The Summer of 93: A Short Story

by Rowell Olivar

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This story started when I was on my 3rd year in CE, in good old Saint Louis.

Things had been very tight financially at home. Thanks to Mrs Laureta I still had my CICM scholarship(though my grades were predictably bad), and Yit was to start teaching at the high school. But, with two sisters in college, and another two in high school, our day to day existence was a struggle.

The school year has just finished so I was asking around for any summer jobs that might be available. Mrs Laureta suggested I try for the school canteen. The lease has expired and the management has been turned over to the college. As luck would have it, the new manager, Mrs Cadiente took me on as waiter/helper for the summer.

There were 5 student helpers. Me, Edmond Corpus, Gina Nicol, Hazel Jubilo, and a young girl from Luna (I can’t remember your name sorry nevermind). We also had our cook, Edgar from Bauang, Akong (my future Ninang Arsen’s nephew), Ate Rogie, and Mrs. Cadiente, the lady manager. There was also my good friend Bert, the accountant, and Edwin, his Beatlemaniac assistant.

We boys had a nice racket. It seemed that the guy delivering Zest -O tetrapacks wanted the empty tetras back, and was willing to pay for them too. We were very glad to accommodate, of course. An empty will fetch 50 cents back then. In one day, our high school clientele alone will be around 100, and the college kids about the same. Every weekend the take will be split evenly, with some being spent ‘for our girls’ Hazel, Gina and the rest. It was my first taste of ‘engineering economy’, even before Engr Rubie Delizo Nones failed my buddy Micael the subject, haha. But that’s another story.

Those were exciting times. I washed dishes, cleaned toilets, and waited on tables. Besides that, I had the time of my life flirting with Hazel and Gina, no offense to their husbands today.

When the manager and Ate Rogie weren’t looking, the cook and Akong used to set aside the choice cuts of fish and meat, and prepare meals especially for us and the girls. God bless Edgar, his ‘Dinakdakan’ and ‘fish Kilawin’ are the best I have come across.

With the passage of time, I guess it won’t do any harm to say that we used to look at the lady teachers and give them scores. Ladies, to tell the truth, back then the ‘Dean’s List’ in that department used to include the Laron sisters, Engr. Collado (now Doctolero), and a new one we used to call Anjanette Abayari, Ms. Taguba. Bert wanted to include Mang Felix the cleaner and Dacanay the security guy, but he was voted down, to his never ending objections.

It didn’t occur to me, but I must have smelled terribly. Our work involved a lot of sweat, and like a poor boy, I didn’t have any idea what a deodorant was. Sometimes ‘sosi’ students from Manila, mostly making up for failed subjects, would show up. These are the type to avoid. They are neither Ilokana nor Tagalog. They speak to the waiter in a queer sort, like Kris Aquino used to do before she found Ipe:

“ Puede make tapon this wrapper, hinde sia biodegradable eh. Alam mo what biodegradable is ano?”
Or,

“My goodness, why don’t you gamet rexona ha? Ansama ng smell mo!”

Puweh! I smelled bad, egskyus mee, medem, but pleese kiss my puwet. har har

It wasn’t like that often. There was a lot of good people in the world.

Mang Leon , for instance. He was an all around guy for the college then. He showed me how to use the hand trolley for moving cases of softdrinks around. Whew! It wasn’t easy to push 5 cases, piled one on top of the other, from the canteen at the back of the chapel to the gym.
Mang Mundo was also very helpful when it came to wiring and plumbing. He would appear near the counter and I would yell ‘Pasan ko ang Mondoooo!’ It never failed to make Hazel giggle.

That summer of 1993, there was a promo by coca cola. In every case, there were 5 free bottles. I spent most of my time peeping under the caps and setting these aside for future use. Bert, my loving mentor, had this great idea of giving freebies to deserving ladies. No free bottles to gentlemen, if you please.

Bert had a friend, Eric Guron, who was then a staff with Nancy Lopez (Attorney Lopez-Bilaoen today) working on their yearbook. It was from this guy I first heard that hideous song ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’.

Eric sometimes brought along Nancy, Jaime Collado, David Bilaoen, and two girls Mary Grace Canono and Daisy Sayangda for snacks. I knew these beings by sight. During the regular year they are staffs at the Torch with my brother Yit. Nancy was Yit’s academic rival, Grace was his oh-so-secret crush, Daisy was the daughter of a town mayor, and Jaime and Dave were the girls’ bodyguards.

To be fair to Eric and the boys, they are good-looking in a manly, boyish, manly, boyish, sense. But you can’t blame us canteen guys if our interest is on the three ladies. Nancy is voluptuous, was an editor of the Torch and the yearbook, Student Council president, Magna Cum Laude, surely destined for great things. Grace is slim, tall, elegant, definitely a class above most. And Daisy is a true Filipina beauty- slender, morena, long legs and straight black hair, plus an all around scholar. Nancy has just graduated and is shortly to be married to David. The other girls will be entering their senior year the coming June.

I do not recall if Edmond or Akong ever served snacks to them. Whatever, I looked forward to giving these girls their bottles of soda, and loving the look on their faces when they found their drinks were free.

Now, 16 years later, I see how stupid I must have appeared- trying my best to impress using free cokes. Daisy took notice, however, and was very nice. I would hang around the table next to theirs and pretend to wipe off dust or crumbs, always on the lookout if the door to the manager’s office would open. She included me in their talk. Ever the opportunist, my two cents’ worth was always forthcoming. She was so nice she laughed at my jokes.

That summer was special.

For one, it showed me that a person doesn’t need to be rich to get along. You can show people that, though poor, you are serious in trying to better your lot. A little sweat, a little hard work, and you will see- help will arrive in so many forms.

When the regular year started, Daisy and me became close friends. It seemed inevitable that someday we will fall for each other. But ask Dr. Dag-o, and she will swear it took one year before that happened. Why? I needed that much time to convince her that she is a wee bit smaller than I am.

Happy Valentine to my wife, Daisy.