Marven’s First Novel, chapter #07

     One evening, a young woman wearing house clothes was sitting in the living room of her house and dialing the phone apparatus placed on a corner desk. She tried many times to get to the other side, staring blank as she waited, but to no avail.

     Then she gave up, stood up, and went before the mirror fastened on the wall. She tied a band to her hair at the back of her head as she looked at herself and arranged her head. After a few seconds, she saw from the reflection her mother coming that way who addressed her, saying:

     "Are you going somewhere?"

     "Yes."

     "Where? At this hour?"

     She mentioned a name. "I just want to talk to her. I just remembered I have something to say to her. I tried to call her, but no one's answering their phone." 

     "Can't it wait till tomorrow?"

     "It can, actually." She did not wish to speak more.

     "Take care. Don't take too long," the mother reminded.

     "You know she just lives nearby, right?"

     "Still."

     "Fine. I definitely won't be long." Then she made her way to the door and said, "Bye," energetically without looking back. Then sped past their yard and went out of their gate.

     Her mother went out to the yard and followed her with her eyes as she started hitting the quiet block street.

     The young woman went out of the block street and turned to what seemed to be already a broader main road which was still quiet but illumined by brilliant warm lights from electricity poles and household lights from afar. The people in that area do not seem fond of going out outdoors, either night or day. They seem to be not to be in a necessity of going out and are more comfortable resting in their houses all day.

     She turned to another block street; and after passing a few houses, she finally arrived at her friend's house. First, she stopped before the gate. From the middle of the street, the lights from the room upstairs caught her attention. It was her friend's room. She headed for the doorbell to knock. When she was about to press, her friend's voice, in a tone she never heard her use before and sounded new and different, became audible to her. She recognized another voice as that of her friend's mother who also know her to be her friend's friend. She wondered what it was about and was able to catch a small part of these exchanges:

     "Are you sure about him?" the mother said.

     The question wasn't answered.

     The mother waited for her for about ten seconds and said, "Look. You're intelligent. I known

 this about you. I'm sure you can explain. Now tell me. What do you really think? Tell me the truth."

     After some deliberation, the daughter croaked and said, "I know he's someone I shouldn't prefer. That, I think, is the truth."

     "Hmm." The mother nodded in understanding. "Then why are you wasting your time."

     "Wasting my time. I don't think I'm wasting my time."

     "Oh. Why am I not surprised?" The mother chuckled. After a few seconds, she continued, "Oh, daughter. What has happened to you? It's very clear to me and I hope also to you as much as I want you to be happy."

     "I don't understand this."

     "Yeah, of course, you'd say that."

     "It just doesn't make any sense. That's always my realization every time I think about it. This is not a whim. I've pondered about this a lot."

     "A lot." The mother lowered her gaze and considered. Then she almost whispered, "No." She faced her daughter, took time to articulate her next words, heaved a sigh, and said,

     "Can I ask something of you?"

     The daughter remained unresponsive.

     "I hope I can prevail upon you to get this thought out of your mind."

     The daughter drooped her already bent back and cast her head down in a moment's silence. "Okay. You know what?" She sat up. "I guess I got nothing to do but do that. Because I can just tell my mind to forget."

     The mother sighed. "At least for the meantime... And we'll talk about it again."

     She seemed to only have heard it after a few seconds. "For the meantime?" she said in a pleading tone.

     "Yes. And we'll talk about it again."

     The young woman on the street already stepped away and started walking down the road to go home failed long before reaching this point of the conversation. "Fine. I'll just go back tomorrow. I hope she's just okay," she said.

     When she got home, her mother asked, "Have you talked to her?"

     She answered, "No, I haven't. She's not available."

     "Is she not around? Is she asleep?"

     "I think she was having an argument with her mother. So I thought it better not to proceed."

     "Ah. Don't worry. There's still tomorrow."

     "Yeah. That's what I said."

     One early afternoon of Saturday, four individuals were seen walking down a clean street of the financial center amidst gorgeous cars and shiny buildings. From left to right, they were Merlito, Mikayla, Hannah, and Emily. They were heading towards the sunlight as they chattered. Finally, they went out of the compound into the highway and went towards the bus station. There, Hannah advanced, looked back, and said:

     "Bye, people. Hope to see you again. Thank you."

     "Bye. Take care," Emily replied and echoed by the other two.

     The three remaining went again inside the compound and hit the clean inside streets again. Emily made them stop in front of a building and said:

     "I would have to leave you two. I just remembered I had to check up on something. Or would you like to accompany me upstairs?"

     "Nah." Merlito said. "How about you Mikayla?"

     Mikayla shook her head timidly.

     "I'll go up now, then, and leave you. I'll just catch up with you, Mikayla. Hope to see you again." Emily turned to Merlito, tapped him on the shoulder, and gave him a thumbs up. Then she turned and went on ahead into the building.

     The two remained standing at its facade. After an awkward silence, Merlito said:

     "I guess this is where we part."

     "Yeah. You take care of yourself."

     "So, are you going somewhere else?"

     "No. I'm going straight home to rest."

     "Tired?"

     "I'm fine. I just value my rest."

     "I understand. You work very hard."

     Merlito started walking away. When he reached the little park, he turned and went through it. When he went out, he turned again and went towards the edge of the compound.

from The Simple Adventures of a Simple Simpleton

by: Marven T. Baldo