“Okay, okay, I'll doit later. They're already starting,” said Placido as he tried to get away. “Bur if your teacher doesnt call the coll, “But he does sometimes. Afterward, afterward! Plus, Idon't ‘want to go against Makaraig.” “Bat it doesn't go against him, it's only Placido was already out of range, far away and huctiedly hheaded to class. He heard various “adsum, adsum.” Jeez, they were calling roll. He quickened his pace and got to the door just when chey were getting tothe letter 9. “Tinaman fig..." he muttered between his teeth, He couldn’ decide if he should go in or not: The die was cast and he couldn't make it disappear. You didn't go to class to learn, but co make sure that this particular die was not cast. ‘The class itself was reduced to memorizing the lesson, reading the book, and even more so, asking some question or other, abstract, profound, captious, enigmatic. OF course there was the brief sermon, bur it was always the same. On humility, submission, respect for priests, and he, Placido, was humble, submissive, and respectful. He was about to leave, but then he remembered that exams were coming up and his teacher hada't yet directed any questions at him and hadn't even acknowl. edged him. Ie was a chance to call attention to himself and make himself known. To be known is to pass the school year. It doesn’t take mach to fail someone you don’t know, but you haave to be hard-hearted not to be moved when a young man stands before you, his presence reproaching you daily with hav- ing wasted a year of his life. So Placido went in, but not as he usually did, which was on tiptoes. This time he banged his heels, bat his approach worked a bit too wel: Staring at him, the professor frowned and shook his head, as io say, “You insolent pup, you'll pay for that!” 13 THE PHYSICS CLASS “The class was held ina large rectangular room with large win- dows covered by grillwork, which let in an abundance of air and light. Against the walls were three wide stone benches with ‘wooden tops and populated by students, who were seated in alphabetical order. Toward the side opposite the entryway, tunder an engraving of Saint Thomas Aquinas, lay the teacher's Podium, raised, with «wo small steps on either side. Except for 4 handsome but litle-used blackboard with a narra frame'— fn it was still written the word Viva! which had appeared on the frst day—chere were no furnishings, nether useful nor use- less. The walls, painted white and protected in part by glazed tiles to prevent their being scratched, were totally naked-—not a single drawing, a single engraving, or even a diagram of a physics instrument, The students didn't need anything elses no fone missed the teaching of practical matters in a science that was eminently experimental. They had been taught this way for years and for years nothing uatowatd had happened in the Philippines. On the contrary, everything was business as usual, Once in a while some little instrumene fell from the sky and ‘was shown to the class from afar, such as His Holiness with the prostrate fathfal: Look, but don't touch. Every epoch or 30 ‘hen a helpful teacher came along and one day in the year was ‘designated for him to vise chat mysterious laboratory and ad ‘mire from the outside the enigmatic apparatus placed in the cabinets, no one could complain, For on that day you could see Tots of brass, gas, rabes, disks, wheels, bells, and much more, bur the fair went no further. Nothing untoward happened in the Philippines. Besides, the students were convinced that these Jove Riz. Fibustrsmo, Harald ugenbroun ans New York Penguin Boks, 3011,instruments had aot been purchased for them anyway. How stupid of the friars that would have been! The laboratory had been assembled for foreigners and high-level officials who came from the Peninsula so that when they saw it they could nod in satisfaction and their guide could smile asf to say, “So, you all believed that you were going to see backward monks, eh? We're ‘up to date wih this eentury. We have a laboratory!™ Foreigners and high officials, with such gallane appreciation, would later write about cheit travels and remember that “The Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Toms of Manila, ‘under the aegis of the Dominican Order, possesses a magnifi cent laboratory of physics for the instruction of their young people . .- Every year some two hundred fifty students ma- triculate in chis course, but perhaps owing to the indio’s apa: thy, laziness, lack of aptitude, and other ethnological or sensate reason .... they sill have not produced even a miniature version of Lavoisier, Secchi, or Tyndall from the Malay Filipino race!” However, the realty was that thircy or forty of the most advanced students did have classes in ths laboratory that were under the direction of the professor who was indeed fulfilling his responsibilities. Bue most of them came from the Jesuit ‘Ateneo, where science is taught in the laboratory itself. Such utility did not produce as geeat a result as if the 250 who ma- triculated, bought books, and studied for a year had been able totake advantage oft. Soin the end, except for the rare guard ‘or janitor who had had muscums at