Yaya by Marguerite A.

de Leon

Yaya
by Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon

Yaya wanted to be a model but Yaya did not tell Mama and Papa and me. Yaya

wanted to be a model because Yaya had a picture-taking in our garden. Mama and Papa

were in the office and Yaya thought I was napping already but I was hiding in the

playhouse and the picture-taking was so exciting. The other yayas from the other

houses were there also and helped her put on lots of makeup and curled her hair and

Yaya wore a dress and the dress was very short and had lots of flowers on it and Yaya

looked like part of the garden. Yaya looked so different. The face of Yaya was so yellow

like the Goldenrod in my Crayola box and my Crayola box has 120 colors and my ex-

best friend Alyanna is so inggit because she has 64 only. The lips of Yaya were Red-

Violet, the cheeks of Yaya were Magenta and the eyelids of Yaya were Turquoise Blue.

And I saw the skin of the arms of Yaya for the first time. And the chest skin of Yaya and

the leg skin of Yaya. Yaya wore Tickle Me Pink high heels and she was so sexy. And the

other yayas told her to smile with teeth and turn her head and they took a flower from

our garden and Yaya put it near her face. The other yayas took lots and lots of pictures

of Yaya. All of them looked so excited and they giggled a lot and they talked a lot but I

did not understand what they said because I am not from Bohol.

Yaya made me say Guapaha nako uy! all the time. Yaya said it means I am pretty.

Yaya made me say it one time when the other yayas from the other houses visited also

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and I said it and the other yayas laughed. Yaya said the other yayas laughed because I

can say it and the other yayas cannot say it. I asked Yaya if she can say it and Yaya said

no because she does not have a boyfriend. I said I did not have a boyfriend and Yaya

said that is okay because I will have a boyfriend when I grow up because I am pretty

and I am rich.

Yaya used Chin Chun Su all the time so she can have a boyfriend. Chin Chun Su

looks funny and it smells funny and I do not like Chin Chun Su but maybe boys like it.

Chin Chun Su is in a Carnation Pink oval and the oval has Chinese letters but Yaya does

not know Chinese and I do not know Chinese so me and Yaya do not know what the

Chinese letters mean and that makes me scared. Chin Chun Su is colored Dandelion. A

dandelion is a light yellow flower but Chin Chun Su does not smell like a flower

because Chin Chun Su smells sweet and sour and salty and it makes me so dizzy.

Alyanna said that Yaya is a witch and Chin Chun Su is a magic paste and the magic

paste is made of the faces of little girls. Yaya looked so funny when she put Chin Chun

Su on her face. Yaya looked like her face was melting and maybe Chin Chun Su melts

your face and it takes away the ugly parts. But Yaya always looked the same. Maybe

boys can see that Yaya is more pretty and girls cannot see and that is a magic but not a

black magic. Yaya is not a witch and Alyanna is so bobo and I miss Yaya so much.

Yaya said many people were so mean to her. I do not know why Yaya said that

because Mama and Papa and me were so nice to her. Mama and Papa gave Yaya lots of

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pretty dresses and Yaya had a Navy Blue dress and a Cadet Blue dress and a Midnight

Blue dress and all the dresses had a White apron and Yaya looked like Alice in

Wonderland. And Mama and Papa always let Yaya go with us to the mall and eat with

us at restaurants in her pretty dresses. (Yaya always ate little only but maybe Yaya was

dieting so she can be sexy so she can have a boyfriend.) I told Mama I wanted dresses

like the dresses of Yaya also but Mama said that kind is for Yaya only. So Mama got me

a Thistle dress and a Mulberry dress and a Lavender dress and the dresses did not have

aprons so I can look like Sleeping Beauty but Mama said they are for parties only. Yaya

was so lucky.

Yaya had her own room also and it is a special room because it is downstairs and

the window is so small. I want a room downstairs and that has a small window also

because my room is upstairs and it has a big, big window and there is a big, big tree

near the window and that makes me scared because a mumu can climb up the tree and

go inside my room and eat me. A mumu cannot go inside the room of Yaya because

there is no tree and the window is very small and if the mumu is very small it is more

easy to escape because the room of Yaya is downstairs. And there is an iron in the room

of Yaya and you can throw it at the mumu and hurt the mumu and you can run away.

Yaya was more safe.

