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