his disposal for many years, no one knew of a single person who had derived any benefic from those lessons, which had been memorized with such great effort. But ler’s pet back to class. ‘The professor was a young Dominican who had vigorously taught several subjects at the College of San Juan de Letrin, with excellent results. He was well known as both a dialect cian and a profound philosopher, and was considered to have the brightest future of his generation. His elders thought highly cf him and his contemporaries envied him, since among them ‘there are also two generations. This was his thied year of teach- ing and, even though it was his first lecturing on physies and chemistry he already seemed to have mastered it, a view held not only by the more passive students but by his fellow teachers who were, afterall, nor all evil or intolerant. Father Millon, though he was assistant professor of physics and chemistry, did rot belong co that vulgar crowd who changed their subject every year in order to acquire certain scientific knowledge, £0 be students among other students, without much difference than following a single course track, ask instead of waiting to be asked, understand Castilian better, and not si through ex- aminations at the end of the course year, Father Millon gave depth to science. He knew Arisotle’s Physics as well as the physics of Father Amat; he read Ramos carefully and from time to time dipped into Ganot. Through all that, every so often he would shake his head in doubt, smile, and mutter “transeat.” As for chemistry, they paid little attention to it since, based on Saint Thomas's saying that water was @ mix: ture, he proved beyond a shadow of a doube that the angelic doctor had greatly anticipated Berzelius, Gay Lussac, Bunsen, and other more of less presumed materialits. Nevertheless, in spite of having been a professor of geography, he maintained certain doubts about the roundness of the Earth and grinned maliciously when he heard people mention its rotation and its revolution around the sun, and rected Aliesmong the stars Isa comforting lie, He had che same malicious grin in the face of certain physics theories and chought the Jesuit Secchi a visionary rather than a madman, He attributed to him the notion that triangulations lover the host represented an effect of astronomical mania, and. whose use, he said, prohibited him from saying mass. Alot of people also noted in him a certain aversion to the very science that he himself was teaching, and even though such backeiting ‘may be trivial—easily explained preoccupations of school and religion—most likey it was owed to the fact that physical sc- ences are eminently practical, pure observation, and deduction, and his strength was in philosophy, which is pure speculation,abstraction, and induction. And since he was a good Domini can who loved the glory of his order, he fel litte affection for ‘science in which none of his brethren had ever achieved any- ‘thing—he was the first among them not to believe in the chem- isery of Saint Thomas—but in which other orders, enemies and rivals had achieved such glory. ‘This was that morning’s professor who, having called the roll, ordered many of the students to recite the lesson from memory, word for word. Some of theit phonograph worked, some of them wel, some of them badly. Others stammered and hesitated, and he noted their names. Whoever recited it with xno mistakes received a good grade; if you made more than three mistakes, you got a bad one. A fat boy with a sleepy expression, hair stiff and wiry like the bristles of a broom, yawned deeply enough to dislocate his jaw and stretched out his arms as if he were in bed. Seeing this the professor decided to scare him. “Hey, you, sleepyhead, yo! What's with you? What are you, lazy? I suppose you don't know the lesson, either, eh?” Father Millén, good friar thar he was, not only treated all the students with such familiarity, but he spoke to them in market slang, a practice he had leaened from the professor of ccanon law. If, chrough i, the reverend wanted to lower himself to the evel of his students or tothe council’ holy decrees, the (question has never been resolved, despite its having been widely discussed. ‘The class, rather than being angered by it, thought this way of speaking very funny and many would laugh. But the sleepy- head did not. He jumped up, his eyes narrowed, And as if he ‘were a steam engine, he fired up his recording device and began to recite: “The name micror is applied to all polished surfaces meant to produce by their reflection of light the image of objects placed in front of said surface. The substances that form these surfaces are divided into metalic mirrors and glass mirrors—" “Hey, hey, hey!” the professor interrupted. “Jesis, what a screed! We're at mirrors are divided into metal and glass, right? So if give you a wood, kamagén, for example, that is highly polished and varnished, or a piece of well-burnished black ‘marble, a disk of jet that reflects the image of objects set in front of them, how would you then classify them as mirrors?” ‘The young man who had been asked that question, either because he didn’t understand the question or didn’ know how to answer, tried to show that he knew the lesson by going on with his covrent: “The former are formed by brass or by an alloy of different metals, the latter are formed by adding a laminate of glass whose two surfaces are highly polished, one of which has an amalgam of tin welded toi.