For Kay A. Gram

"Pagbilan ngaa!"1 The seven year old child loudly knocked on the wooden sill with her change. "Chikinini…Pritos Ring…and a StarKist!"

"Don't have."

"StarKist?"

"Don't have," Rogelio didn't even bother to look.

"I'll just have a Rinbee, then."

"Don't have."

"Not even Rinbee?" The child pouts. "How 'bout Cheezums?"

"We don't sell anymore," Rogelio stands from his chair made of rattan to talk to the little girl. "Do you even see any wares around here?" He points to the child the broken TV's, fans, radios, and other old machinery around him. The child pouts even deeper in dismay, while squinting with her left eye and playing with her bangs. Rogelio sits down again and returns to fiddling with the small Sony cassette player.

"Kuya2, do you have Lipps?" the child continued as if nothing happened.

"Don't have."

"Mr. Cinco?"

"Don't have."

"Texas?"

"Don't have. I don't have Texas." He grabbed two bubble gums on top of the old jar of Lady's Choice beside him and gave it to the kid. "But I have some Tarzan if you want. We’re cool?"

The girl happily took the free bubble gum, and after saying thanks immediately took off.

This is a common day for Rogelio inside the repair shop known as Hasmin's Eatery—this is because of the recycled signboard from the eatery in front of them that burnt down two days after it opened. Hasmin is also the name of Rogelio's mother, so his father asked for the signboard from the owner and planned to put "sari-sari store"3 over the sign to make it appropriate. But this didn't happen when Mang4 Ernesto got sick, so the planned sari-sari store remained an 'eatery'. The store still lasted a decade, though. So even when they ran out of wares and the sari-sari store that was called an eatery became a repair shop, the residents of Pelaez never grew out of asking to buy here or to chill on the storefront.

Ninoy has yet to be assassinated in the MIA5 when Rogelio inherited the store. And in almost five years, he never managed to change the wrong sign to "ELECTRONICS REPAIR SHOP". No time, no paint, and no one really cares what the name of their shop is. Because he's good, he never ran out of jobs to do. Every moment someone comes in to have their rice cooker, oven toaster, washing machine, tape recorder, video rewinder, turntable, family computer, Atari, Betamax, and Walkman repaired. But he never earns enough to save cause what he earns isn't even enough to feed the family as well as pay the debts for the equipment they used in Mang Ernesto's treatment.

Rogelio Manglicmot is a guy of medium built standing at 5'6". Brown skin. Short hair that parts to the left. He only had a year left in college with a degree in ECE when he's forced to stop because of his father's condition. That was the time he started taking in the neighbor's broken appliances to earn some money. That was also the time that Aling6 Hasmin started taking jobs as a washerwoman. The world is a cruel joke, and the young man learned of this fact early.

"Rogelio! What is this dog of yours doing again?"

Rogelio's head falls while letting out a sigh. He heard the voice of the neighbor Aling Precious once again.

"I'm complaining that dogs of yours to the barangay7!"

"But ET's all tied up!" he politely shouted back in defense.

"Tied up, tied up…then what is this dog feces doing here?!"

Rogelio didn't bother to reply. In these occasions, Aling Precious just really needs to mouth off someone. And if anyone answers, it's important that she gets the last say. "You clean and you clean, then your neighbors just keep on making a mess!"

ET has been with Rogelio for just a week. Before that, it has been a year since they had a dog. President Cory Aquino has just taken the seat in the Malacañang8 when a bunch of delinquents poisoned Gizmo. But for a few months, Aling Precious had no problem blaming Rogelio's pet for the dog poop on the road.

Aling Precious is very particular with garbage segregation. She always separates the garbage per which is 'hers' and which to blame to the neighbors.  Even the fallen leaves don't get a pass. She sweeps the leaves towards Rogelio's property even though the only plant they have is a potted palm.

"P're!" Jong suddenly pops in to Rogelio's shop, wearing a faded USA for Africa t-shirt that's his favorite, which he always pair with the Acid Wash jeans. Jong is known around Pelaez as "Emilio Santiago." That's because he looks like Emilio Aguinaldo in the five peso coin if Emilio Aguinaldo grew out his hair, wore shades, had a mole, and basically make the national hero look like Randy Santiago—which Jong always does to every five peso coin he comes across using a ball pen.

