By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
FINDING THE ANSWER AFTER 10 YEARS
Since 2006 when Aglaia left for college, Florence and I have been the only people in the house except of course when the kids come for vacation or when we have visitors. So her usual dialogue when some coupon bond she bought got consumed without her noticing it or some food intended for the next meal disappeared before the meal and I pretend not to know what happened is “Saankan nga agindidi-ammo. Duata laeng ditoy.” I never had any effective answer to that so I just kept quiet.
But today I found the answer.
Florence: “Innalam diay coins ditoy, ania?” (She has a small receptacle on the table in the bedroom where she keeps coins and she was about to pay someone for something.)
Me: “Saan met a.” (This time I was telling the truth as I had not touched the coins there for sometime.)
Florence: “Duata laeng ditoy met ket.”
Me: “Ket sika seguro ngarud a ta kunam met a dudua ta laeng ditoy.”
Florence kept quiet probably remembering it was she who emptied the receptacle recently. Anyway, I will try the same answer when it’s some food or office supply that went missing and see what happens.
ON EATING VEGETABLES
While preparing string beans for our supper, sharing some vegetable stories occurred to me.
While in Grade 1 in Saytan, Pugo, La Union in 1964, I surprised my mother one time because without her saying anything, I ate ampalaya (bitter gourd) leaves. Prior to that, it took some doing on her part to make me eat a bit of ampalaya. She asked me how come and I answered that our teacher (Mrs. Lorenza Masillem) had taught us that ampalaya is a very nutritious food.
When she was small, Aglaia (our daughter) was even more resistant to eating vegetable than I was because she hated eating almost all vegetables. She even invented a rhyme to express her distaste for vegetables: “Vegetable pagpadambel.”
To impress upon Aglaia and I guess even Pia (our other daughter) that eating squash is good for the eyes, I made a silly play on words myself “Mangankayo ti karabasa tapno kara basakayo.”
One time when Aglaia was already in high school and had outgrown her dislike for vegetables, we were left in the house just the two of us for some time. Pia was already in college and I think Florence went out of town for more than a week. My brother-in-law Mike likes to relate that Aglaia had gone to their house and confided to her cousins: “Pirmi ni papak. No nateng ti sidami, saanna sagsagiden. No karne, uray ania pangilemlemmengak, mabirokanna.”
And just recently:
Me: “Ania sidaenta, baket?”
Florence: “Dinengdeng.”
Me: “Adda laokna a karne?”
Florence: “Adda.”
Me: “Awan koma a. Madi kano iti health ti karne.”
Florence: “Lastog.”
CONVERSATION ON THE HEAT
Because Florence was viewing television in the sala where I usually nap and our bedroom was up for cleaning by the cleaning woman, I went upstairs to take a nap after lunch today. After what must be 30 minutes, I was wakened by the heat and went downstairs.
Me: “Diak makaturog iti pudot.”
Florence: “Narigat a ngamin ti mangilukat ti tawa.”
Me: “Linuktak met amin dagidiay tawa. Diay laeng bobong ti diak linuktan.”
Florence: “Kakatkatawa.”
WHEN PEOPLE PRIORITIZE FAMILY
At the request of City Agriculturist Julibert Aquino, Gigi Gacuya, Fuji Sakai and I shot some video clips for the video presentation of the family of Michael and Mary Angeline Lumas-e of Tannubong, Ipil, our bets in the Farm Family category of the Outstanding Farmer of the Philippines, yesterday. We were impressed that through their industry, good management and acceptance and practice of modern farming technology, they were able to save enough money to buy 3.6 hectares of rice farm and thus turn from tenants to landowners in around 10 years. They were also able to send all their four children to school and buy farm as well as transport equipment including an airconditioned van.
When I got home, I could not tell the entire story to Florence because as I started, she stopped me cold as follows: “Kasta ti mapasamak no panunuten dagiti tattao dagiti pamilyada saan a kasla diay am-ammok dita a solbarenna kano ti problema ti ili ngem baybay-anna met pamilyana. Kaplastikan ngay.”
When Florence starts talking that way, I just shut my mouth because I know the person she is accusing, hehehe.**