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s not it.I say Dominus vobiscum and you reply requiescat in pace?” ‘The good professor repeated the question in market slang, inserting things and abs from time to time. ‘The poor boy couldn’ find his way ous. He debated whether to include kamagén among the metals, and marble among glasses, and leave jet as 2 neutral, until his neighbor Juanito Peléez said under his breath, “Kamagn mirrors are wooden.” ‘The gullible young man repeated it, and half the class burst out laughing, "You're the only kamagdn here!” the professor said, laughing, inspite of himself. “Let's look at what you are calling & mirror: the suctace per se inquarcum est superficies or the body that creates it the prime matter modified by accident surface, be- ‘cause, and this is very clear, as the accidental surface of che bodies, it cannot exist without substance, Now let’s see, what do you say to that?” “Me? Nothing,” the unbappy lad was going to reply. He had ‘no idea what they were talking about. He was confused by so many surfaces and so many accidents. But an instinctive timid- ity held him back. Filled with anxiety and beginning to sweat, he forced out through a clenched jaw “The name mirror is applied to all polished surfaces—" “Ergo, per te, the mirror is the surface,” fished the professor. “All right, maybe you can resolve this problem. Ifthe surface is the mirror, it mast be indifferent to its own essence insofar as beneath this surface you can encounter, since what is be-neath docs not affect the exsence of what is above, ides, the turface, que super faciem ext, quia vocatureuperfces facies ta quat supra videturs Do you concede that point or not” “Fhe poor boy's hair tood on end, even strates than usual, asifelecrifed by a growing force field. “Do you concede the point or not?” Anything, whatever you say, Father he was thinking, though he didart dave say it betause he wos afaid they would laugh at him. evens quite a predicament, and a growing one, He had a certain vague idea that you never conceded even the most in- focent thing to the friars without their then exacting every Jimaginable consequence and advantage their estates and cura- cies for example, His good angel suggested he deny with every Counce of his being and the unruliness of his hair evecything put to him and he was just about to burst out with a ego, because ‘when you deny everything you admic nothing, a court officer ccace tld him. Bar the bal babi of not liseang tothe voice of his own conscience, of putting litle faith in the clergy and of secking help from others when one person shouldbe enough bbocame his undoing. His classmates were signaling to him to toncede the point, eqpcialy Jusnico Pldex So he gave in to his bedside and came out wth “I concede the poi, Fathe,” ina vice so weak ir seemed toy: In manus tuas commendo spiritum meu "Concedo aniecedentem,® the professor repeated with an evil smile. “Ergo, Tean serach off the mereucy backing ofa glass Imierorand replace it with apiece of bibinka and well sil have a mittor Hah! What will we have?” "The young man looled around for inspiration, Seeing every one ile dum, wot knowing what ay, ee ere roach appeared on his face, Deus mens, quar derliquiste met said hs wretched eyes as hislipe mater inntiban le Coughed, in vain, pulled atthe front of his shir, shifted his ‘weight one leg and thea the other, but could nd no answer “Wel, wae do we have?” the professor repeated, enjoying his argument immensely. “Bibinka!” whispered Juanito Peder. “Bibinkat™ ‘Shut up, you ide! the young man fnaly yelled in des- eration. He had decided tha the way out ofthis ix was pic signe, “All righ, Juaito, see if you can resolve the question,” the professor chon said Pelz Felice, who was the teacher’ pet, rose slowly, but no with: cout elbowing Pliido Peientey who was next to him. The elbow was meant to say: *Watchy and see what happens = “Ngo consecuentin, Father he answered fly. “Ana! Then probo.consectetian! Per te, the polished surface makes up the estence ofa mitror.- “Nego suppositum!™ he shouted even tore vigorously. He felt a tug on his jacket. ad “What? Portes. “Nego! (eg53,1 HE ofthe onion tha he Backing inner the ron?” “Nego! he yelled even louder. He felt another tg on his inch Toanito, oF pethaps Pécdo, who was helping, was put ino practice the Chinese strategy of not allowing even the most innocent outsider into your mids in onder to avoid total “So where does that leave us?