COURAGE by: Bienvenido Santos

The class of Section A did not like their new adviser, Mr. Arsenio L. Torres. He was quiet, distant and he never
smiled. When he said that the students 'looked intelligent but that remains to be proved' they took it as a
challenge. Their excellent performance, however, went unacknowledged.
Much the students did not understand about Mr.Torres. He had to be different from the more pleasant
teachers. He knew his lessons by heart, mastered them yet he showed no passion. It was like reading a great
story or reciting a lovely poem detachedly, lacking vivacity. He was 'too impersonal, too aloof, like a proud god
forced to walk among the mortals'.
There were days that Mr. Torres was absent but the students never bothered to ask why. They even wished he
would stay away a little longer. Unpopular as he was, no one noted any change in his appearance that was out
of the ordinary.
Section A was in-charge with the morning program. The theme was 'Courage'. Mr. Torres decided a common
song for the duet that was not about courage. He wanted them also to wear white because he liked white.
They voiced their protests, which he ignored. The girls for the duet wanted another song. Mr. Torres relented
but they would never forget his strange voice and the look on his face.
For Mr. Torres' death came shockingly unexpected. Apparently, he had been sick but had kept it a secret. At
the program,Section A's class president gave a speech. He spoke in a broken voice about how Mr. Torres was
misunderstood and misjudged because of his seeming indifference and his inability to laugh or smile. Courage
drove him to teach, to live each day through pain as if nothing was wrong. With courage, he chose to be
'misunderstood rather than admit defeat'. If only they knew or made an effort to know... but it was painfully too
late for regrets.
The two girls sang Mr. Torres' song but they could not finish it. The students in white were quiet as they
proceeded to their empty classroom.

