It was odd for me to see their living room lonely, for I am used seeing my classmates there. I do not know if I’ll sit on my favorite sofa set or if I should wait for Alvin standing. Of course, it is improper to sit without being asked to do so, so I stood. Alvin went down, wearing loose gray shorts and a loose shirt with the label “Polo Sport”. He seems really stressed, and I greeted him with a smile.
He sat, and I was left standing. Following him was his nephew.
“O, where is Chica?” he asked.
“I do not know. he said that we’ll meet at 11:00 am, and I waited for about 45 minutes for them. And since I do not know what to do, I proceeded to the school and asked about Chica. I described him as a semi-bald man carrying many things, but the guard said that no one like that entered the classroom. And then, I asked about the boy scouts, and he said that you already went out of the campus at 10:15. That’s why I went here.”
“No, we went out at around 11:00 am,” and he laughed, “haha! semi-bald man, ei?! And it is already 1:00!”
“Yea! And when Chica arrives here, I’m sure he’ll suffer death!” I jokingly said.
We continued to chat and he told me what happened on the camping. He was the cow leader, for they were divided into three crews on their camping: Baka (cow), Baboy (pig) and Kambing (goat), and he was the crew leader of the Cow Crew. They were titled as the Overall Champion and he was happy with that.
“Where are the videos?” he asked.
“Chica has it,” I said.
He said that he had received a GM (group message) from Kervy that he is looking for Chica, and that he could not contact Chica. Some minutes after, Chica arrived, and I was happy to see him, for at last, we can at least start.
Then, his sister told something about “Sponge”. I have no idea on what was it, but Alvin stood and inserted his hand inside the plastic and pulled out a chocolate-flavored Sponge crunch. He opened it and put it in the table. At first, I do not know whether to get a bite, but since Alvin knows that I am a food-o-phile, I got pieces for myself.
Kervy soon arrived, and we are all complete. Kervy’s arrival should be the signal to start our shoot, but we have other things in mind. Chica does not want to shoot anymore, for it is really tiring. As for me, I am watching those funny bloopers from Julia’s camera. We are all talking to Alvin and we are describing what happened on GPR. “Nawalan kami ng puri!” was our eternal line. We told him that there are many killed and missing scenes in our play and that we have lots to do. Alvin showed a surprised and lonely face, for after his “happy sufferings” in the camp, he’ll have another set of sufferings on editing.
Chica said that we still need to narrate the majority of the scenes, and insert them between the available scenes. Chica wants sound effects, special effects, a killer introduction and many many more. Alvin was just staring at Chica with eyes open yet very emotionless. He was tired, and yet he have many things to do.
And that’s when I opened the topic about staying overnight. Alvin laughed as if I was joking. I never thought of it as funny, but Kervy and Chica joined in the laughing. I was speechless, and I just joined their laughter, pretending that I told that as a joke. I just told them that I’ll go home at 9:15pm. Kervy said he’ll go home at 7pm, while Chica volunteered to stay until 8pm. What? I’ll stay alone with Alvin for an hour, and go home alone? That is fine but of course, it will be finer if I have some companions with me. I persuaded Kervy to stay until 9, but he said that he is not allowed. I really do not believe him at that time, for a man as tall and as mature as him, won’t be allowed by his parents to stay until 9? I am sure they know that Kervy can handle himself, and he is old enough to get out of trouble.
I cannot say that I’ll also go home at 8, for I already said that I am allowed until 9. Besides, I feel pity for Alvin. He is from a tiring camp, and he told us that he hasn’t slept for three days in that camp, and yet, he will be the one to spend another sleepless night for the editing of the film. I firmly stood to my decision that I’ll stay until 9.
For fun, I opened the stories that Alvin told me before, that he saw someone being stabbed to death in their street at night, and I said that I do not want to be a victim. Alvin and Kervy laughed, for they thought that I am really afraid. (Dang… another misconception of my words.) I just continued my jolliness, and asked on how often does the killings happen. Alvin replied, “Ahm, just once a year.”
“And I might be the lucky victim this year!” I said.
Fast forward once more, after talking for hours, we went upstairs and I was holding the chocolate sponge Crunch that Alvin left unattentively. We were at his “desktop” computer and he was opening his kayabangan (boastfulness) program of Adobe Premiere CS4. Then, we asked for the videos from Chica, and he said that he does not have the memory card reader for it. Alvin asked his family if they have a memory card reader for the type of memory card that Julia’s camera have, and yes, they have.
They copied all the videos from all memory cards, except for Julia’s. Julia’s memory card cannot be read, and Chica asked us to go to Julia’s house and ask what is the problem.
“Not me,” I said, “I was the first to go here and still I’ll be the one to go there?”
“I do not know where Julia’s house is,” Kervy said.
“Me, too,” I said.
Chica was the lucky person again, for he was the only person in the house who knows where Julia leaves. He left and borrowed Alvin’s cool striped folding umbrella for there was a light drizzle.
The three of us, Kervy, Alvin and I, just sat down and watched some of the videos. Kervy asked things about video cards and central processing units for they are planning to buy a set this coming month.
Then, I saw Alvin's brother, staring with fire-sparked eyes.
Next: For Antigone V :D haha!
[after so many years, at last, I have updated this story. haha.]
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