™ the professor asked, a bit sisconcerted an eying the intransigent pupil nervously “Does the backing influence the fron surface or not" In the face ofthis spcife and categorial question-—a type of skimarurn—Juanto did nor know what to answer and Is jacket was no help His signals oan indecisive Pei were no ‘ts. Juanico took advantage ofa moment when the profesor vas loking ata scaden in he process of unwittingly Femoving his boot, which were mach too tight, to kick Mido fn the shins, saying, “Help me out here; c'mon help me out™ “Igaher «=. at Youre such am ass!” Placid shouted with- out thinking, hiseyesblazingas he rubbed a spot on his patent Teather boot “The professor heard him ery out looked at them both, and gucted what had happened “Hey, you, the meddlesome ot he said. “I wasn't askingyou, but since you've decided ro play everyone's savior, let's ‘see You save yourself, salva tejpsum, and you solve the problem.” ‘A smug Juanito sat back down, but not before showing his appreciation by sticking out his tongue at his mate. The latter, red-faced with embarrassment, got up, muttering unintelligible For a moment Father Millén looked at him like someone surveying a plate of serumptious food. How much fun it would be to humiliate and ridicule this fashion place, always o smartly dressed, his head held high, and so full of himself! Te would be an act of charity. The professor threw himself into the task in all good conscience, repeating the question slowly. “The book says that metallic mireors ace formed by brass or by an alloy of various metals. Is that correct or not?” “That's what the book say, Father ...” Liber dixit, ergo id est? you're not going to pretend 10 know more than the book, are you? It goes on to say thar glass ‘mirrors are formed by a laminate of glass whose ewo surfaces are highly polished and one of them is coated with an amalgam of tn, nota bene! An amalgam of tn. Is that correct?" “IF that’s what the book says, Father...” “Is tin a metal?” “It seems to be, Father. That's what the book says “Ic is, itis. The word amalgam means that itis joined to mercury, which is also a metal. Ergo a glass mirror is a metal ‘mirror. Exgo the terms of difference are confused, ego the elas- sification is specious, ergo . . . How do you figure that, my ‘meddlesome friend?” "He emphasized the ergos and the yous with unspeakable de- light, winking, as if to say, “your goose is cooked.” “Well... Td say ...” Plécido stammered. “You'd say chat you don't understand the lesson, a wretched soul who doesn’t understand, but you still supply answers to your neighbor.” ‘The class did not seem to be upset. Rather, many of them found the whole ching funny and began to laugh, Plicido bie his lip. “What's your name?” the professor asked him. “Plicido,” he replied curly “Ah, Phicido Penitente, but you seem more like Plécido Prompter, Mister Prompcet, So I¢hink what I'l do is exact pen- itence for your prompting.” Happy with his wordplay, he told him to recite the lesson, ‘The young man, ina stat of agitation, made three mistakes. The professor, nodding slowly, opened the roll and, pausing after tach, quietly repeated the names, “Palencia... Palomo... Panganiban... Pedraza ...Pelado, Relient, aha Pleo Pentene, een unexcused Placido squirmed, “Fifteen absences, Father?” “Fifteen unexcused absences,” the professor went on. “One more and you're out of here.” “Fifteen absences? Fifteen absences?” Plicido said again, ‘upset. “T've only been out four times, five if you count today.” “Jeez, jeez, sub” the professor replied, staring at the young ‘man over hi gold-rimmed glasses. “You admit chat you've been absent five times, and God knows if you've been absent more than that. Atqui,since I very rarely call the roll and every time I catch someone out I make five checkmarks, ergo, what's five times five? Have you forgotten your mulriplication tables? Five times five?” “Twenty-five.” “Jeez, jer! So in the end you've avoided ten, because P've only caught you three times, Uh if had caught al of them whats three times five?” “Fifteen...” “Fifteen, how right you are!” the professor concluded as hhe closed the roll book. “So if you get another one, sulung!* The noose is tightening, And now you're marked down for the mistakes in today’ lesson.” He reopened the roll book, looked for the name, and made a checkmark. “Well, well, a checkmark,” he said, “though it seems you hadn't had any yer.” “But, Father,” Picido exclaimed, trying to contain himself,“if Your Reverene mark me off for this lesson, Your Revrence has to erase the checks for absence that you gave me today." is Reverence dd not respond. Fest he slowly marked dows 4 check for the mistakes and then examined iy hs head ed {0 one sid. A checkiatk should have artsy. He closed the roll and then, with peat sarcasm, asked “Ah, and why s that, ny fine sin "eBecause it is impossible, Father, that one can be absent from class and sll recite the lesson in class-AB Yur Reve. nce has sido exist and to not exit? “Nabil A budding metaphysican, no less! How isi i posible, eh? Sed patetexperiontia and conta expeientiam regantem, fusibus et arguondum, ight? So, with your phi Tosopher®s brain you cant conceive of situation in which you ean miss classand not know the lesson a the same time? Doct a lack of stendance necessarily imply an understanding of ecince? What do you say to tha, my phlovopher fend?” ‘That was the sta that broke the camels back. Pci, who was own among hi frends for his philosophical bent, Ios bis patience, threw his book down, got up, and faced the professor. “That its Father, tha’ it! Your Reverence can check me off as much as you want, but you have n right oinsule me! You an take your cass! Ive had enouah!