Every day Yaya took me to school and waited outside. Yaya said she went to

school in Bohol and she wanted to go back to school again. I do not know why Yaya

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wanted to go back to school again because Yaya is so old already. There are chairs

outside for the yayas and Yaya talked to the yayas but not the yaya of Alyanna because

Yaya said the yaya of Alyanna is a bruha. Yaya said the yaya of Alyanna and Mang

Danny who is our driver are boyfriend-girlfriend but Mang Danny is married also and

Yaya said that is very bad. Yaya read books also when she waited for me and the books

were small and they had pictures of boys and flowers on the covers and the boys wore

pants only and Yaya said the boys were so guwapo. Alyanna said the books of Yaya are

bad but I did not make sumbong to Mama and Papa about the books of Yaya because

Alyanna was lying only because she was angry because I said Mang Danny and her

yaya are boyfriend-girlfriend. Alyanna is bobo and a liar and Yaya said liars make Papa

Jesus cry.

Me and Yaya watched TV in my room everyday when school was finished

already. Me and Yaya watched Eat Bulaga! and Valiente and Mara Clara. Eat Bulaga! made

Yaya laugh but Valiente made Yaya cry and Mara Clara made Yaya cry also. Valiente made

Yaya cry because the house there is small and it is made of wood and it looked like the

house of Yaya in Bohol and Mara Clara made Yaya cry because Mara was so kawawa

because Clara was so mean to her. Yaya stopped crying only when Papa Jesus told us to

pray on TV. I wanted to cry when Papa Jesus was on TV because Papa Jesus was so

scary because his voice was so low like the voice of a mumu and his heart was outside

his body and his heart was on fire. Papa Jesus on TV said Lord, have mercy and Yaya

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said mercy is for people that are kawawa so I said Lord have mercy for Alyanna but I did

not look at the TV because Papa Jesus was looking back.

I said Lord have mercy also when Yaya had the accident. Me and Yaya were

playing Chinese garter in the garage with Mang Danny and Manang Etang who is our

labandera. It was the turn of Yaya and Mang Danny and Manag Etang were holding the

Chinese garter and I wanted to wiwi. I wanted to wiwi but it was the turn of Yaya and I

said Yaya I want to wiwi but Yaya said later. But I wanted to wiwi already and it was so

painful and I could not wait and Yaya was taking so long because the Chinese garter

was so high already and Yaya was thinking how to jump. So I made wiwi on the floor of

the garage and the floor of the garage was so wet and the color of my wiwi was

Unmellow Yellow. Yaya did not see me wiwi and she jumped so high and she went to

the other side and she stepped on my wiwi and she slipped and she fell. The face of

Yaya was on the floor of the garage and the wiwi was on her clothes and it was so yucky.

Manang Etang shouted and shouted and Mang Danny ran to Yaya and helped Yaya

stand up and I saw the face of Yaya and I screamed because the chin of Yaya was so

yucky. The chin of Yaya was Ultra Red and Hot Magenta and Razzle Dazzle Rose and it

looked so wet and so sticky and so painful and I cried because Yaya was so kawawa.

Mang Danny took Yaya to the bathroom and he put tissue on the chin of Yaya and he

hugged Yaya and Yaya hugged Mang Danny also.

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After the accident Yaya was so weird. The chin of Yaya had a big Band-Aid and

Yaya looked so funny but Yaya did not look sad. Yaya was smiling always and Yaya was

singing always and Yaya stopped doing lots of things. Yaya stopped reading the books

with the pictures of the boys and flowers on the covers and Yaya stopped saying bad

things about the yaya of Alyanna and Yaya stopped watching TV in my room when

school was finished already. After the accident Yaya put me in my bed and told me to

sleep and closed the door always when school was finished already. Mama said Yaya

should guard me always but I did not make sumbong because Yaya looked more happy

always when she came back to give me merienda and I want Yaya to be happy always.

One day in school Alyanna said she did not want to be my best friend anymore.

Alyanna said her yaya said my Yaya and Mang Danny are boyfriend-girlfriend and I got

mad and I said Alyanna you are gaya-gaya and you are a liar and the devil will kidnap

you and you will go to hell. I said also Alyanna if you do not want to be my best friend

anymore you cannot borrow my Crayola anymore and you will be so kawawa and you

will be so lonely. Alyanna said so what and she said she was not a liar and I was a liar

and I was like my Yaya because I was a very bad girl and she wished that a mumu will

eat me and Yaya when we go to sleep later. I said Alyanna I hate you you are stupid you

are not my best friend anymore and I can say Guapaha nako uy! and you cannot say

Guapaha nako uy! and you are so stupid and I hate you forever and ever and ever and

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ever. Alyanna said stop saying weird words because that is a black magic and you are a

witch and I do not want to talk to you anymore. And then Alyanna walked away.

