"Quota" he hushed to himself.
As he ruffles a wallet, picking up new crisp 1000-peso bill, folding it carefully and placing it in his back pocket. Careful, not to be spotted by parak, Ryan melds into the chaos that we call now as Quiapo. A melting pot of cultures merged into the quaint part of Manila.
"I needed this more than him." While walking through Hidalgo street. "Probinsyanos. They'll never learn. He knew better than to walk with that dumbfounded face in streets as dangerous as this." Ryan was careful with his demeanor, making sure to move with the pace of the crowd. "Not too fast, but not sluggish as well." Immediately turning to a smaller eskinita to take a breath, he catches a whiff of a salty, caramel aroma just at the end of the street. "That's probably the ham the chinks are selling around." And so, he waits. To see if any clamor eventually turns up. Dreaming again, of his life back in the mountains.
Hailing from the province of Zambales, Ryan was lured into the metro by the clamoring hope of a better life, full of adventures, tons of money, and beautiful women. "Who'd not want that?!" He gleefully remembers, as he tells this to his friends back in the province. With a back all puffed up, full of confidence and bravado. " I'll dominate manila, I tell you! Nothing's gonna stop me!" A bright shadow to his jaded self. 3 years in, with cuts, bruises and several scams to match, all he wants is to go back to that dreary, dull life.
Walking back to the plaza, Ryan scouts for new "clients". Trying to size up, each and every one who passes through. He spots an innocuous target. A small fellow with skin as pale as snow, frail and slumped like the guy carried the burden of the world in his shoulders, deer-like eyes that's been waiting for a mountain lion gobble him up, and long wavy hair that could give the nazareno a run for his money. His whole demeanor is screaming to be scammed up. "Bingo" he tells himself. Not wanting to loose steam of the momentum, he readies his attack.
While inching his way to his new found buddy, a peculiar old woman suddenly tugged at his shirt. "Manang!" Ryan calls out to the source of his nuisance, with a full smile and a jolly voice. "Don't ever cross the old hag of Quiapo." He distinctly remembered, a peculiar advice his associate once told him during their raiding campaigns in one of the warehouses in Ongpin.
"Manang can injure anyone she wishes to, cripple the mighty till they're incapacitated, breath life to those who are weakened to an almost perfect state, and even make the ugliest turn to the most desirable person he/she desires. She's like a cross of a mambabarang and an albularyo" His associate mutters, while last checking all the equipment they need for the raid. "You know that's all tsismis right, rael? Probably a bloated story of the old hag to spike up the fee for all her clients. The world of pamahiin and alamat are a part of the past. Trust me, i'm a scientist." As he clearly remembers that one time he mistakenly bought a science magazine in a rush, instead of a raunchy HMF Magazine. "Ay sos. You and your skeptical mumbo jumbo. I bet you wouldn't even believe it even if she transformed the water into wine-" Rael paused. "Ay mali! That was the nazareno." We both laughed. Easing the tension in the air. "But im telling you man, you've got nothing to lose. Don't cross her"
"Come come." Manang speaks, as she tugs continuously on my shirt. There's nothing supernatural in the way she looks to be honest. Salt and pepper sprinkle her curly long hair tucked in a bun; skin, dark and wrinkled; a big stubby nose, and large eyes that seem to judge you; back curved by the passage of time, and a plain blouse accented by a bright red apron where she hides her change. Ryan follow closely, as she slowly drags herself to her little corner near the construction supplies store.
Halfway through the route, the old hag pauses abruptly, as he does the same. There was a sudden convulsion in her body, her head tilting away as if to gaze somewhere far. And just as the jolt came, it suddenly disappeared. A wave of stillness surrounded Manang, standing motionless as if entranced by some entity. Minutes passed before ryan saw some form of life return to her gargoyle-like stance.
and thus, Manang spoke. "Your mountain calls you. " and now, it was his turn to freeze.
==========
A mountain that calls. He snickered. "How the heck does a mountain even call? Do they have pay phones over there?" He sarcastically answered back. "Probably sent a letter through his anito or something." A quick pang to his ears follows up, as a small stick whips up to ryan's ears. "Gago" manang replies. "Do you want me to carve you up using this tingting? What do you think of me, a charlatan of some sort? My words have bearing. And you best heed the vision of this old goddess" As manang poses in a gaily fashion, lifting up a smoked tobacco in the left while clutching an intricately designed bolo to the right.
"Ehhh.. I'll take my chances." Ryan slowly turns away. "The die has been cast young one, and you have no choice on the matter." While manang peruses an ancient book she's been clutching on her right hand. "And one more thing" As she points her old patpat to the lowly thief. "That would be a hundred pesos, with suki's discount" Accompanied with a sly smile to the side. "Ay sos. I knew it! You're always trying to act with that aura of mystery around you" as he pulls out his wallet looking for a hundred peso bill. "Just make sure I get the usual protective blessing with this 100 ha."
Handing out a crumpled bill he found on his side pocket. Manang daintily receives the crumpled paper, holding it up to assess the authenticity of the money. Tilting it from side to side, caressing the texture of the money and looking up the respective features of the bill, till she found what she was looking for. "Hoy why does Roxas have pointed ears?!" With manang screaming at the top of her voice. But the thief was already running away from the old woman. "You're not the only one who can do those disappearing mumbo jumbo manang! I'll pay you later for real!" As he continues his stride until the thief eventually melds into the crowd.
There was an indistinct confusion in Ryan's demeanor after the incident. "You can't really be sure with that woman" he converses with himself. "She's got all those hocus pocus behind her sleeve, for a minute she can portray this stoic façade of an ancient philosopher, and in a bout be a sleazy tradesman, ready to suck you dry of all your hard earned money." He continuous his pace. "Plus, what's up with all that prop change coming from thin air. She's got quicker hands tha-" He felt a quick tug behind his back. "Not again mana-" It wasn't manang.
"How can I help you friend?" There was a change in the thief's conduct. It was the fellow with nazareno's locks. The gaunt small man looked tensed; his eyes were shifting sideways carefully aware of his surroundings. "I- I seek the woman that sees beyond?" Ryan was startled. "The what what? Are you ok friend?" Interjecting a mocking snort. The stranger was clearly embarrassed as a shade of red surged up his pale cheeks. " N- No, im sorry. I I-t was foolish of me. " He pauses, meekly picking out the proper words to relay his message. "I- I heard of stories." The odd fellow checks back to his surroundings as if he's about to tell the greatest secret ever told to man. "Of a woman tha- that can point lost men to their proper direction, by speaking some words and rolling here eyes. Sh- She's said to bring life to those who are... dead." Manang was the first thing that came to ryan's mind.
"Those are just legends my friend." As he stretches an arm behind the stranger's back. "But I can refer you to a pretty lady friend, and I can assure you buddy-" giving a dramatic pause "with what she can do, when you're done with her, I'd bet you'd be rolling your eyes a dozen times, and resurrecting that lanky member of yours twenty more. If you know what I mean." Ending it with a piece de resistance wink.
The stranger was clearly disheartened. "N- No thanks. I- I have no use for those pleasures anymore" You can almost see the energy, or whatever's left in him, seep out of his already weakened body. "Ok wait" as ryan chimes in. "Take that route" pointing to the small alleyway manang was in "just go straight and look for the old dark-skinned woman, with a bright red apron. You can't miss her."
Unsurprisingly, the stranger's spirits seem to have lifted his with his newfound direction and jogged towards the alleyway. "And tell manang I sent you!" Ryan followed up. The thief sensed the heavy air that his new-found friend brought. "Good luck" he addressed to the stranger "and hope we don't cross paths ever again."
