been for the past few weeks, Marian found Tony under the tree, waiting for her. They smiled at each other.

Tony joined Marian on the road, and they walked together downhill. “Indeed, it’s just a matter of being used to,” Tony said, “waking up early.”

“I told you,” Marian said. “There is nothing more beautiful than the morning.” She breathed the air. “Everything looks fresh and new. Anything seems possible.”

“You talk weird again,” Tony said. They both chuckled. “But I agree. The leaves look so green and had dew on them. It’s cool to the eyes. I didn’t know what I had been missing until you inspired me to wake up early.”

Both of them fell silent. Marian had heard the word inspired clearly, but she did not want to assume too much. She said, “Well, as much as we should enjoy the view, we should hurry up. We might be late.”

Tony chuckled. “It’s still so early. We would be the first ones in school. Tony’s voice lowered as he finished the sentence. Something caught his attention.

Marian looked ahead, at what Tony was staring, and saw Janice at the fork of the road.

“Just ignore her,” Tony said.

“So it’s true,” Janice said as soon as Tony and Marian were near her. “You come to school together early.”

“Leave us alone, Janice,” Tony said. He and Marian kept on walking, but Janice blocked their way.

“Did you dump me for that Manoba?” Janice told Tony.

“Don’t call her that. She has a name.”

“She’s a Manoba, and I want to call her that. How dare you break up with me because of that filthy girl.”

“Enough, Janice. I left you because of your attitude. It has nothing to do with Marian.”

“So it’s Marian now. You used to call her Manoba when you talked to me about her.”

“Shut up, Janice.”

“Janice,” Marian butted in, “Tony and I are just friends. You have no reason to be mad at me.”

“Friends?” Janice told Marian. “Do you think I’m a fool? You are seducing Tony. You’ve been using some primitive magic of your tribe on him.” Janice reached out to grab Marian, but Tony quickly shielded Marian with his arm.

“Don’t you lay a finger on her,” Tony said. “What she said is true. We’re just friends. She does not want to be in a relationship.”

Janice stared in bewilderment at Tony embracing Marian. “No,” Janice said. “You’re not jut friends. You’ve fallen for her. She has bewitched you.”

“She has not bewitched me,” Tony said. “I truly love her.”

What Tony said surprised them all, probably even Tony himself. Janice was frozen. Marian let Tony lead her away, his arm still around her.

When Tony and Marian were already far, Janice shouted, “We’re not yet over, Manoba! I won’t let you have Tony!” Tony and Marian did not look back, and Janice did not rush at them. Marian stepped away from Tony, and Tony removed his arm from her. They remained close to each other, however, and in silence they walked to school.


MARIAN no longer glanced at Tony’s house, because she knew he wouldn’t be there. He would be waiting for her under the huge tree, and his mother would have no one to nag at. So Marian was surprised when she heard the voice of Tony’s mother, and the woman was addressing her.

Marian was used to hearing the woman shout at Tony in a shrill but affectionate voice, so when she talked to her in a low and cold voice, Marian felt the weight of each word the woman uttered.

“I know what’s going on between you and my son,” the woman said. “Tony’s ex-girlfriend suspects you cast a love spell on Tony, but Tony insists otherwise. I don’t care either way. I want you to stop seeing my son, right away.”

Marian said, “But Tony and I are not doing anything wrong.”

Don’t force me to make things worse for you. We’re living in a small village. I know almost everyone here. I know you. I know you’re engaged to your datu, and the wedding will take place at the first sign of your lack of interest in going to school.”

“Please . . .”

“It’s your decision.” Tony’s mother walked back inside the house.

Confused and afraid, Marian continued on her way to school. When she reached the tree, she found no one waiting for her.


MARIAN and Tony stood in quiet under the tree, the huge trunk between them. The wind was blowing to the west, and Tony was on the east side of the tree, so the rain drenched him up to his knees. He stood still, though, and did not join Marian on the other side.

When the rain abated, Marian walked to the road. Tony called out for her.

She stopped on her track.

“I think of you every morning,” Tony said.

She looked back at him. “Me too,” she said.

“I want to be with you every day. I want to ask you to run away with me. But . . . I’m thinking of the future . . . our future. Together.”

Marian smiled as tears fell from her eyes. “I’m happy to hear that. But it’s going to be a long road, Tony.”

“It is. But I’m used to walking.”

“I’m used to walking, too.”

“I’ll never get tired. If I do, there’s always the morning to remind me that everything can be fresh and new, that anything is possible.”

