Aling Martha sat next to her daughter, who was looking at them amusingly, considering what her husband had just said. She was looking down at the tiny box that was lying silently on her lap, smoothing its surface with her fingers, hesitating to open it.
"Fine!" she barked and started to rip it open. When she was what was inside, she gasped. it was a blue floral dress she had been eyeing for a week in the ukay-ukay.
"Well. I think you like it" said Mang Alberto and winked at her daughter. Aida just gave a soft chuckle towards her tatay.
"Aling Martha, agi lang ko." A middle-aged man, wearing a straw hat, a rugged white t-shirt and dirt pants that were folded up to the knees, shouted from outside.
"Good morning, Mang Pedro coffee?" she greeted.
"Nah, I'm done but thanks anyways."
Aling Martha waved at him goodbye and turned her gaze to what she was doing whi8le humming a love song, Aida, knew by heart. It was her lullaby.
It was that songs, her tatay, and nanay made especially for her when she was a baby, singing it wholeheartedly as she was curled up in her mother's lap sucking her pink little thumb to sleep.
That song always calmed her down when she had nightmares and was assuming her that everything was all right. It soothes her when she was upset especially during those times when her tatay was away for a couple of months to work in the province.
Sure enough, she was singing it earnestly as well, closing her eyes as the songs were carrying her away, She didn't notice her mother was watching her, with her brows slightly raised and was ginning at her.
When Aida stopped, she caught her mother looking at her teasingly, she was quite embarrassed and started to blush so much, she turned scarlet. Her mother laughed and sat next to her, smoothing the back of her hair.
"I missed tatay, nay," she said almost in a whisper,
"Yeah, me too." Her mother learned her closer to the chest, smiling and was looking outside their small window.
"Are you done with your cup?"
"Uhm-hmm"
"Well, you better get going then, two pails are waiting for you outside," her mother said mockingly. She let a low growl and stood up.
"Now. now, there's no time for that, I still have a lot of things to do"
She heaved a sigh and went through the door, stomping her feet as she walked, but before she reached their doorstep, her mother called out.
"Aida"
She came into a halt and pivoted facing her, mother; her hands were clipped on her waist, brows furrowed, and were pouting.
"What?"
Her mother smiled and was found her daughter's expression cute, then she dropped it.
"Your tatay's coming home " and she returns her focus on what she was doing. Aida blinked, not sure of what her mother just said.
"r-r-really nay?" she stammered. No wonder she's wearing that dress she thought.
"Uhm-hmm" her mother replied as turned her back, smiling.
"Tatay is coming home!" she bellowed happily, jumping to her feet with her hand's swaying in the air. She ran to her mother and hugged her. Her mother chortled, locking the tiny hands of her daughter to hers.
"Now. don't forget the two pails" she said as she faced her daughter.
"Right, right" And Aida ran through the door, reached for the two pails outside the doorways, and galloped through the dusty road of Barrio Masipag, humming the song she knew by heart. Her lullaby It eas early dawn.
The sun rose gently over the huge grey mountains, revealing the sallow cornfields surrounding Barrio Masipag. The rooster was flapping their bloodred wings on their perches among the tall Narra trees crowing loudly and superciliously, walking the Barrio from their deep slumber.
Before long, as the sun finally lifted up, showing its yolky features to the surface, people were already rising and was doing their morning routine: sweeping their yards, feeding their chickens, others were walking dreamily along the dusty road of the barrio, jingling the peso coins on their hands for the hot pan de sal from Mang Ben's Bakery, while some were contented sipping their steaming coffee huddle up on a circular bench under the old mango tree talking about each other's lives.
Tiny smokes were curling up on every nipa houses that were rooted alongside the filthy road of the Barrio, beckoning the rest that it's already morning.
"Aida, wake up, it's time for you to get some water," Aling Marta called from the kitchen, as she stood in front of the clay stove, fanning the coal to light up. Aida stirred but didn't move to sit up, She stayed lying on her back looking absently on their tadtad walls as the sun rays passing through it, making her room warm and was sparkling like tiny diamonds."Aida" called her mother again from downstairs.
"I'm coming, Nay" she replied. The bamboo floor squeaks noisily as she stepped her foot on it.
She stood languidly on the threshold of their kitchen resting her head on the doorframe while rubbing her still sleepy eyes with her fist and was barely looking at her mother who was putting a clay pot over the stove.
"Oy, come here Ai, drink your hot chocolate first before doing your household tasks," said her mother gently.
"May pan de sal, Nay?" she asked as she settled herself on their old picnic table that serve as their dining table since she was six. Aida is turning twelve next month and that picnic table through it seemed rotten that it wobbles means a lot for her.
"Yes, it's on the cupboard" her mother replied. She went to the cupboard, which was ten steps from her, and rummaged through it. She's been reckoning every step she's making around the house, counting how many steps would it takes before reaching one place to another. She was eight when she started doing it. At first, it was "how many steps will I take from my window to the door?" just to fill in the boredom. When she found it amusing, it ended as her hobby.
She went back to her seat after she found the pan de sal. She nibbled it silently, sometimes dipping it her cup of hot chocolate before popping it into her mouth while watching the back of her mother's shoulder moving silently. Then she noticed that her mother was wearing her favorite blue floral dress, her tatay bought for her mother during her 37th birthday.
Aida remembered it very well because her mother got so mad when her father handed his gift. Her mother was muttering all day long, what a waste of money.
"But nanny, it's your birthday," her husband said.
"Tay, you should think of our daily expenses here in the house," She replied," You know that we have a lot of debate to pay" she added, Mang Alberto, her husband, just shook his head in reply.
"Fine, just open it first and if you don't like it, I promise I'll return it first thing in the morning, okay."