MY BEST FRIEND’S STORY

By: Mary Rose Y. Cortes

I knew her since we were a child. We were best friends. We played in the river, we

played in the sand, and we played in the mountains all day long. The sky was blue, the

sun was bright, the leaves are green, and the water is sparkling. Everything was

beautiful, the lovely flowers, the singing birds and the dancing butterflies. When it rained

we loved to watch and to catch the falling raindrops. When it blew, we loved to listen the

wind. “Where was that, we wondered!-whistling and howling, driving the clouds, bending

the trees, shaking the house, and making the sea roar in fury.

We had plenty of the finest toys in the world, and the most surprising ones are leaves,

stems, ferns, and forest.

But one day of a sudden, we became curious little girls. So I said to her, “What do you

want to do?” And she said “I want to learn. Come and let’s learn together.”

So I learned with her about Cumulus and Stratus, Venus and Uranus and Protons and

Neutrons. But, we were not always learning, we had the happiest games that were ever

played. We bathed in the river; we glided on the rocky mountain; we created our

playhouse by the rice fields and laid on the rice hays; at grandma’s, we played hide and

seek and “bato-lata”; at plain grass, we played jumping rope and chinese-garter; on the

streets we played “patintero” and a lot of ball games that we can think of. As to

playmates, we had so many of them-cousins, siblings and neighbors. We were all young

and were very close to one another.

Still, one day we turned into a young lady. So I said to her, “What do you want to do?”

And she said “I want to love. Come and let’s find our one true love”.

So we went on to the place where boys and girls met. We met a guy a guy who became

our friend. “Bruce!” he said as he extends his hands towards ours. His soft eyes shone

brightly as we talk. His vivacious and gentle nature made our hearts dance on fire. It

wasn’t love at first sight, but there was a spark the first time we looked at each other’s

Creative Writing Page 1

 eyes. We became good friends and started to become so close to one another. One

night, as we sat under the tree he whispered in my ear saying “I love you! I know this

must be something surprising to you, but I know I loved you for several hours now. I

loved you more than any woman has ever loved me.” So we sat in the dark, and wrote

letters every day and we were very happy together. We quarreled sometimes and made

up so quickly. We were engaged and were going to marry very soon.

But, one day we became a middle aged-woman. So I said to her, “What do you want to

do?” And she said “I want to be busy”. Come and be busy with me!”

So I began to be very busy with her. We can see the green leaves of the trees are

turning dark. Some of the trees are turning brown. We were not alone. Bruce was always

with us and our children. We were very busy tilting the fields, cutting down the trees,

carrying burdens and working very hard. We glanced up at the sky above the trees,

where the day was beginning to decline, and the sunset to come. We saw too that our

hair was turning grey, but, could never rest long, for we had our job to perform and it was

necessary for us to be busy always. And now the forest was yellow; and now brown; and

the leaves of the trees began to fall. So we sat down to get some rest. The sunset is so

near that we could see it shining before us.

Once more we became an old woman. So I said to her, “What do you want to do?” And

she said “I want to remember. Come and remember with me!”

So we sat down side by side, face to face with the sunset. We’re honored and pleased

on the things we did in the past. And I think my friend must be myself because this is

what we should do to ourselves, to be our own company and our own best friend.

Creative Writing Page 2