Symbolism: White T-shirt

Irony: Where’s the land of joy
Characters: Mr. Torres and Section A’s Class
TWILIGHT HUGS
By Genoveva Edroza-Matute
Translated Buenventura S. Medina, Jr.
She first learned about it from Lydia.
‘La, said Lydia who sat on her lap and laid her palms on her nape, are you really leaving us, ‘La?
Leaving? But where I shall I go? She asked with light laughter. I can’t even move-with this cursed
rheumatism. How can I leave?
That’s nice! Nice! Lydia could not have sounded happier. Releasing her hold on her grandmother’s nape,
she clapped her hands. That’s what I said, you won’t ever go to Odet’s!
The light laughter that made her show the toothless gums slowly banished as he squinted peering into her
grandchild’s face.
This spite, what mouthfuls of nonsense! Where did you learn them? Why should I go to Odet’s-I don’t even
know where they live? I’ve been to them only twice…and God knows when!
But Lydia was no longer listening to her. She had quickly jumped out her grandmother’s lap as she heard
the first warning squeak of door that revealed the child’s pretty mother.
“Lydia,” pretty Carmen called. The voice that Grandmother heard was not harsh, not
angry. Cool. Cool. Pretty Carmen was brought up in the convent. She never heard her voice ever become harsh,
angry. It was cool. Lydia quickly left the kitchen. Her mother followed. From the wheelchar, the grandmother
followed mother and child with her eyes.
Pretty Carmen was soaping hard Lydia’s arms and hands. It was form her eldest that she learned about it
again. Mother, Ramon gently said, Rey would like you to stay with them-his daughter Odet would like to have her
grandmother with them. If you’d just think of it, you have not really known your grandchildren by your youngest. Soft
laughter without sparkle accompanied Ramon’s words. And I said that Carmen and I would not allow him to take you
away form us, but…
And I don’t want to be there. It was you who said that I didn’t even know my grandchildren-nor my daugher-
in-law-by Rey…
…But, Ramon continued… Rey might get hurt. So I said, Carmen and I would allow that… you spend your
vacation with them.
Ramon’s eyes grew restless. They did not want to meet the furrowed face that looked up at him, the eyes of
the fading light that stared at him.
Spend my vacation…at the home…of my youngest? Through her mind crossed lazily the words just spoken
by her eldest. Her bony fingers gently caressed her hair now turned silver. Was it to spend a vacation that her eldest
had just said? With Rey? Where does my youngest stay? What is the name of the girl she married? Odet must be
granddaughter by my youngest child. I cannot even recall her face. Ah, but Lydia’s different. I know Lydia. The
youngest by my eldest. Her mother is pretty. She washes clean the little hands of Lydia. But why? Will my children
really visit me? Their father had long been dead…
Mother, are you listening? The voice of Ramon rang through the million thoughts that lumbered through her
brain. Why would w\million thoughts now frequent her mind? When she was still young… If I should leave ahead of
you, do not take it to hear so much: you have two sons anyway…
Heavy were the hands that touched her shoulder. Carmen and I have discussed this, Mother. We have
agreed to consider Rey’s wishes.
Now she was beginning to understand things better. You said I would spend my vacation at Rey’s? Her eyes
of the fading light sought for the face that was looking at her a while ago, but now she was alone. She turned the
wheel of her chair towards the door. She clutched at the knob. The door would not move. It remained locked.
Beyond the locked door she overheard Ramon’s voice. Loud. But the words were vague, shut off by the
thick door. She could hardy hear Carmen’s voice. Gentle. Not angry. Cool. The voice’s coolness penetrated the
closed door.
She fell drowsy listening to these voices. Why would she get sleepy often now even during the day? As
often as the hovering thoughts in her mind that was getting slow in understanding the words said by Ramon. By
Lydia. By the other children. By the maids. Pretty Carmen had not talked with her for so long now.
With the drowsiness that fell over her came hovering million thoughts. Thoughts or memories? Memories or
imaginings?
We have two sons anyway. The voice would rise above the years. It would come back to her in its
gentleness. In its deep lovingness. We have put them through college. They can start growing roots by themselves
and we can travel together-even just until Mindanao, just until the Ilocos. I would wish to see our hometown before
we die.
 Oh, but we will do that-you know I just love to travel. But they still need us. No, it is wrong to give them all
they need-and spend on them the little that is left of our savings. They might turn selfish… That voice in its
gentleness, in its deep lovingness, was beclouded with doubt. But this doubt was readily banished by the blinding
light of her faith: My two sons, grown selfish? Oh, but you do not really know them-as I know them!
First there was Ramon. A big portion of their savings went to the establishment of a nice law office for
him. Handsomeness that attracted handsome clients, cases of delicate matter about delicate people, which brought
him success, the convent-bred and pretty Carmen. Then next came Rey. The rest of their savings introduced Rey to
society where he found an heiress from the South.
The morning after the wedding, that voice returned to the silence where it had sprung. A mishap clutched
and stilled, forever, that voice, in the fragile twilight of her life.
Do not cry, Mother. That was Ramon. You will stay with us. Carmen is kind, and soon you will have
grandchildren.
Grandchildren? Soft footsteps that were uncertain about direction… running steps… shrill voices…
The ball… I… t! A moment’s silence that broke into spills of voices.
What could it be? The grandmother stirred in her wheelchair, out of her momentary drowsiness. Had she
fallen asleep? Had she dreamt?
Tinay, the maid, was coming to her. She was holding a teaspoon of medicine and glass of water.
Lola, you take medicine-for your skin. Here, quickly drink water-your medicine is very bitter. Tinay glanced at
the scales on the old woman’s arms. Oh God, suppose I get old, will my skin be scaly like yours? Tinay laughed. But
before she left she told her something.
Lola, Mister and Misis Valli are coming.
Who?
That Misis, the comadre of Nyora Carmen-the one who says when she sees you that she almost sees her
mother who died. She says that Lydia is fortunate because she has a grandmother-her child does not have any…
Oh, is she the one?
Tinay lelt, taking away with her the teaspoon and the glass that held nothing anymore. She closed the door
behind her, beyond the room there no was the timber of Ramon’s loud voice. Nor the cool voice of Carmen.
It was drizzling that afternoon when Rey’s car drove through the front gate. It was Tinay, the maid, who told
her about the arrival.
But Lola, Tinay said laughing. What guest are you talking about? That was Mang Rey! Your own son, don’t
you know? Tinay laughed again.
Something suddenly sang inside Grandmother. Something danced about. Something shone bright. She
peered with her eyes of the fading light at the tall and husky figure that went straight into the living room. Like a ray
of sun that shone by her was the face that was almost that of the father who would worry so much about her-in case
she would be left behind.
s swift as her memory was the way she turned the wheels of her chair, towards where her youngest
went. The memory of that voice so gentle and loving: But you-you love the younger of the two better. And her voice
when she answered: Oh, but I am not like you who play favorites. Don’t I know you favor the elder?
Her voice now would span space between life and death, and now she was addressing the father of her
sons. You see don’t have to worry, even if you left me behind. Our youngest will take me away. To their home in the
South. See? You don’t have to worry.
She intended to move her chair into the room where her youngest had gone. Her bony fingers would love
very much to touch that face akin to her dear departed, her eyes of the fading light would love very much to see the
figure that she once cradled in her young arms.
At the door, she was halted by the raucous voices of her eldest and her youngest. The turning of her
wheelchair stopped as her own word ceased revolving.
All through the years we took care of her. Now that it is your turn, you have many excuses…
Now that you don’t get anything from her, is that is? And didn’t I tell you that we would be traveling around
the world? How could we?
Pretty Carmen’s voice came next. A cool voice which she could not understand. A cool voice that sank
through the marrow of her bones.
As cool as the droplets of rain that pelted her as she moved her chair into the terrace. As cool as the twilight
that hugged her bony of bones.
It was Tinay, the maid, who saw her in the terrace.
Oh God, this old woman… why get soaked in the rain? Come inside. What are you whispering? Misis Valli…
Misis Valli… Missis Valli… Oh God, Lola must be getting to be a child again. Come inside…
There was a whole world of gentleness, of candor, in the voice of the maid.
The story of “How my brother Leon brought home a wife?” by Manuel Arguilla focuses on the brother-in-law Baldo’s
perspective or thoughts upon meeting his brother’s wife Maria. It started when Maria was introduced by Leon or in
Maria’s way of naming him Noel, Baldo had immediately noticed that she was beautiful and fragrant just like the
morning when the papayas are on bloom. He noticed the small features of her face like her dimples for example.