He also has a weird way of saying "pare."9 He says it fast that the "a" disappears, but it doesn't sound like he's saying "pre" exactly. It kind of sounds like he's saying "p're". Whatever it is, Rogelio already knows what he's here for with all his pare-ing.

"Could I borrow your cart?"

Rogelio scratches his head. "Return it with all the wheels!"

"Sure thing, duling," Jong is already pulling away the cart that he has already loaded with scrap metal that he probably nicked from some factory again. Rogelio's neck stretches for a bit to keep his eyes on the wheels of the cart that Jong is pushing away, making sure they're in proper shape when the punk neighbor borrowed them.

"Pagbeeelan ngaaa!" the head of the young girl pops up once again on the wooden sill, which she loudly knocks on with her change.

"Pagbilan ngaaa….pagbeeelaaaan ngaaaaaa……!"

"What is iiIIiit?" Rogelio decides to go along with the brat.

"Do you have any ice candy?"

"What flavor?"

"Coconut."

"None."

"Pineapple?"

"None."

"Melon?"

"None."

"How about mango?"

"Big mango or small mango?"

"Mmm…small please."

"None."

"Big?"

"None."

"What do you have available then?"

"None," Rogelio felt a mixture of annoyance and enjoyment as he starts getting into playing with the girl. "Didn't I already tell you we don't sell anymore, Ging-Ging? No more. I already showed you the shop, do you want to look inside as well? We don't have any more wares."

"But kuya, my name's not Ging-Ging!"

"I know, but I'll start calling you Ging-Ging from now on so we could both be annoying brats. Or would you prefer the name Irma Loudmouth?" The child giggled when she understood Rogelio's joking and took off again, both arms flapping like a flying bird.

He looks at the clock. 9:54. He looked out to the road. Aling Precious is still outside, glaring at the people passing by, holding a broom but no longer sweeping anything. After a bit, the meticulous woman looks at both ends of the road, before picking her nose, and then proceeds to look at her finger; no catch. She once again dug deep inside her nose. Rogelio had a sour expression on his face when suddenly Aling Precious turned to his direction. Their eyes met. In surprise, Rogelio ducks down and hits a pile of screws off the table, causing them to fall and for some to roll under a broken AC by his feet. Using his left hand, he picks up the screws one by one, while his right hand carries the two AC's on top of one another, with a broken 21" black-&-white TV on top where a cat is laying down and sleeping.

Translation Notes:

1 – Literally means “I’m buying!” or “I’m a buyer!”. It’s used to catch the attention of the shop attendant when no one’s manning the store front.

2 – Used to address an older male. Something like “Nii-san”

3 – Literally “variety store” they are mom & pop convenience stores common in every neighborhood. You could read more about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari-sari_store

4 – A term used to address an older man. Something like “Mister”

5 – Benigno Aquino Jr., or “Ninoy” was a former senator famous for opposing Ferdinand Marcos during Martial Law in the Philippines. It’s a fascinating subject of Philippine history, but also very touchy. Feel free to look it up yourself, lots of results will come just by searching “Martial Law in the Philippines”.

Ninoy Aquino was assasinated in the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983.

6 – A term used to address an older woman. Something like “Mrs.”

7 – The smallest administrative division in the Philippines. The Filipino term for village or district. (from Wikipedia)

8 – Corazon “Cory” Aquino was the wife of Ninoy Aquino who ran in his past husband’s stead for presidency. She became the 11th President of the Philippines after the successful People Power Revolution, which also made her the first female president in Asia. Talking about this in more detail will make this section longer than the chapter itself.

Cory Aquino was elected Febuary 25, 1986. “Malacañang” here refers to the Malacañang Palace, the Philippine equivalent to the White House.

9 – Affectionate Filipino slang for “pal” or “friend”. (from Urban Dictionary)

The stuff like StarKist, Rinbee, Cheezums, etc. are all types of snacks in that period. I think it’s quite obvious taken the context, so I won’t bother going in depth.