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by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
November 28, 2010
My grandson Angelo, 9, and I were home alone in the Philippines. It was Sunday, May 16. We spent the morning doing nothing. After a light lunch of left-overs, I told him that I needed to go to the ticketing office of my airline so I could change my departure date for Singapore from the 22nd to the 23rd of May.
That’s because Angelo’s Mom was scheduled for cancer surgery on May 22 and I wanted to be around.
Angelo said he’d come with me so he could show me exactly where the airline office was. (Oh, he was going to babysit his granny!)
I had some American dollars with me and a hundred-peso bill.
Angelo and I locked up the house, then we walked to the gate of the housing village where some tricycles were parked. I asked a driver how much it would cost to go to a certain shopping mall where the airline office was.
The tricyle driver said, “Sixty pesos.”
“But we only have one hundred pesos. We’d have very little left,” I mused aloud.
“Grandma, let’s walk,” Angelo said. “It’s very near.”
So we started walking from our housing village to the highway. It was a brisk 10-minute walk at 1:00 p.m. with a blazing sun. We were sweating profusely by the time we got to the highway.
“Angelo, are you sure you can do this?”
“Grandma, I’m a golfer. I walk four to five kilometers in an 18-hole golf course,” he said proudly.
“Well… okay. How many holes away is the mall?”
“About five. Don’t worry, follow me.”
When we reached the mall, we were dripping with sweat and we were very thirsty. So I asked my grandson if he wanted a drink. Since there were no drinking fountains, we had to go to a supermarket and buy bottled water.
While waiting in line for our turn to pay for two bottles of water, Angelo kept chatting and telling me all sorts of stories about this and that. He was sort of giving me a briefing on life in the Philippines.
From the supermarket, he told me to follow him to the escalators all the way up to the fourth floor of the mall, and proudly pointed out the airline office to me. He did know exactly where it was.
I changed money and paid for the re-booking fee, then we headed back to the ground floor. We were hungry so we went to a fastfood restaurant. While in line waiting to order, Angelo said we shouldn’t order soda. Instead, we should order water because it was healthier, and it was free!
When our turn to order came, Angelo ordered the cheapest sandwich. I knew he was hungry and had a big appetite, so I told him to order a double portion of the meal he loved.
He whispered, “Do we have enough money?”
“Yes, I changed money at the airline office,” I whispered back.
He ate with gusto and kept chatting happily. Afterwards, he showed me where the ladies’ room was and waited for me outside like a gentleman.
We decided to go to the town proper to hear mass. So we boarded a jeepney, then a tricycle. The five o’clock mass had already started when we arrived, and Angelo said we’d better wait for the next mass. It wasn’t a good idea to arrive late for a mass and hear only half of it.
We walked to a public park nearby and watched people go by. Angelo kept chatting happily.
After mass, we took a jeepney from the church to the shopping area of the town. I wanted to buy a few grocery items. Angelo told me not to buy corned beef and other processed food because it was bad for his Mom.
“Don’t you love corned beef?” I probed.
“Yes, but…”
“It’s okay. You don’t have cancer.”
“But all of us must change our eating habits,” Angelo said.
We left the grocery empty-handed. There was nothing healthy to buy and eat.
“Is it okay to eat chicken?” I asked.
It was almost eight in the evening, and I was getting hungry.
“I guess,” Angelo said. “If it’s not processed.” He must be getting hungry, too.
“Okay, let’s walk towards that chicken grill by the roadside.”
With our freshly-grilled chicken, we hailed a tricycle and went home. We were happy to see our house aglow with light from a distance. We weren’t alone anymore. The table had been set, and we arrived just in time.
As we ate dinner, Angelo chatted happily and told his parents and sister very proudly that he took care of me the whole day!
* * *
It was an ordinary day made memorable by a one-on-one, face-to-face interaction with an incredibly beautiful human being. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of being a grandmother.