Characters:

Baldo- younger brother of Leon

Leon- older brother of Baldo who brought home a wife
Maria- Leon’s loving wife
Labang- their pet bull
When the three went to see Labang a bull that his family kept and cared for as a pet, Maria wasn’t frightened or
scared of him. She even went to touch Labang’s  forehead. As they travel to go to their house, Baldo noticed his
brother’s and Maria’s closeness and affection for each other are true an strong like they were in their own world.

As instructed before by Baldo’s father they are to take a shortcut, which surprised the couple. Though, in Waig the
stars were of full brightness and visibility. Maria had noticed and was awed for its beauty, and together the couple
sang the song Sky sown with stars. When they arrived his mother and sister Aurelia was already waiting for them
and as they met Leon’s wife they cried.

Baldo was called by his father to report back. He told his father all good things and the fact that she wasn’t afraid of
Labang. Maria was a city woman who had never experienced life in the countryside.

Setting of the story is:

Waig
Nagrebcan, La Union
Vocabulary:
 cud - partly digested food returned from the first stomach of ruminants to the mouth for further chewing.
 tipped - attach to or cover the end or extremity of.
 waig - stream. a body of water flowing in a channel or watercourse, as a river, rivulet, or brook.
 reined - check or guide (a horse) by pulling on its reins.
Characters: 
 Baldo - Narrator, brother of Leon
 Leon - The husband of Maria
 Maria - The wife of Leon
 Labang - the family cow
 Father - the one who instructed Baldo on what he will do while he is on the road with Leon and Maria.
Setting: Nagrebcan, La Union

Exposition: The story starts off where the narrator introduced His brother Leon and Maria, where he describes Maria and her
physical appearance, he also described how his brother Leon is in love with Maria, and that's where their journey begins.

Rising Action: the problem was introduced when Maria was afraid that the father of Leon would not accept her in the family.

Climax: It would have been the part where the three of them arrived at home, and Baldo was called by his father and he asked
about their journey and about Labang, he also asked a bit about the wife of his brother Leon. 

Falling Action: It is when Baldo left the room of his father to go take care of Labang and talk to Brother Leon and Maria.