™ ‘And with ha, he stormed ot. “The cass was tertifed. They had aever seen am act of such sonal dignity. Who would have figured that Plicido Pei. fente «The professor was astonished. He bit his lip and ‘moved aside, making a threatening gesture with hs head. Then he launched ino the same sermon as always, though he spoke tvth more force and eloquence than usual He waxed greatly On innate pide, inborn ingraade, presumption, lack of re Spec for one’ superior, the arrogance that dark spire in fused in the young lack of manners, ack of courtesy, and $0 on, Then he lsnched ito insu and sarcasm on the preter. Sion of some promptesto teach their masters by geting up a8 Academy forthe teaching of Castilian. “Hi Haht” he sid, “People who yesterday could barely Bet out, “Si, Padre, and no, Padre” want to know more than people who have grown old teaching it. If you wane eo learn, you can do it with or without academies! I am sure that that fellow who just left is one of the people behind the project. Heaven help Castilian if tha is one of its partisans! Where are they going to get the time to frequent the academy if they can't, ‘even find enough to take care of their class work? We want everyone to know Spanish, with good pronunciation so you don't burst our eardrums with your tortured words and p's," ‘but first your obligations and chen your devotions. Finish your studies frst and then learn Castilian, then you ean become scribes if you care to...” "He went on Like thar until che bell rang and class ended, and the two hundred thirty-four students, after a prayer, left the classroom as ignorant as when they had entered, but breathing freely, as ifa great weight had been lifted from their shoulders, Each and every one of them had wasted an hour of his life, and with it went a part of his digniry, his self-respect. In exchange, they gained a bit of discouragement, a dislike for studying, and a heartfele resentment. After all that, ask them about science, dignity, gratirude! De nobis, post bace tristissententia fertur! Just like the thousands and thousands of students who pre- ceded them, those two hundred and thirty-four suffered through those hours of class. And if things don't change, the same thing will happen with those to come. They'll get brish and stupid. Their wounded dignity and vitiated youthful en- ‘thusiasm will turn into hatred and indolence, like waves on. certain areas of a beach that end up murky, merely breaking, fone after another and leaving behind nothing but a great sedi- ‘ment of waste, If Someone could see from the perspective of eternity an act unfold lke a thread passing chrough the centu- ries and Who has imposed progress and perfection as Its first law forts creatures, that Someone if He is just will demand an accounting from those who should give i, from the millions of intelligent beings whose lives have been darkened and blinded, human dignity debased in millions of creatures and the count” less amount of time wasted and work made useless. And ifthedoctrines ofthe Evangelist are really founded in teuth, they will hhave to answer to the millions upon millions of chose who had no idea of how to guard the light oftheir own intelligence and a dignity of sprit, like the master asks for an accounting ofthe servant for the calents of which he has so cowardly allowed himself to be robbed. 14 A STUDENT HOUSE AA visit to Makaraig’s house was worth its while. Large, spac cious, with two balconies outfitted with elegant railing, it seemed like a school in the morning hours, but after ten ever)~ thing was pandemonium, During seudents’ free hours, from the time you came through the spacious entryway until you arrived at the main floor, the place was bursting with laughter, boise ‘ousness, and activity. Young men in lightweight, informal cloth- ing played sipa and did gymnastics on improvised trapezes. On the stairs, between eight or nine of them, armed with sticks, pikes, hooks, and ropes, carried out assaults, but those assault ‘ng and those being assaulted were never hurt. For the most part their blows ricocheted onto the back of the Chinese ped- ‘ler who sold his various goods and indigestible pastries there. A crowd of boys surrounded him, pulled his already unbraided and disheveled queue, grabbed pastries, and haggled over the price and al in all created a multitude of mischiel. The China- ‘man yelled, cursed in any language he could mangle, including his owns he whimpered, laughed, and pleaded, putting on bis jgame face when nothing else worked, of vice versa, “You abil evir! No clistian, You limofo,lamaje. Toso, tusul”™ ‘Twack, thwack, nothing did any good. He still came back ‘with a smile. Since they hit him on his back, he went on with his business, satisfied by shouting, *Not priaying, not prlay- ing.” But if they hic the bilaw that held his pastries, he would let loose with every imprecation and curse imaginable.” He ‘would swear never to return, The boys would double their ef. forts trying to make him even angrier, and when they sew he had used up all his phraseology and were satisfied with their