the Life i live.

“Tikling is hot as hell when pissed off.”

Yesterday, I decided to visit my sister at talisay (a barangay in Dapitan) to watch Marimar. Since I had no motorcycle I went there by “sikad-sikad” (it’s an old means of transportation here in our hometown.) It was already dark then and on the way to their house are creepy acacia and balete trees that gave me Goosebumps. I could only imagine myself, after watching the telenovelas, walking alone in the dark road where the only lights I could see are those coming from houses distantly situated from it. And I have to pass by an elementary school where stories of ghost have been told by old people in the small community.

Creepy I thought.

Marimar is about to end, that is why I can’t miss the few more days. Actually, I’m not really a fan but somehow there’s something in it that interest me and the rest of the Filipinos who watches it. That’s why I had to watch. When it was about to end, my niece asked me “to unsa imu sakyan pagpa-uli” “maglakaw” I answered. She then tried to scare me about the “wak-wak”(a human eating human – hehehe e.g mananggal and the likes).

It was already past eleven o’clock and I have to go home. I bid good bye to my sister and my niece who was still watching TV when I left. The road was very dark. Everything was so quiet except the creepy noises the insects are making indistinctly. My heart was starting to beat faster as I walked faster. I just prayed our father the whole time I walked, especially when I passed by the elementary school and when my hairs started to react in horror “literally nanindog ako buhok.” Then the second thing that scared the hell out of me was the thought that someone might be following me or might be behind the trees hiding, preparing to attack me anytime. These thoughts almost made me faint. Laughs. It was a long walk, I tell you. And every step I make was as big as a galloping horse. I only found relief when I finally saw a light at the intersection and heard people talking at the small payag.

I will never walk alone at night in that street ever again in my entire life, I swore to my grave. Laughs.

But the night never ended there, in fact it was just starting.

Since no sikad-sikad was available at that late a night, nor where there pedicabs, I continued my walk. I was about to pass by young lads and gals who were sitting at the sidewalk near the bridge when I heard them mocking me. At first, one girl said “bayot.” (a cebuano term/word for gay or homosexual). I didn’t really bothered them. But when I passed by them, only a few meters away from them, they started to sing in chorus the song “hindi ako bakla” (I AM NOT GAY).

THIS TIME I DIDNT LET IT PASS.

I went back and introduced myself. This is how it went. TSU here refers to tanga! Stupid! Uneducated.

Tikling: Hi, I heard you were having fun? My name is tikling. (Of course I gave them my real nickname.) And you are?

TSU: No comment.

Tikling: Oh by the way, where are you guys studying?

TSU: State College (referring to Jose Rizal Memorial State College).

Tikling: Oh, I thought you were high school students. You were acting like one kasi eh. Even if you won’t ask, I’d like to let you know who I am so that you won’t only judge me by the way I walk.

TSU: Silent and stupid. They or she made no comment at all after my straight forward introduction..

Tikling: By the way, I am a graduate of BBA-Management in a prestigious university in Dumaguete, Silliman University. Have you heard of it? And right now, I’m a third year law student in ABC. I’m already working too and earning money for myself.

TSU: aw.

Tikling: You see, when I was in elementary my teachers already thought me respect. Respect for oneself and respect for other people and their differences. I’ve learned not to judge people by the way they look nor by the way they act or move.

TSU: still silent. perhaps Thinking. (And I hoped they understood me).

Tikling: Hey, if you want me to think the way you do, which is judging people by the way they look or act, then I believe you wouldn’t mind me calling you BORIKAT! (a whore) because you really look like one in my own opinion. You’re staying outside this late with these boys, when you should be studying and praying that someday you’d pass your course and find a job.

TSU: Flushed. Embarrassed and confused. Said nothing the whole time. I was so fast kasi.

Tikling: My professors at the college of law never showed disrespect to me, nor have they insulted me because of who I am. If they did judge me, I believe they kept it to themselves. And that is what you should have done. You should have kept your judgment to yourself because you have no right at all, at this point in your life to judge me or other people at that. You have not achieved anything yet compared to me. If I’m like this (describing the my status) your just as small as this (showing her, her status with the use of my fingers.)

TSU: no words coming from her mouth, nothing at all.

Tikling: Then before I left I told them I pity you and your parents and the school where you are studying. If you haven’t learned the moral values of life, you have learned nothing at all. You should go back to your homes and your elementary schools where everything started. And the next time you look at other people, think twice before judging them because you just don’t know who you’re dealing with. When you see me walking these streets, call me by my name and I will, with a great smile, respond.

I don’t know if she or they did understand everything that I have said. At that point, I don’t care.

Then I left. However, a few meters away from them I heard them laugh. But I thought it was an act of hiding the embarrassment that they felt because I am sure, I engraved in their minds the lessons which they will never forget. If ever they did, their just garbage in this society which my father (the chief of office in the General Services Office) will gladly sweep up and dump them somewhere where trash and garbage belong. Good luck to them and god bless.