“You talk weird.”

Their chuckles, hollow and sad, disappeared into the wind.

“I’ve got to go,” Marian said.

Tony nodded.

She walked in a hurry but careful not to slip as Tony watched her from the tree.

Fiction: Road (Part 3 of 4)

(Note: The first part appeared on October 7 and the second part on October 14.)

MARIAN saw Tony’s mother sweeping her yard, but the woman wasn’t her usual nagging self. When Marian saw the huge tree, she found out why. Tony had woken up early and was now waiting for someone under the tree.

Marian thought Tony must be waiting for Janice. Though Janice did not pass by the tree, because her house was farther down the road, Tony probably waited under the tree for Janice to appear in the fork. Marian felt devastated. The tree was supposed to be for Tony and her only.

She walked past the tree without glancing at Tony. So she only noticed that Tony had approached her when he was already walking beside her. “Please bear with Janice,” Tony said.

“What?” Marian said, surprised and confused.

“I know she said not-so-good things to you yesterday. She told me so.”

“It’s nothing,” Marian said.

“It’s all my fault. I wanted to stop her from teasing you about your skirt, so I told her about how you slipped on the mud. But what I did only made things worse. She got the wrong idea. She . . . I’m really sorry.”

“Did you really tell her I repulse you?”

“No!” Tony said with emphasis, as though he found the question objectionable. “Janice is really crazy. She’s so possessive. She creates stories just to make other girls stay away from me.”

“I can’t blame her.”

“What?”

“What she thinks is true. I like you.”

Tony’s mouth fell open.

Marian felt heat rush up her cheeks. Her own boldness surprised her. She had underestimated the depth of her feelings for Tony. He had only shown her a little humility, a little concern for her, and it already drove her to bare her soul to him. Stammering, she said, “W-well, all the girls in school like you, a-and I’m like them. I’m a normal human being.” Tony remained frozen.

Marian forced herself to smile. “You have nothing to worry about, though. I don’t want to be your girlfriend. If my parents know I’m seeing someone, they’ll make me stop going to school and marry me off.” Tony nodded, giving Marian a weirded-out look.

“I’ve got to go.” Marian walked fast ahead of Tony.


IT WAS raining, and Marian was taking shelter under the huge tree. When she heard the footsteps of someone running, her heart fluttered.

The feet stopped and their owner said, “Whew!”

Marian turned and saw Tony, drenched, covering his head with his backpack, and smiling wide at her. She smiled back.

“Thank heavens for this tree,” Tony said, slinging the bag back on his shoulder.

Marian thought of Janice, and she looked at the fork of the road downhill.

Tony seemed to understand her concern. “No, I’m alone,” he said. “We’re no longer together.”

To her surprise, she felt sad for Janice. Marian just nodded to Tony.

“I guess we’ll be stuck here for some time,” Tony said.

“Yes,” Marian said. “The rain is a little heavy.”

They stood quiet just a meter or so apart. After a while, Tony said, “Why do you go to school so early?”

“I have the key to our classroom.”

“What? Many of your classmates live near the school. Why do you have the key?”

“I asked our teacher for it. If I have the key, I would have to go to school every day. My parents could not make me stay at home to take care of my younger siblings or to help my mother weed the farm. Not that I don’t want to help in the chores. It’s just that I want my parents to see that I’m serious with my studies.”

“You don’t want to be married off.”

“Yes, that’s my reason. Many of my friends are already married. They finished first year or second year high school only. You know how it is in our tribe. Young women are often married off to anyone who can pay the dowry. I promised my parents I would go to college.”

“I heard it’s Datu Simtim who wants to marry you.” Marian was surprised that Tony knew about it. “That’s true,” she said.

“Being married to a datu does not seem so bad.”

“Our datu may have more property than other Manobo men, but definitely he’s much poorer than a mayor or a king. It does not matter much if a Manoba is married to a datu or an ordinary Manobo. In our tribe, the men till the soil but it’s the wives who take care of the crop.”

“So you want to escape from that kind of life.”

“No. I want to help change it. I want to be a teacher. I want to help the younger Manobo learn and make their own choices, not to follow only whatever the elders tell them.”

“Wow. You’re still young, but you already think of the future.”

“Why, don’t you?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

They both laughed.

They talked about themselves, about school, and about life until the rain abated. They talked some more as they walked home on the muddy, slippery road.

To be continued next Monday

Fiction: Road (Part 2 of 4)

(Note: The first part appeared the previous Monday.)

