UNCLE ARSING AND OTHERS MET US AT THE DOCKS OF UBAY. We docked in the Ubay Central pier between two and three in the morning. Tricycles waited to get passengers. We were met by Uncle Arsing, Dora and a third one with tricycles. After we loaded up, Arsing told the others not to charge me for the rides, he is Alyn’s husband and must wait for his pension money to come from Australia. All my things were carried through from the road for me and we had a hard time to wake Tatay Ceriaco up to open the door. He was still drunk from the previous day. We talked about the trip and I noticed the time to be 4:00 am. Breakfast was cooked and everybody including me laid down for a sleep. Another week would pass before I became adjusted back to normal. Uncle Arsing and Tatay Ceriaco have left this earth since, they are only history now. I was sitting in the cellar of the house where I set up my typewriter and was writing my stories. Uncle Arsing came with a big Jack fruit he was carrying from the fields in the back, he stopped and after saying good morning, asked, do you eat juicy fruit. You mean Jack fruit I said. Yes. I like Jack fruit when it’s ripe. It became a joke in the family, whenever we saw uncle Arsing someone asked, DO YOU EAT JUICY FRUIT? We started opening my bags and sorting through things. Big carton was the first and a cabinet for groceries was lent me. I had different types of coffee in jars and there were packs of candy for the kids. I had three one gallon glass coffee jars loaded from top to bottom with candy that I gave to the kids to eat. There were packs of various brands of soap that I bought on special in Brisbane. Also lot of special coconut soap from the Philippines that is never sold locally, only made for export. I had a variety of shampoo and conditioner in bottles and heaps of Colgate Total toothpaste. It was a new line of Colgate toothpaste that was made in Australia and not yet available in the Philippines at the time. I got everything at throw away prices from the back shelf at Jack the Slasher’s Supermarket. I also brought disposable cigarette lighters that I bought in packs of three. Few packs of rice for cooking and packs of noodles, some canned food, sardines, other fish, pink salmon and herrings. I also brought lot of cutlery.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 05:41:04 +0000
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