That night I was so scared and I did not want to sleep in my room because maybe

the wish of Alyanna would come true and a mumu would eat me. I was scared also that

the mumu would eat Yaya also. Alyanna was bobo and gaya-gaya and a liar but wishes

can come true. I looked outside the big, big window of my room and the big, big tree

outside my window looked so scary and I did not know if a mumu was hiding in the

leaves of the big, big tree because the moon and the stars were missing and it was so

dark and I was so scared. So I ran downstairs to the room of Yaya and knocked on the

door of the room of Yaya and shouted Yaya Yaya let me in but Yaya did not answer for a

long time and I knocked again and I shouted again but Yaya still did not answer and I

was so scared. I thought maybe Yaya did not answer because maybe a mumu was inside

the room of Yaya already and it was eating Yaya already and I had to save Yaya so I

tried to open the door of Yaya and it was not locked and I ran inside and I screamed.

A mumu was on the bed of Yaya and Yaya was bomba and the mumu was on top

of Yaya and he was going to eat Yaya! The mumu was growling and pushing Yaya again

and again and again and the bed of Yaya was shaking so hard and the eyes of Yaya were

so big and the mouth of Yaya was open and Yaya was trying to breathe. I did not know

what to do. I wanted to save Yaya but the mumu looked so strong and its back was the

color Sepia and it was so hairy and sweaty and it was growling and I was so scared and

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I closed my eyes and I screamed again. I screamed and I screamed and I screamed and I

screamed and I ran out of the room of Yaya and went upstairs to the room of Mama and

Papa and shouted MAMA PAPA HELP A MUMU IS EATING YAYA AND WE HAVE

TO SAVE YAYA QUICK!

Yaya disappeared after that. Mama and Papa told me to stay in their room and

when I woke up Yaya was gone. I asked Mama and Papa where is Yaya where did Yaya

go and Mama and Papa said Yaya went away but I know that Yaya is gone forever and

ever because the mumu ate Yaya already and Mama and Papa said that only because

they did not want me to cry but I cried and I cried and I cried. Mang Danny

disappeared also maybe because he did not want to work for us anymore because the

mumu might return and go in the garage where Mang Danny sleeps and eat Mang

Danny also. I wish Alyanna did not make that wish and I hate her so much.

The mumu ate Yaya last week and I have a new Yaya and a new best friend now.

My new Yaya is okay. My new Yaya is from Masbate and she likes to watch TV with me

also but Valiente and Mara Clara do not make her cry and she likes to play Chinese garter

also but she cannot jump very high because she is very short and she does not use Chin

Chun Su and she prays the rosary and she says that the rosary will make the mumu go

away so I tell her to pray the rosary all the time. My new best friend is okay also and her

name is Clarissa. Clarissa is Grade Three already and I am Kinder Two only but I am

her best friend because before Clarissa did not have friends because she is in a

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wheelchair and her leg is missing and she is so kawawa. I like her very much because she

is so very nice to me and she does not say bad things to me and she says to me please

let’s be best friends forever and ever and ever please always. Clarissa has Crayola that is

120 colors also but that is okay because I have five Polly Pockets and she has two only

and her yaya is the sister of my new Yaya and she goes to my house and plays with me

all the time and I told her Alyanna is bobo and gaya-gaya and a liar and she is now mad

at Alyanna also and we laugh at her always.

I do not want to think about Yaya because I do not want to be sad. But there is a

letter for Yaya from the mailman today and me and Clarissa opened the letter and

Clarissa read the letter for me because Yaya is dead now. Clarissa said the letter is from

a man and his name is Greg and he is from America and there is a picture of Greg in the

letter and he is so tall and he has Maize hair and he is so guwapo. Greg says that Yaya is

so beautiful and sexy and that Yaya looks like a model and that she looks like the flower

that she is holding in the picture also. Greg says also that he read the profile of Yaya and

the profile of Yaya made him so sad and he wants to marry Yaya and wants her to live

with him in a place called Arizona and they will have so many babies and he will take

care of her and he will make her so happy forever and ever and ever and ever. Clarissa

and me do not know what a profile is but maybe a profile is the letter that Yaya wrote to

Greg because Greg wrote a letter to Yaya also. Greg says also that he hopes that Yaya

will say yes I will marry you and he hopes that she will say it soon and he says he will

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send her the airplane ticket when she says yes. And then Greg says love, Greg and Greg

says XOXOXO and then the letter is finished already.

The letter makes me so sad because the letter could make Yaya so happy but

Yaya is dead already and she cannot read the letter. One day I will get a letter from a

man from America also and he will ask me to marry him and he will make me so happy

also and Alyanna will be so inggit and I know that Yaya will smile at me from heaven

when I get the letter. I will get the letter because I am pretty and I am rich and I am

looking at the big, big clouds like big, big marshmallows in the sky now so Yaya can see

me smile. ●

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