MARIAN walked fast. She was running late for school. She felt like crying.

She couldn’t tell what time it was because she didn’t have a watch. But she knew the flag ceremony must have started and she was very late, because when she passed by Tony’s house, it was closed and quiet. His parents must have gone to their farm and he had left for school.

Marian passed by the huge tree where Tony and she had been stuck the day before. She began to think of it as their tree. Tony and hers. But when she thought of what happened on the road—her slipping and telling Tony about her soiled uniform—she felt embarrassed. She didn’t think she could so much as glance at Tony again.

The tree was on a hilly part of the road. While Marian was walking uphill, she could not see the other side. When she was almost in the same line as the tree, she could see the downhill road, where Tony and a girl was walking together. Marian felt as though the tree had crashed down on her.

Tony and the girl did not seem to be in a hurry. They were talking, and the girl laughed every now and then, slapping Tony in the arm. Marian recognized the girl to be Janice, a classmate of Tony. She was fair-skinned, had bleached bangs and fancy bracelets, and liked teasing her Manobo schoolmates. Marian realized that Janice was the reason Tony was always late. Marian realized too that she might not be late yet.

She hesitated to walk faster and go ahead of Tony and Janice, but the need to arrive in school on time got the better of her. Her head bowed down, Marian walked past the couple.

“Hey,” Janice called out.

Marian knew Janice was calling her attention, but she kept on walking.

“Hey, Manoba!” Janice said.

Marian felt as though the world froze, but somehow her legs were able to keep on walking.

“Did you pee on your skirt?” Janice said, laughing.

Marian knew what Janice was talking about. Her skirt was still clammy. She washed the dirt off the skirt the day before and hanged the skirt near the hearth. She waited for it to dry, but when she realized she would be late, she decided to wear it even if it was still wet. Marian ignored Janice and walked faster.

Marian heard Tony saying something to Janice, but Marian was no longer able to understand his words. All she wanted to do was to get away from them.

MARIAN was walking home, and she wondered why Janice and Tony were following close behind her. She had not walked with them before. She would always go home ahead of her schoolmates. She had only been under the tree with Tony because she had to take shelter from the rain.

“Hey, Manoba!” Janice called out.

Marian walked faster, but Janice ran until she caught up with Marian.

“So your skirt has dried,” Janice said. “Why did you wear a wet skirt today? Don’t you have any other skirt?”

Marian did not say anything. She did not want to fight Janice. She just wanted to avoid her.

“I’m asking you, Manoba,” Janice said. “Answer me.”

To Marian’s surprise, Tony said, “That’s enough, Janice.”

Janice ignored Tony. She told Marian, “Do you have only one uniform?”

“Leave her alone,” Tony said.

“Why are you defending her?” Janice told Tony. “Do you like her? Oh, Tony, I didn’t know you have a thing for Manobas.”

“Shut up,” Tony said.

Marian ran away from the two, and they continued arguing.

WHEN Marian passed Tony’s house, everything seemed to have come back to normal. His mother’s voice reached the street, telling him to wake up.

When Marian reached the tree, however, she saw Janice standing some fifty meters away. Janice was beside the road, on the fork leading to a hamlet where she lived. She was already wearing her uniform. Marian thought Janice must have woken up earlier than usual just to wait for her.

“Hey, Manoba,” Janice greeted Marian with her usual taunting. “I want to talk to you.”

Marian stopped walking. “I don’t want any trouble,” she said in an even voice. The bravery in her voice surprised Janice and even Marian herself. Perhaps Tony’s absence made her feel more of herself.

“Now your true attitude shows,” Janice said. “You’re no longer Miss Nice that Tony’s not around.”

“Leave me alone, Janice,” Marian said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t act innocent. I know you like Tony. You want to take my boyfriend from me.”

“You’re crazy.” Marian resumed walking.

Janice gripped Marian’s arm. “Who do you think you are? You’re just a Manoba. You’re ugly. You smell. Tony will never like you.”

Marian pulled her arm off Janice’s fingers. “I’m not interested in your boyfriend. He’s all yours.”

“Liar! I know you Manobo women want Christian men.”

Marian felt that her tears were about to burst. She walked fast away from Janice.

“Do you think I don’t know what you did?” Janice walked beside her. “You slipped on the road on purpose so that Tony would come and help you. He told me about it. And know what else he told me? You repulse him.”

Marian stopped walking, and her tears fell.

Janice smiled triumphantly. “You should know your place, Manoba. Go away now. I still have to wait for Tony here.”

