AMACon 3: Oikos - Children

The Wax and Wane - Chapter Two

The next few days were busy for RJ. An influenza virus spread among the townspeople and in the orphanage so he had to work overtime. Good thing his day was always lit up whenever his eyes landed on the new house mother. He would watch Maine from his clinic and he was always mesmerized on how she interacts with the children.

Despite the flu that most kids acquired, it was not difficult to care for them, perhaps because of Maine's attention and supervision.

Most times before lights out, RJ would accompany her in putting the children to sleep. There was a time when one kid requested that they do a story telling before going to bed so Maine and the doctor took turns in telling the story of Aladdin to the kids' delight. From an outsider's point of view, they really look like a married couple tucking their several dozens of kids to sleep.

To be honest, he was having fun despite the dual responsibility of being the town doctor and helping out in the orphanage. Though there was still the concern of waiting for Jane to return, the affinity that he was feeling for Maine was helping ease things out.

Every time, after lights out for the children, the two would have hot chocolate and converse about anything. He had shared with her his obsessive compulsiveness -- how he wants everything in order, how every year he sets a target for himself to read at least four new books, how he has to do at least one climb per year and the exhilarating feeling of being on top of a mountain and of course, how he lost both his father and mother at the same time.

Maine was an attentive listener and a smart converser. She does not have much stories to tell though. She would regal him of her movement from one place to another in her pursuit for adventure, how she would move from Laur to another place. The late night habit had given them a chance to bond, cementing an attraction that was already there to start with.

However, RJ would often feel like she is holding herself back. His attentiveness towards anything that she does allowed for him to see this. He would be fascinated by her simple brushing of her hair off her face whenever she is trying to concentrate on something, when she laughs that asthmatic laugh and how she'd crinkle her nose at the antics of the children and simply by everything that she does. He would, at the same time, be bothered by how she would clam up when things about her family and her past would be asked. She would suddenly steer the conversation to his current reading list of mythology books and where he plans on climbing next.

On his twentieth day in the town, he prepared to go home to his grandmother and his sister in Laguna. Sure, he was still anxious about little Jane not returning and he was all the more reluctant to leave Maine and the rest of the kids.

That night, as he was putting one kid to sleep, he chanced a glance at Jane's empty bed. The little girl he was tucking to sleep whispered to him. "Kuya Dok RJ, babalik pa po ba siya?" referring to Jane.

"Siguro, sabi nina Miss Ruby, bumabalik naman siya palagi, di ba?"

"Ayaw ko po siyang katabi, hindi po siya natutulog." RJ laughed at that. How could a four year old girl have insomnia?

"Paanong hindi natutulog, Mina? Ang mga batang katulad ninyo ni Jane, dapat natutulog. Baka nauuna ka lang laging makatulog sa kanya. Antukin ka kasi." It got him thinking but at that moment he was able to divert the kid's attention by starting a tickle fest.

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As soon as he arrived in their house in Sta. Rosa, RJ was engulfed in a hug by his grandmother. His sister followed, flinging herself to her brother who she hasn't seen for three weeks.

Angel was an unexpected child. Their parents were not planning on having another kid and RJ was already fifteen at that time. Her birth, however, brought fresh vigor into their family, it was all happiness and bliss until tragedy struck.

Mr and Mrs Faulkerson were on their way back to Laguna after fetching RJ from university in Manila for his first semestral break when it happened. It was a head-on collision ensuring death to all of the passengers in the vehicle. The odd thing was RJ survived, having been found several feet from their car with only a few cuts and bruises. Police stipulated that he was pushed out of the car by his mother before the impact happened. But he was in the back seat and both his parents were well buckled up. So the matter was left unanswered---

---except for the whispers of some of their neighbors who always found him strange---

---perhaps because of his miraculous survival from the accident or the fact that he always seemed to survive any other mishap that almost caused him harm.

The accident affected RJ too much that he always had nightmares and would often wake in the middle of the night, only to be calmed down by the moon beam shining through his bedroom window. He found comfort in it, thinking it was his parents guiding him and it was from there that he vowed to get his act together. He still had his studies and a younger sister to take care of.

With the help of his grandmother, they reared his then two year old sister and he was able to finish his pre-med course and his med proper through a government scholarship which is why he now needed to serve in rural areas for at least two years.