Ending: The story ended where baldo finished talking to Leon and Maria, and describing how Maria smelled like a morning where a
papaya just bloomed.

Symbolism: The only symbolism that i have found in the story was the "Journey" itself that the Maria and Leon took before arriving
home. This "journey" can symbolize the problems and obstacles that they have to face with their relationship, where a journey can
have it's ups and downs through the way, so it means that you and your partner should be prepared with all the sacrifices you have
to make in order to succeed in your journey. 

Theme: The theme of the story is about the journey in life, and how it has a lot of obstacles and problems that we should be
prepared in facing.

Lesson: The lesson of the story is even though there are a lot of obstacles and problems in life, there is a possible solution especially
when you're with the one you love.

Settings: The main highway, the stream and their home in Nagrebcan

Exposition: From the beginning of the story where the story introduced and visualized Maria and Labang as well. It goes on as the
story visualizes and describes the scenery as the four, Labang included, go through their journey back to their home in Nagrebcan.
Rising Action: It would be the point where Maria is afraid that Leon’s father may not accept her which would be also the main conflict
of the story.
Climax: When they have arrived home and Baldo was called by his father and they had a conversation about their trip and about
Labang. He did ask a little about Maria at first it seemed.
Falling Action: The father asked Baldo to go take care of Labang as an action to privately talk to Leon and Maria.
Ending: Baldo leaves and it seems that the three are left and gonna talk to each other about Leon having a wife.
Symbolism: The journey they went through symbolizes the journey they have to go through as husband and wife to face many
challenges such as introducing your spouse to your family whether they might accept them or not.
Theme: Again, it’s the “journey” we have to go through, not just in marriage but could be also many others very much like life,   we have
to go through where we have to pass through hurdles or obstacles to get to our sweet, hard fought destination.
Lesson: Stay determined and be committed to pass through these obstacles you may face as you live on to finally get to what you want
to achieve in life
Nunuk on the Hill
 

The Nunuk on the hill short forth the leaves and twigs;
Then suddenly all its branches fell and I under it.
On what is left I cannot watch the boats on the sea
For I stand on the side from the sea.
 
I weep in my grief?
It was the sea that made me an orphan;
The sad news came to me in the roar of the breakers,
From the voice of the mighty sea currents.

Nunok is a kind of tree. Nunok was referred to a deceased husband . The wife of the husband was far from him
and sea was their interval. The cause of death was when a heavy storm came, the boat sunk and no one
survived the tragedy. His wife aling catalina grieving for the loss of her husband. The branches were referring
to their children and all the branches fell to her. This means that she’s going to stand and raise her children
alone. And because no one survives on that tragedy no one reported but the worst weather, noisy waves and
big flows of the sea. It is difficult and challenging to be a parent and it is even more difficult to raise children
alone. Just like aling catalina on the poem the mother, now that her husband gone, as a mother all the needs
of her children will be in charge by her alone.

“The Nunuk in the Hill”, the author is symbolizing a child as the tree which has been slowly devastated by his
or her loss of parents which happened at the sea. I can relate with the author through the emotions the
character felt. I know that when that happens to me, too, I might also feel the same way as the character. i
know that everything will fall apart and there will be pieces missing from me, just like how the leaves and twigs
of the tree fell one after another, slowly.
The Rural Maid
By Fernando M. Maramag

Thy glance, sweet maid, when first we met,

Had left a heart that aches for thee,
I feel the pain of fond regret—
Thy heart, perchance, is not for me.

We parted: though we met no more,

My dreams are dreams of thee, fair maid;
I think of thee, my thoughts implore
The hours my lips on thine are laid.

Forgive these words that love impart,

And pleading, bare the poet’s breast;
And if a rose with thorns thou art,
Yet on my breast that rose may rest.

I know not what to name thy charms,

Thou art half human, half divine;
And if I could hold thee in my arms,
I know both heaven and earth were mine.

