Drastic Waves in Bondi

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was just lying on my bed when I remembered what happened yesterday at the beach. That man totally shut me off quickly. Rejecting whatever I would say. He has no interest in knowing it. Wala naman akong pakialam if he wouldn't acknowledge my presence—I really don't care about that, but the persistence of those people who wanted me to do an interview with him is kind of interesting.

Nang mapagpasyahan kong bumaba ng sala ay wala akong nadatnan do'n kung hindi ay sinilip ko sila sa labas and there I found all of them. Tumungo ako sa direksyon kung saan sila nagkukumpuluan and they were surrounding a food truck.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Hey there, sissy!" Bumungad si Kuya Henry sa concession window. Malapad ang ngiti nito. Nagtaka naman ako bigla dahil bakit siya ang nasa loob at anong ginagawa niya ro'n? "Do you have any idea?"

Umiling ako. "Clearly, I don't."

"He's self-employed," sagot naman ni Kuya Emmett sa tabi ko. He even wiggled his brows upon excitement.

Tumapon ang tingin ko kay Kuya Henry. "For real? Isn't this a joke? And if not, what are you going to sell and where do you plan?"

Napangisi naman si Kuya. "Oh, you've got a lot of question there, Thesia. But I've been thinking about this and since I couldn't get myself a job, I got my business where I am the boss! I'm going to sell flavored shave ice and ice creams on pops if that's what you were really curious about."

"It's yummy!" Biglang sumulpot si Kimberly mula sa loob ng truck at may kinakain na itong popsicle.

"Let me get you one," ani Kuya Henry. Tumalikod lang ito saglit at hindi nagtagal ay may inabot na ito sa akin. "That's a strawberry flavor popsicle. Well, kind of the cheapest here because you're not gonna pay for that, aren't you?"

Inagaw ko naman sa kamay niya 'yon at baka bigla pa niyang bawiin sa akin. "Okay, thanks?! But where do you plan on selling?"

He shrugged off. "Anywhere, but I'm thinking about Bondi Beach since we're near there and it's summer. People are coming there. Almost a thousand people a day are visiting the place so a piece of ice cream would help them from heat exhaustion."

"Well, that'll be a great location. Maybe, you can also watch Kuya Emmett get drowned at his training there next week." Ngisi ko pa.

Nilingon ko naman si Kuya Emmett at nakasimangot na ito sa akin. Lalayo na sana ako sa kanya dahil magkatabi lang kami pero kinulong niya ako sa braso niya. Hindi naman sinasakal, but almost like it. Kung hindi pa ako sumigaw-sigaw, he wouldn't even let me go.

"If Jenna and I won't be leaving town in the next two weeks, we'll help Henry."

"Maybe we still can," Jenna said. "While we're around. We'll be leaving just around New Year so that's still more than two weeks to go. So, yeah, we're going to help Henry's food truck business. Do you want to join us, Thesia?"

Sa tanong ni Ate Jenna, lahat ng mata nila ay sa akin tumapon.

"Why are you all looking at me?" I questioned. "Does it looks like I'm going to be on it?"

Kuya Henry nodded, grinning. "Yep. You've got nothing else to do, right?"

"No, there's a lot of things I'm going to do. And... and... I'm going to it all with Rasha."

"Oh, really?" He smirked. "But Rasha's leaving for Singapore so you won't be doing anything else, so help me."

"No, I'm not," paninindigan ko pa. "I'll be joining the lifeguard training."