The third part will appear next Monday.

Fiction: Road (Part 1 of 4)

THE cornfields were still covered in morning mist when Marian passed by Tony’s house. She knew Tony would not be up yet. He often came to school late, and she liked him for it. She liked him more for being blemished in character than for being the most handsome boy in the village.

Marian was an early riser, and being so, she sometimes wondered why she found Tony’s tardiness something to be fond of. Only years later, when she was a little wiser in the ways of the world, did she realize why. It was because Tony’s flaw made him more human, more reachable for her. It meant that Tony could look at her the way she looked at him.

If Tony could not be made to do everything a student should, then maybe he could not also be made to do everything Christian boys did. His eyes might not be set on Christian girls only. He might see Marian not the way Christian settlers usually saw tribal inhabitants but the way a boy would see a girl.

Tony’s mother was in front of the house, sweeping the yard. When she saw Marian on the road, she went to the side of the house and banged the wooden wall with her broom. “Tony!” she shouted. “Get up now. You’ll be late again.”

Marian was a little disappointed to find out that the room facing the road was not Tony’s. Whenever she passed by the house, she would take her time and stare at the windows, hoping the wooden jalousies would slide open and Tony, rubbing the sleep off his eyes, his hair still ruffled, would peek out and see her.

“God, Tony,” his mother continued talking. “Do I always have to wake you up every morning? When will you ever get up on your own!”

Marian was already two houses away, but she could still hear Tony’s mother. The woman was known in the village for having a loud voice and being a nag. “Tony, do you want me to set your butt on fire? What time are you going to wake up? Your Manoba schoolmate has already passed. Are you not ashamed?”

Marian fled the scene. The road was empty, and no one seemed to have witnessed her humiliation, but her cheeks flushed. Now she knew what Tony’s mother thought of tribal people. The woman had said that Tony should be ashamed because a Manobo girl, someone who for her was in the lower rung of the social ladder, showed a greater sense of responsibility than Tony did. The woman would never think high of Marian as a person, much less a daughter-in-law. Marian could not breathe. Tony had broken her heart even before doing anything.


RAIN was lashing down on the crops. Water flowed on the road, turning it slowly into a shallow stream. Beside the road, Marian was taking shelter under a huge tree. She should be shivering because of the temperature, but she felt feverish instead, because on the other side of the tree, Tony was also taking shelter.

Marian had been waiting for this moment all her life. It felt as though only Tony and she were the only persons in the world. But she dared not utter a word to him. She was afraid that if she greeted Tony and he would say something to her in return, she might faint or make a fool of herself in some way and lose her chance forever of being liked by him too. Tony was also acting as though he was alone, so they stood on their respective sides of the world, the huge trunk between them, too near yet too far.

Marian busied herself by taking off her socks and shoes. They were soaking wet. She was on the eastern side of the tree, and the wind was blowing west. She wrapped the socks and shoes with a paper and placed them in her well-worn backpack. When the rain abated for a moment, she took off without so much as glancing at Tony. Barefoot, she plodded along the muddy road.

She felt as though Tony’s eyes were following her. She walked fast. She wanted to disappear from his sight. She was afraid Tony might see something wrong with her backpack, her skirt, or the way she walked and not like her. In her hurry, she was not able to gauge how slippery one part of the road was. Her foot slid. She lost her balance and fell to her backside on the muddy ground. She burst into tears.

She did not stand up right away. She continued crying without a sound, totally forgetting that Tony was just several meters behind her. She was frustrated because her skirt was a mess, and because she had only one uniform, she didn’t know how she could go to school the next day.

“Are you all right?” a voice asked.

She looked up and saw Tony. His eyes seemed filled with genuine worry, and she looked back at those eyes in disbelief. Tony was the first to stare away. “You don’t seem hurt,” he said. “But you’re crying. You’re so weak.”

Marian felt blood rush up her face. She couldn’t let anyone call her weak. She turned to him and said, “I’m not weak. How dare you say that. You don’t know me.”

“If you’re so tough,” Tony said with a frown, “what are those tears for?”

Marian could not understand why Tony was angry with her. She didn’t know that he was really angry at himself because he got worried for her, for someone he wasn’t supposed to care about. “I didn’t cry because I was hurt,” Marian said. “It’s because my uniform is soiled. I have to wear this until—”

She caught herself. She had just told Tony that she did not change her uniform every day. Embarrassed, she turned away and continued walking, not looking back. Tony did not do or say anything.

The second part will be published next week.