From A to Z

C

It was already sundown when the medical mission ended.

The program went quite well, except for some minor complaints about line cutting of some residents, which was blamed on Dennis whom, they said, kept on playing with his phone instead of managing the line. Everyone was exhausted; the humid weather drained them even more. But the smiles on the faces of the residents while looking at the bag of medicines in their hands, the laughter of the young boys teasing one another while holding out their shorts after getting circumcised, and the residents walking up to them and thanking them — all of these wiped away the fatigue they were feeling.

Adam and his team were helping the medical teams fix their things when Mr. Malabanan returned to the covered court.

"Congratulations on your team's success!" the barangay captain said to him with a huge grin. It was so infectious that it made Adam smile as well.

Mr. Malabanan shared with Adam some feedback he got from residents he happened to pass by as he was on his way back to the covered court. While listening, Adam watched above the captain's shoulders the vans of the medical teams driving off. When the vans have left the court, he saw Mateo walk towards Zach who was plopped down on a stone bench at the side of the court. He was looking at his camera, probably at the photos he took earlier which he gladly shared with Mateo when he sat beside him. The two were sharing a kind of smile that intrigued Adam.

"St. Joseph never really fails us," Mr. Malabanan said in conclusion before crossing himself.

Adam only smiled at the captain because he did not hear a thing from what he had told him.

"Come, I'll guide you to your accommodation for tonight."

Upon riding his car, Adam was surprised to find Alex, Dennis, and Louis instead of Zach. The three were giddily and noisily bouncing up and down at the backseat. This was one of the reasons why he does not want any of his brothers, especially this trio, to ride with him.

"Who gave the three of you the permission to ride my car?"

"Don't be unfair, Adam," said Alex. "You allowed that new boy to ride with you without any hesitation. Why can't you treat us, your best friends, the same way? Is he that special?"

"Well," Dennis spoke before Adam, "he is special because he likes to..." He made a vulgar gesture to which Adam just rolled his eyes.

He started the engine. Since it was only a short ride, he let them be, but not without a warning. "If you don't behave, I will kick you out without any hesitation."

The trio settled down with their hands resting on their laps. He shook his head and drove out of the covered court, trailing the barangay mobil where the barangay captain was riding. The mobil is a black motorcycle with a sidecar coated with lime green paint (Adam assumed this to be the barangay's official color) and the emblem of the barangay in the middle.

From the covered court, they turned right at the closed barangay health center and passed by the two-storey barangay hall painted with the same shade of green. They continued to a road with a much worse condition. This road has not been touched by asphalt or even cement since forever; the topsoil has long been degraded. The road was also badly lit. The farther they were from the barangay hall, the fewer were the lampposts. They had to rely on the headlights of their vehicles to guide them along the uneven road.

Around five hundred meters from the barangay hall, they turned right after passing by a vast expanse of trellises where whitish-colored, elongated, rounded fruits were hanging, which Adam later learned were called kundol (wintermelon).

They parked underneath a mango tree. Upon stepping out of the car, he smelled the scent of authentic rurality: pig manure. The odor was coming from the three pigpens in that area, the closest of which was around ten meters from where they were. This pigpen has a headcount of twenty-four, that is, two sows with eleven piglets each. Meanwhile, the other two pens have a total of thirty heads. All in all, fifty-four heads. The combined odor of these creatures crept inside their nostrils. The boys, with the exemption of Adam, covered their noses to save themselves from the strong stench. Adam endured the smell, pretended that he was not bothered by it, so as not to cause any offense to Mr. Malabanan and his aid.

Adam walked alongside the captain.

"A kind family lent their vacation house for tonight," Mr. Malabanan said. He pointed to the elevated two-storey house where they were headed to. It was well-lit; it stood out on the black backdrop, like a firefly on a dark night.

Mr. Malabanan went up the bamboo stairs finished with dark brown lacquer to open the house owned by a certain Villacrusis family. The house looked like a typical house from afar; but inside, he felt as if he was brought to a different world. Lit by warm orangey light, the structure, as he could see more clearly, was made from a mix of finished concrete and unvarnished bamboo which gave it a fusion of traditional and modern atmosphere.

At the center of the hall was a long table made from bamboo painted with dark brown lacquer similarly used to the staircase outside. Surrounding the table were ten stools made from acacia painted dark brown. It made sense to use a dark color for the furniture because it contrasted the light shade of the floor and the walls. At the far end was a bamboo staircase leading up to the second floor. Underneath this was a kitchen countertop with a gray plastic dish cabinet and a blue gallon of drinking water.

"There are two rooms here," Mr. Malabanan pointed to the two bedrooms to the right, "which I think it can fit two or three people each. Then upstairs, there are four double-decks."

Adam noticed the sudden change in Mr. Malabanan's expression when the captain looked at their group. He immediately understood why. The beds were not enough for the seventeen of them.

"We will make do, Mr. Malabanan. We brought sleeping bags," he told the captain to relieve him from his worry.

Mr. Malabanan smiled at him as a way of saying his thanks.

"Please make yourselves comfortable here," Mr. Malabanan addressed all of them. "But please take care of this house because this was only lent to us by a kind family, okay?"

"We will keep this house in order, sir," Adam assured him.

"Great! Should you need anything, you can contact me... Mateo?" Mateo made himself visible when he was called. "You have my number, eh?" Mateo answered with a quick nod. "Yes... so you can contact me. I also asked for the help of the relatives of the Villacrusis who lives in the nearby house should you need anything."

Adam escorted the captain to the door after the keys of the house were handed to him. Suddenly, the captain turned on his heel when he remembered something: "We'll pick you up here after maybe... an hour. Your dinner is on us."

When Mr. Malabanan left, the boys were all raising their fists in the air. Some of them were almost in tears. One said, almost crying: "Our kidneys are spared from cup noodles! The Lord is kind!" And the other boys echoed the chant, except for three people: Mateo and Zach, who were at a corner, laughing amongst themselves at the silliness they were seeing; and Adam, whose attention was focused on the laughing pair at the corner.