The Death of Dreams (Frankiana)

Chapter 20

Franki's POV

[ Let's start at the beginning: Food enters your mouth, meets your teeth and begins to be broken down by enzymes in your saliva. The morsel soon moves over your papillae, the few thousand bumps that line your tongue. Each papilla houses onion-like structures of 50 to 100 taste cells folded together like the petals of a young flower about to bloom—taste buds, we call them. These cells have chemical receptors attuned to the five basic tastes—bitter, sweet, sour, salt and umami, the last a word borrowed from Japanese that describes the savory flavors of roast meat or soy sauce.

These five tastes are enough to help determine if the thing we just put into our mouth should go any farther—if it's sweet or savory and thus a probable source of nutrients or if it's bitter and potentially poisonous. Yet they can't get close to communicating the complexity of the flavors that we sense.

In the past decade our understanding of taste and flavor has exploded with revelations of the myriad and complex ways that food messes with our consciousness—and of all the ways that our biases filter the taste experience. Deliciousness is both ingrained and learned, both personal and universal. It is a product of all five senses (hearing included) interacting in unexpected ways, those sensory signals subject to gross revision by that clump of nerve tissue we call the brain. ]

"Ito D, read this. Baka makatulong."

Binasa nya naman agad. Pinanuod ko lang siya habang seryoso sya sa ginagawa niya. I love how passionate she is with her craft.

Bakit ba ang manhid mo Diana?

O baka homo-oblivious lang siya because she's straight. Franki, itigil mo na yan. Ang alin? Wala nga akong ginagawa eh. Ano bang kailangan ng babaeng to na klase ng sign para malaman nya tong nararamdaman ko? Of course ayoko naring alamin. Natatalo talaga ako ng takot. Naiisip ko lahat ng mga negative what ifs.

Her problem is to identify the taste with other senses. While me, I have completely functioning senses but I couldn't even dare taste her soft lips. I've been looking at it from time to time but I still don't know what it tastes like. Kung iisipin ng mabuti, parang ganun din yung issue nya with her dad's secret ingredient, except for the fact that it's the opposite. Diana's lips are there, I could see it but I couldn't taste it. While yung secret ingredient, she can taste it before but she could not see what's really there.

Possible kaya talaga yun? To taste something that is not there. Ano ba kasi ang ibig sabihin ng daddy ni Diana dun sa sinabi niya? "..And remember this, you wouldn't know the answer for your own question if you think that you know a lot."

This is an advanced level of mental exercise, parang bibigay na ang utak ko sa kakainterpret ng mga sinabi niya. Pakiramdam ko bibigay na talaga ang utak ko. Iniisip ko kung ano ang secret ingredient na yun for two reasons. One is to possibly use this strategy for the cooking competition, and two is para malaman ko na kung ano talaga yung panaginip ni Diana. Bakit ba kasi ayaw niya sabihin sakin? Personal ba yun?

Tok tok tok!

"May bisita ka ata, kanina pa yang kumakatok." Sabi sakin ni Diana.  Tumayo na ako at bumaba para pagbuksan kung sino man yun. Bumungad sakin ang babaeng hindi ko kilala pero she looks familiar. Siguro nasa 40s or 50s. Mukha ding mayaman.

"Ano pong kailangan nila?." Tanong ko.

"Andyan ba si Diana? Pwede ko ba syang makausap?."

"Sino po sila?."

"Ako ang-ang tita niya."

"Ah sige po, pasok po kayo. Tawagin ko lang si Diana."

Pinaupo ko sya sa sala at pumunta nako sa kwarto para tawagin si Diana.

"D, tita mo daw."

"Huh? Sinong tita?."

"Basta sabi niya tita mo daw sya. Medyo magkamukha nga kayo eh--"

Naguguluhan parin sya pero pinuntahan parin niya.

..

Diana's POV

Nagulat ako nang makitang kong,

"M-ma?. Anong ginagawa nyo dito?."

"Anak--umuwi ka na please. Miss na miss na kita." Sabay lapit nito sakin. Si mommy? Umiiyak?

"Ma, hindi pwede. Itutuloy ko to. Aalis na kami bukas papuntang New Zealand."

"Sige, naiintindihan ko naman. Pero anak, sana patawarin mo na ako. Napag-isip-isip ko na nitong mga nakaraang araw na mali akong pilitin kang gawin ang ayaw mo. I'm sure kung nabubuhay lang ang Daddy mo, he'll be very proud of you."

"Ma, wag kang mag-aalala. Napatawad na kita. Thank you. Pero pwede pa naman tayong magsimula ulit diba?. Sya nga pala ma, about dad--pinaplano ko kasing gamitin yung secret ingredient niya for the competition."

"Oh THAT."

"So may alam po kayo? Sinabi po ba ni daddy sa inyo noon kung ano yun?."

"Nope. Hindi niya sinabi, I figured it out."

"P-po? Eh hindi naman kayo nagluluto, pano nyo naman nalaman?."

"Do you need to learn that skill just to detect that someone is lying?."

"Teka lang, lying? You're saying that daddy's lying? Na wala talagang secret ingredient?."

"No Diana, the secret ingredient is LYING."

"What do you mean?."

"It's yours to discover."

"Seriously? Ma, ilang araw nalang contest na. Wala na akong oras para mag-isip."

"You have more than enough to think about that anak, I trust in you. And I promised your dad before that I will never make things easier for you. Kailangan paghirapan mo lahat ng bagay na alam mo at meron ka. I know you, kasi I know your dad. He's a type of parent who would raise his kids to be independent individuals."

"Why are you saying all of these ma?."

"Because you have to know the truth anak."

"What truth?."

"Naaalala mo nung bata ka? Madalas kitang ispoil ng kahit anong gusto mong pagkain, pinag-aawayan namin yun ng daddy mo kasi baka daw hindi ka na kumain ng vegetables. From 3-6 year old ka ayaw mo talaga kumain ng gulay nun, kaya nakaisip ang daddy mo ng paraan to convince you to eat. And that's how he came up with the secret ingredient."

"He lied to me?."

"Yes. Little white lies."