In his poem, The Rural Maid, the persona is a guy who fell in love with a girl. Even if he left, the memory of his
maiden still remains in him; proving that his love for her transcends time and distance. I especially like the last
2 lines since they visualize and magnify his love for her.
 How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife
(American Colonial Literature)
By Manuel E. Arguilla
She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin
with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. SHe
was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile,
and her forehead was on a level with his mouth.
"You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand
lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but they
were not painted. She was fragrant like a morning
when papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple
appeared momently high on her right cheek.  "And
this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She
held the wrist of one hand with the other and looked
at Labang, and Labang never stopped chewing his
cud. He swallowed and brought up to his mouth
more cud and the sound of his insides was like a
drum.
I laid a hand on Labang's massive neck and said to
her: "You may scratch his forehead now."
She hesitated and I saw that her eyes were on the
long, curving horns. But she came and touched
Labang's forehead with her long fingers, and
Labang never stopped chewing his cud except that
his big eyes half closed. And by and by she was
scratching his forehead very daintily.
My brother Leon put down the two trunks on the
grassy side of the road. He paid Ca Celin twice the
usual fare from the station to the edge of
Nagrebcan. Then he was standing beside us, and
she turned to him eagerly. I watched Ca Celin,
where he stood in front of his horse, and he ran his
fingers through its forelock and could not keep his
eyes away from her.
"Maria---" my brother Leon said.
He did not say Maring. He did not say Mayang. I
knew then that he had always called her Maria and
that to us all she would be Maria; and in my mind I
said 'Maria' and it was a beautiful name.
"Yes, Noel."
Now where did she get that name? I pondered the
matter quietly to myself, thinking Father might not
like it. But it was only the name of my brother Leon
said backward and it sounded much better that
way.
"There is Nagrebcan, Maria," my brother Leon said,
gesturing widely toward the west.
She moved close to him and slipped her arm
through his. And after a while she said quietly.
"You love Nagrebcan, don't you, Noel?"
Ca Celin drove away hi-yi-ing to his horse loudly. At
the bend of the camino real where the big duhat
tree grew, he rattled the handle of his braided
rattan whip against the spokes of the wheel.
We stood alone on the roadside.
The sun was in our eyes, for it was dipping into the
bright sea. The sky was wide and deep and very
blue above us: but along the saw-tooth rim of the
Katayaghan hills to the southwest flamed huge
masses of clouds. Before us the fields swam in a
golden haze through which floated big purple and
red and yellow bubbles when I looked at the sinking
sun. Labang's white coat, which I had wshed and
brushed that morning with coconut husk, glistened
like beaten cotton under the lamplight and his horns
appeared tipped with fire.
He faced the sun and from his mouth came a call
so loud and vibrant that the earth seemed to
tremble underfoot. And far away in the middle of
the field a cow lowed softly in answer.
"Hitch him to the cart, Baldo," my brother Leon
said, laughing, and she laughed with him a big
uncertainly, and I saw that he had put his arm
around her shoulders.
"Why does he make that sound?" she asked. "I
have never heard the like of it."
"There is not another like it," my brother Leon said.
"I have yet to hear another bull call like Labang. In
all the world there is no other bull like him."
She was smiling at him, and I stopped in the act of
tying the sinta across Labang's neck to the opposite
end of the yoke, because her teeth were very white,
her eyes were so full of laughter, and there was the
small dimple high up on her right cheek.
"If you continue to talk about him like that, either I
shall fall in love with him or become greatly
jealous."
My brother Leon laughed and she laughed and they
looked at each other and it seemed to me there
was a world of laughter between them and in them.
I climbed into the cart over the wheel and Labang
would have bolted, for he was always like that, but I
kept a firm hold on his rope. He was restless and
would not stand still, so that my brother Leon had to
say "Labang" several times. When he was quiet
again, my brother Leon lifted the trunks into the
cart, placing the smaller on top.
She looked down once at her high-heeled shoes,
then she gave her left hand to my brother Leon,
placed a foot on the hub of the wheel, and in one
breath she had swung up into the cart. Oh, the
fragrance of her. But Labang was fairly dancing
with impatience and it was all I could do to keep
him from running away.
"Give me the rope, Baldo," my brother Leon said.
"Maria, sit down on the hay and hold on to
anything." Then he put a foot on the left shaft and
that instand labang leaped forward. My brother
Leon laughed as he drew himself up to the top of
the side of the cart and made the slack of the rope
hiss above the back of labang. The wind whistled
against my cheeks and the rattling of the wheels on
the pebbly road echoed in my ears.
She sat up straight on the bottom of the cart, legs
bent togther to one side, her skirts spread over
them so that only the toes and heels of her shoes
were visible. her eyes were on my brother Leon's
back; I saw the wind on her hair. When Labang
slowed down, my brother Leon handed to me the
rope. I knelt on the straw inside the cart and pulled
on the rope until Labang was merely shuffling
along, then I made him turn around.
"What is it you have forgotten now, Baldo?" my
brother Leon said.
I did not say anything but tickled with my fingers the
rump of Labang; and away we went---back to
where I had unhitched and waited for them. The
sun had sunk and down from the wooded sides of
the Katayaghan hills shadows were stealing into
the fields. High up overhead the sky burned with
many slow fires.
When I sent Labang down the deep cut that would
take us to the dry bed of the Waig which could be
used as a path to our place during the dry season,
my brother Leon laid a hand on my shoulder and
