The last time I saw mother by Chai Arlene J

Author:Chai, Arlene J
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Women, Identity (Psychology)
Publisher: New York : Fawcett Columbine
Published: 1996-10-25T16:00:00+00:00

when Papa told us we were leaving Manila forever, that we were moving to Olongapo to live.

"Why? Why do we have to go there?"

"I can start a new business there, hija, it will be easier than trying to make a living in Manila. Just look around you, there is nothing left of this city or my business."

So shortlv after our return to Manila, we moved again. We took everything this time. Our clothes—if you could call the rags we wore clothes—the furniture, boxes of books, and mv piano we loaded into a small truck Papa hired for the move. In Olongapo, Papa had found an old two-storey house, the bottom of which had once been a sari-sari store. So we moved into this rickety old place and tried our best to settle into our new Hfe.

I remember the dav we moved in. We all sat around the small dark sola with our furniture all around us and our dozens of boxes in disarray. We sat without speaking. Everyone was tired from the long, uncomfortable trip. We sat there Hke lost shell-shocked refugees. It was mid-afternoon and we had not eaten. After a while Mama rose and said, "It is not the best place to call a home but it will look better once we move these boxes out and arrange the furniture." Mama believes that when you are feeling down you must get up and do something. She was forever doing things. When Celia and I would sit and mope as teenagers often do, she would say it was because we were idle. Idle people have time to feel depressed; busv people have no time for wasteful thoughts. So she proceeded to organise us. She assigned the task of clear-

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