Happiest Boy in the World by NVM Gonzalez

Julio , who had come from Tablas to settle in Barok, was writing a letter, of all people, Ka Ponso, his
landlord,one warm June night. It was about hiks son, Jose, who wanted to go to school in Mansalay that
year. Jose wasin fifth grade when Julio and his family had left Tablas the year before and migrated to
Mindoro; because thefather had some difficulty in getting some land of his own to farm, the boy had to
stop schooling for a year. Asit was, Julio thought himself lucky enough to have Ka Ponso take him on as
tetant. Later, when Julio's wifeFidela gave birth to a baby, Ka Ponso, whi happened to be visiting his
property then, offered to become itsgodfather. After that they began to call each other compadre."Dear
Compadre," Julio started to write in Tagalog, bending earnestly over a piece of paper which he had
tornout of Jose's school notebook. It was many months ago, when, just as now, he had sat down with a
writingimplement in his hand. That was when he had gone to the municipio in Mansalay to file
a homesteadapplication, and he had used a pen, and to his great surprise, filled in the blank forms
neatly. Nothing came of the application, although Ka Ponso had assured him he had looked into the
matter and talked with the officialsconcerned. Now, with a pencil instead of a pen to write with, Julio
was sure that he could make his letterlegible enough for Ka Ponso."It's about my boy, Jose." he wrote
on. "I want him to study this June in Mansalay. He's in the sixth grade now,and since he's quite a poor
hand at looking after your carabaos, I thought it would be best that he go to schoolin the town."...The
kerosene lamp's yellow flame flickered ceaselessly. The drank smell of food , fish broth, particularly,
thathad been spilled from many a bowl and had dried on the form, now seemed to rise from the very
texture of the wood itself. The stark truth about their poverty...""This boy, Jose, compadre," he went on,
"is quite an industrious lad. If you can only let him stay in your bighouse, compadre, you can make him
do anything you wish--any work. He can cook rice, and I'm sure he'llwash the dishes."..."I hope you
will not think of this as a great bother," Julio continued, trying his best to phrase his thoughts. hehad a
vague fear that Ka Ponso might not favorably regard his letter. But he wrote on, slowly and
steadily,stopping only to read what he had put down. "We shall repay you for whatever you can do for
us, compadre.It's true we a;ready owe you for many things, but your comadre and I will do all we can
indeed to repay you."...Suddenly he began wondering hoe Jose would move about in Ka Ponso's
household, being unaccustomed toso many things there. The boy might even stumble over a chair and
break some dishes...He feared for the boy....Julio felt he had nothing more to say, and that he had
written the longest letter in his life... He sat back againand smiled to himself. About six o'clock the
following morning, a boy of twelve was riding a carabao along theriver-bed road to town. He was very
puny load on carabao's broad back.Walking close behind the carabao, the father did not cross the
stream but only stood there by the bank. "Mindto look after the letter," he called out from where he
was. "Do you have it there, in your shirt pocket?"The boy fumbled for it. When he had found it, he said,
"No, Tatay, I won't lose it."...Then Julio started to walk back to his house, thinking of the worl that
awaited him in his clearing that day......Jose grew suddenly curious about the letter he carried in his shirt
pocket. He stopped his carabao under ashady tree by the roadside.A bird sang in a bush nearby. Jose
could hear it even as he read the letter, jumping from word to word, for himthe dialect was quite
difficult. But as the meaning of each sentence became clear to him, he experienced acurious exultation.
It was as though he were the happiest boy in the world and that the bird was singing forhim. He heard
the rumbling of the stream faraway. There he and his father had parted. The world seemed fullof bird
song and music from the stream.