Remma and her parents wouldn't be staying long in the country; they were scheduled to return by the 31st of May. Completely aware of the reality that time was too short for them to waste, they had spent as much time as they could with Remma. From rowing boat to fishing to watching sunsets to having road trips on Donald's Honda motorcycle, the three of them were like back in their younger selves: happy, carefree, and not caring about the world around them.

They were at the park on the 23rd day of May. It was Saturday, and they were there by 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon. Leandro spread the blanket over the grass, after which Donald unloaded from the bamboo basket their sandwiches and sodas into the tray that he placed at the center of the blanket. Remma unfolded the big outdoor umbrella and positioned it to shield the afternoon sun.

"Did you bring the bottle opener?" Donald asked Leandro as he placed the basket at one corner of the blanket, and sat sideway next to him.

"Yup. I put it in there," he answered as he gestured toward the basket. Donald looked for it and found it under the tissue paper.

Remma was standing by the edge of the park, and looked down at the white crests of small waves below. It was ebb tide. Not much disturbance in the waves. She felt the pure, rural air.

"Do you know who's coming here this 29th?" Donald asked.

Leandro, who was lying on his back with arms folded behind his head, turned his head toward Remma but didn't say anything.

Remma, who was half listening, asked, "Who?"

"Cesar Montano," Donald answered so casually that Leandro almost wouldn't believe it.

Remma gasped as she quickly turned around. She was a fan of Cesar Montano since their grade school years.

"No way," she asked with evidence of excitement in her voice.

"Yeah way," Donald said as he picked a sandwich.

Remma glared at him and snapped, "Don, we've just arrived!"

Donald almost instantly dropped back the sandwich into the tray as Leandro laughed out loud.

"Okay, okay," Donald surrendered and jokingly raised both his hands upward.

Remma went back to the blanket and sat with them. She leaned on Donald's back, and then looked at Leandro. "Is it true?"

Leandro shrugged. "I have no idea."

Remma laughed at this, cynically. "Do you really believe that? I mean, would he ever come to a rural place this far?"

Without looking at either of them, Donald spoke, "He's spending a few days in Baclayon, then our Mayor, who's close to Cesar's father, personally invited him to come over. There's a rumor he's going to endorse something."

"I doubt it," Remma interjected.

"But you sounded excited just a while ago," Leandro insisted.

"Yeah, " Donald agreed. "An I bet you, Leandro, she'll be the first person to hang around the stage waiting with a poster."

The two of them laughed as though they were conniving.

Remma spanked Leandro in the leg. He grimaced while he continued laughing.

Remma fetched the guitar that Leandro had brought along and gave it to Donald, and asked him to pluck any song. Leandro rose from lying, and then thought of something to suggest. Donald was starting to strum More Than Words when Remma said she wanted to sing something else.

"Baby Come To Me," Leandro suggested. "By Pattie Austin."

"Oh, I love that song!" Remma gasped with delight. "You still sing that song, too?"

"Sometimes, when I'm taking a bath," Leandro grinned.

"That's not a cool song for a picnic," Donald protested.

"But it's beautiful," Remma defended.

"You know the chords?" he asked Donald, who nodded in affirmation. "Okay. Let's sing it, the three of us."

"I just told you what I thought about it."

"Don, don't pour water into the fire."

They were in the middle of the song when he caught Donald staring secretly at Remma as she was singing her part of the song. It was brief, but he saw it. And it was a stare very unusual to come from his friend. Something mysterious, something deeper. Suddenly Leandro felt an eerie moment, but immediately dismissed it. When he looked away and focused back on singing, Donald glanced silently at him.

After playing and singing two more songs, Donald announced, "I'm starving."

They were halfway eating their sandwiches when Remma, on her second sandwich now, said she needed more soda. They had brought only three.

"We should have brought some more," Donald sounded regretful.

"It's OK," Leandro said as he stood up. "I'll buy one."

Remma sheepishly took back her word. "No, it's Ok. Really. Never mind."

But Leandro insisted.

"Gee, thanks, Leandro," she said, beaming.

He nodded and started to walk away when Donald called him.

"Use my motorcycle," Donald said, and then tossed the key to him.

When he returned after a few minutes, the mood had changed: Remma was silent and Donald couldn't look at him straight in the eyes.



Three days before the fiesta their barrio started to get flooded with balikbayans and relatives from other towns and cities as far as Manila, the UK and the States for a short vacation aside from the fiesta. This is the usual event every year during fiesta as though it was a vow they all should respect and observe. There were many people now in the streets; people he'd never seen before, and people he'd only seen way back in his younger years. Strangers and familiar faces mingled in the streets exchanging how've-you-been's and personal stories.

His aunt and two cousins from Mindanao wouldn't be in their barrio until the 28th, the day before the fiesta. But it was Phoemela's birthday today, and his nanay cooked pancit and calderetang baboy. Phoemela invited only a few of her classmates and friends, and there were enough food left to give some to Remma. He knew she liked pancit, and he was sure she missed eating them, too.

When he pressed the doorbell of Remma's house, her mother, Mrs. Eula Olandria, came out. After exchanging hellos and handing to her the pancit for Remma, he learned she was already out with Donald for some rowing. Earlier that day Donald borrowed one oar, but he had not asked who would be with him.



