“Typhoon Jose”

By: Julianne Cristine F. Niduaza STEM103

“The Super Typhoon ‘Jose’ has entered the Philippine Area Responsibility at 2:00AM—” The old radio was
interrupted when John turned it off because he is about to go to school. He put on his socks and shoes, then
waved goodbye to his beloved grandma who is at the door to see him off. His phone rang, it was one of his
classmates indicating that he is late for school so he started running to the terminal. The first period already
began when he arrived. “Oh, and make sure to have an umbrella with you today, I heard the news that the
typhoon is going to pour today.” His professor muttered. John checked his bag to look for his umbrella, his
face looked disappointed after minutes of finding it. The class ended exactly when the rain starts pouring.
John thought that its going to stop soon so he sat at the nearest bench and waited for the rain to stop—Bang!
He jumped in surprise from the loud thunder. Losing hope and had no other choice, he ran to the bus stop
with the heavy rain and went home.

Drenched and shivering, he knocked on their door, “Susmariyosep! Hurry and get inside!” his grandmother
Helen said. John was scolded by his worried grandmother as he forgot to bring his umbrella. Achoo! John
sniffled while still shivering, Helen checked his body temperature and shook her head. He was ordered to
lay down and rest while his grandma prepares the medicine and porridge.

“Apo, we already have enough money to enroll you into a private school.” John’s mood lightened up when
he heard the good news. Their family wasn’t wealthy, his only family was his grandmother when his father
left Eireen—his mom for another woman, and later on killed herself from sadness. His father abused him
as a kid because he loves playing dolls more than cars. Helen was devastated in what happened to her
precious daughter, and later found herself adopting her grandson—John.

The typhoon isn’t showing any signs of stopping, and their worry about the flooding rises because they live
near the river. Not long after that, the water started entering their door and was rising at a rapid rate. They’re
experiencing a storm surge, John tried calling for help while assisting his grandmother up to their roof. It
was a very menacing experience for him, all he can think about was to get help and not minding his fever
still rising from all the stress. The rescuers arrived after several minutes, and John lost consciousness.

Losing their beloved home, property, and even the money for his enrollment in his dream school is gone in
a flash. John woke up from the cry of his grandmother, “I’m sorry, we lost all the money.” He consoled her
and was thankful that they are both safe. The evacuation center was full of people who are also in the same
situation as them. After several days, the typhoon ended and they went back to their house, hoping to find
their home in one piece but left disheartened. It was all covered in a mud and most of their things were
broken.

They tried to recover from the disaster bit by bit. John enrolled to a public school; he had no other choice
but to accept it because all their money was flushed away in the flood. Later on, he started liking his school
for accepting his gender and even allows cross dressing without anyone discriminating him. His
grandmother accepted and fully supported him in all the things that he wanted to do. He then thought to
himself that the typhoon was a blessing in disguise for him, and there will always be a rainbow after the
storm.