said sternly:
"Who told you to drive through the fields tonight?"
His hand was heavy on my shoulder, but I did not
look at him or utter a word until we were on the
rocky bottom of the Waig.
"Baldo, you fool, answer me before I lay the rope of
Labang on you. Why do you follow the Wait instead
of the camino real?"
His fingers bit into my shoulder.
"Father, he told me to follow the Waig tonight,
Manong."
Swiftly, his hand fell away from my shoulder and he
reached for the rope of Labang. Then my brother
Leon laughed, and he sat back, and laughing still,
he said:
"And I suppose Father also told you to hitch Labang
to the cart and meet us with him instead of with
Castano and the calesa."
Without waiting for me to answer, he turned to her
and said, "Maria, why do you think Father should
do that, now?" He laughed and added, "Have you
ever seen so many stars before?"
I looked back and they were sitting side by side,
leaning against the trunks, hands clasped across
knees. Seemingly, but a man's height above the
tops of the steep banks of the Wait, hung the stars.
But in the deep gorge the shadows had fallen
heavily, and even the white of Labang's coat was
merely a dim, grayish blur. Crickets chirped from
their homes in the cracks in the banks. The thick,
unpleasant smell of dangla bushes and cooling
sun-heated earth mingled with the clean, sharp
scent of arrais roots exposed to the night air and of
the hay inside the cart.
"Look, Noel, yonder is our star!" Deep surprise and
gladness were in her voice. Very low in the west,
almost touching the ragged edge of the bank, was
the star, the biggest and brightest in the sky.
"I have been looking at it," my brother Leon said.
"Do you remember how I would tell you that when
you want to see stars you must come to
Nagrebcan?"
"Yes, Noel," she said. "Look at it," she murmured,
half to herself. "It is so many times bigger and
brighter than it was at Ermita beach."
"The air here is clean, free of dust and smoke."
"So it is, Noel," she said, drawing a long breath.
"Making fun of me, Maria?"
She laughed then and they laughed together and
she took my brother Leon's hand and put it against
her face.
I stopped Labang, climbed down, and lighted the
lantern that hung from the cart between the wheels.
"Good boy, Baldo," my brother Leon said as I
climbed back into the cart, and my heart sant.
Now the shadows took fright and did not crowd so
near. Clumps of andadasi and arrais flashed into
view and quickly disappeared as we passed by.
Ahead, the elongated shadow of Labang bobbled
up and down and swayed drunkenly from side to
side, for the lantern rocked jerkily with the cart.
"Have we far to go yet, Noel?" she asked.
"Ask Baldo," my brother Leon said, "we have been
neglecting him."
"I am asking you, Baldo," she said.
Without looking back, I answered, picking my words
slowly:
"Soon we will get out of the Wait and pass into the
fields. After the fields is home---Manong."
"So near already."
I did not say anything more because I did not know
what to make of the tone of her voice as she said
her last words. All the laughter seemed to have
gone out of her. I waited for my brother Leon to say
something, but he was not saying anything.
Suddenly he broke out into song and the song was
'Sky Sown with Stars'---the same that he and
Father sang when we cut hay in the fields at night
before he went away to study. He must have taught
her the song because she joined him, and her voice
flowed into his like a gentle stream meeting a
stronger one. And each time the wheels
encountered a big rock, her voice would catch in
her throat, but my brother Leon would sing on, until,
laughing softly, she would join him again.
Then we were climbing out into the fields, and
through the spokes of the wheels the light of the
lantern mocked the shadows. Labang quickened
his steps. The jolting became more frequent and
painful as we crossed the low dikes.
"But it is so very wide here," she said. The light of
the stars broke and scattered the darkness so that
one could see far on every side, though indistinctly.
"You miss the houses, and the cars, and the people
and the noise, don't you?" My brother Leon stopped
singing.
"Yes, but in a different way. I am glad they are not
here."
With difficulty I turned Labang to the left, for he
wanted to go straight on. He was breathing hard,
but I knew he was more thirsty than tired. In a little
while we drope up the grassy side onto the camino
real.
"---you see," my brother Leon was explaining, "the
camino real curves around the foot of the
Katayaghan hills and passes by our house. We
drove through the fields because---but I'll be asking
Father as soon as we get home."
"Noel," she said.
"Yes, Maria."
"I am afraid. He may not like me."
"Does that worry you still, Maria?" my brother Leon
said. "From the way you talk, he might be an ogre,
for all the world. Except when his leg that was
wounded in the Revolution is troubling him, Father
is the mildest-tempered, gentlest man I know."
We came to the house of Lacay Julian and I spoke
to Labang loudly, but Moning did not come to the
window, so I surmised she must be eating with the
rest of her family. And I thought of the food being
made ready at home and my mouth watered. We
met the twins, Urong and Celin, and I said "Hoy!"
calling them by name. And they shouted back and
asked if my brother Leon and his wife were with
me. And my brother Leon shouted to them and then
told me to make Labang run; their answers were
lost in the noise of the wheels.
I stopped labang on the road before our house and
would have gotten down but my brother Leon took
the rope and told me to stay in the cart. He turned
Labang into the open gate and we dashed into our
yard. I thought we would crash into the camachile
tree, but my brother Leon reined in Labang in time.
There was light downstairs in the kitchen, and
Mother stood in the doorway, and I could see her
smiling shyly. My brother Leon was helping Maria
over the wheel. The first words that fell from his lips
after he had kissed Mother's hand were:
"What did he sing?"
"---Sky Sown with Stars... She sang with him."
He was silent again. I could hear the low voices of
Mother and my sister Aurelia downstairs. There
was also the voice of my brother Leon, and I
thought that Father's voice must have been like it
when Father was young. He had laid the roll of
tobacco on the windowsill once more. I watched the
smoke waver faintly upward from the lighted end
and vanish slowly into the night outside.