Donald was pushing the boat when Remma saw him coming.

"Hey, I thought you won't be coming," Remma said, apparently surprised.

Donald turned his head. "It's good you're here." When he was satisfied the boat was already afloat, he faced them as he continued, "Changed your mind, huh?"

Leandro dug his hands to his pants' side pockets. "I figured there was not much thing to do after my sister's small celebration. Julia took care of the cleaning."

"Good," Donald said. "Hop in."

Remma was staring at her feet when Leandro offered his hand to lead her toward the water and into the boat. She looked up and smiled, and then took his hand.



"Not all Filipinos there are living the life they'd come to experience. Many struggled, too. Financially and all," Remma went on telling the story of what it was really like living in Canada.

Leandro, sitting at the hind end of the boat with his oar, said, "But the government there is giving support to the people, right? Even give or help find a job for them."

"If you lost your job, yes," Remma added. "But even if you already have a job, sometimes it can't provide you a long-term stability."

Donald, without turning his head to them, said, "And yet, when they come back here, those jewelry dangling around their necks are shouting and bragging their 'affluence' out there."

"Because that is the perception that our society here engraved in the minds of its people," Leandro quickly explained. "That if you're working abroad, you are successful and life is far better than here. And when you go back here, you are expected to share your affluence with the community no matter how you struggled and suffer overseas."

Remma agreed.

Leandro rowed a few times before he continued. "And because of our nature to brag, we chose to let that kind of perception to stay and not even try to change it because in the end, it's what we wanted, that people will look up to us."

Remma cleared her throat and was about to speak when Leandro spoke again.

"But I'm not stereotyping the Filipinos abroad, Rem, OK?"

"I know," Remma answered. "And you're right."

A momentary silence.

"How far is Nova Scotia from Alberta?" Donald asked from out of nowhere.

Slightly baffled by the change of topic, Remma, who sat sideway behind him, looked at his back. "Very far. It's in the Atlantic. We're somewhere in the middle of Canada."

"It's where Mafia originated, right?"

"It's Sicily," Leandro said, amused. "It's in Italy, not Canada."

"Oh."

Remma giggled.

"OK," Donald appeared hurt. "I'm not that smart."

"Drop it, Don," Leandro frowned.

Donald raised his oar and rested it beside him inside the boat, and then turned to sit facing them. "How cold is it there during winter? Is it as cold as getting out of the water naked?"

Chuckling but clueless, Remma answered, "WAY colder. Below freezing."

Leandro stopped rowing and placed his oar beside him, too. He sensed where the conversation was leading to. He muffled his own amusement to Donald's silliness.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"Is skinny-dipping a hype there?"

"What?" confused, Remma's forehead wrinkled.

"This very spot where we are now, right here?"

Remma looked around suspiciously, her face questioning. "What about it?"

Donald smirked. "This is the skinny-dipping zone, and everybody's required to observe it."

Remma, who found it hilarious, started laughing but remained reluctant and cautious.

Leandro was shaking his head now, chuckling.

The boat rocked wildly as Donald stood up. Remma shrieked as she balanced herself by holding at both sides of the boat's frame. She was terrified but still laughing.

Donald started stripping and summoned Leandro to do the same. He dared Remma to follow them. Remma shook her head wildly as she closed her eyes. She kept laughing and shrieking hilariously.

Donald and Leandro were now naked, with both their hands cupping over their groin. Remma shrieked even more when she saw them naked and shut her eyes closed again. She covered her eyes with her left hand.

Then the two boys take a loud, noisy plunge.



Not so far away from where they were, at an abandoned wharf near the base of the elevated road going up the church and the plaza, stood Leah. She was there for quite some time, watching quietly at them, observing their activities and absorbing their laughter.



By the time they rowed back to the shore, with Donald and Leandro exchanging positions in the boat, Remma glanced at Donald and kept her eyes at him quietly for a long time. Donald looked at her, too, then to Leandro's back, and then looked away onto the wharf in the distance.



The day after next. After lunch he decided to drop by at Remma's house before going to the town. His nanay asked him to buy some groceries for tonight and for the fiesta tomorrow, the busiest day of their barrio, and there would be no time for eleventh hour errands. And besides, this evening would be the arrival of his aunt and two cousins from Butuan, a city in Mindanao. And his nanay was planning to cook something to welcome their arrival.

When he was about to go out of the house, he saw his sister Julia coming in. His sister asked him if he had time to drop by at her friend's house on his way to the habal-habal terminal. Said she forgot to give back to her friend Sally the pocketbook. But he was in a hurry. He said he'd be dropping by at Remma's house, too.

"Remma?" Julia asked. "She's not in their house."

"How d'you know?"

"I saw her and Donald on his motorcycle just a while ago."

"Where d'you think they're going?"

"I don't know."



On his way to the terminal, he saw Christine, Donald's girlfriend and their classmate as well, walking toward him. She smiled when she saw him.

"Where you going?"

"To Donald's house," she said. "He must have forgotten that he's supposed to take me to the town."

He hesitated for a while, and then said, "I think he's not in their house now."

"Where is he?" Christine sounded hurt and angry.

"Uhm," he was frantically looking for an explanation. "He went off to the next town. Said it was urgent."





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