"Father... where is he?" The door opened and my brother Leon and Maria
came in.
"He is in his room upstairs," Mother said, her face
becoming serious. "His leg is bothering him again." "Have you watered Labang?" Father spoke to me.

I did not hear anything more because I had to go
back to the cart to unhitch Labang. But I hardly tied
him under the barn when I heard Father calling me.
I met my brother Leon going to bring up the trunks.
As I passed through the kitchen, there were Mother
and my sister Aurelia and Maria and it seemed to
me they were crying, all of them.
There was no light in Father's room. There was no
movement. He sat in the big armchair by the
western window, and a star shone directly through
it. He was smoking, but he removed the roll of
tobacco from his mouth when he saw me. He laid it
carefully on the windowsill before speaking.
I told him that Labang was resting yet under the
barn.
"It is time you watered him, my son," my father
said.
I looked at Maria and she was lovely. She was tall.
Beside my brother Leon, she was tall and very still.
Then I went out, and in the darkened hall the
fragrance of her was like a morning when papayas
are in bloom.

"Did you meet anybody on the way?" he asked.

"No, Father," I said. "Nobody passes through the

Waig at night."

He reached for his roll of tobacco and hithced

himself up in the chair.

"She is very beautiful, Father."

"Was she afraid of Labang?" My father had not

raised his voice, but the room seemed to resound
with it. And again I saw her eyes on the long
curving horns and the arm of my brother Leon
around her shoulders.

"No, Father, she was not afraid."

"On the way---"

"She looked at the stars, Father. And Manong Leon

sang."