Silent Water

A FATHER’S DAY ARTICLE

Purposely written (June 14, 2006) for the P.D.I. YOUNGBLOOD.  Unfortunately, it hasn’t found its way there…

A Cup of Coffee

By RUEL PAPNA PAGOTO

With a cup of coffee, I was sitting alone inside the coffee shop in the newly opened and the largest mall in the Philippines (Asia?) to relieve my sadness because it’s a regular national holiday! I really hate staying in my rented room—my home away from home, all alone the whole day during my day off and holidays because I knew that I would surely get sick of thinking about my family back home.

Along the bay, while driving my way to the mall, I turned the car stereo on and eventually heard the DJ greeting all the fathers in advance—a very Happy Father’s Day! This very special day, celebrated to honor all the fathers has been made more exciting by the colorful gigantic posters attached to the exterior walls, as well as those noticeable streamers hanging from the ceiling of the mall saying, “TAKE DAD SHOPPING! Father’s Day on June 18, 2006”.

Six days more to go before June 18 yet the ambience inside the shops was so jubilant as I saw a lot of fathers hopping from one store to the other with their loved ones. An expectant Papa with his pretty wife—a mother-to-be, a young Tatay in the escalator carrying his little princess, Daddy strolling while holding hands with his wife and their teenager son, and Lolo in the wheel-chair with his daughter-in-law pushing him down the wide aisles of the elite shopping precinct. There, I saw younger or elder fathers, less fortunate and more fortunate Tatays, richer and poorer Papas, under privileged and privileged Daddies who were dining with their family in the restaurants they could afford, or simply buying the modest items from the boutiques of their choice.

But there were other fathers in the mall who (while other fathers were savoring the holiday with their loved ones) were presently on duty to earn a living for his family-waiting for a special treat back home. The guard who frisked his hands around my waist and over my pockets as I entered the shopping center, the janitor that mopped the floor tiles, the supermarket bagger in the counter, the waiter in the food chain, the cook in the food court, the guitarist in the entertainment plaza and the blind masseur inside the wellness cubicle. They were just few if I have to enumerate all the fathers who, somehow, were expecting for a simple Happy Father’s Day greeting this coming Sunday.

The complex scenery before me had suddenly initiated a flashback of memories of my father—Tatay, who had left his career in the Philippine Army just to make sure (with all his remaining resources and efforts) we (his family) could always feel that everyday is a celebration with him!

I could still vividly remember those early evenings a decade ago, every time he disembarks from his motorcycle with those plastic bags he held with his hands with three large dumplings, a kilogram of pork and a medium-sized milk fish inside. He would then slice those siopaos into halves and would keep the other half inside our tin rice-keeper so we, especially my younger brother and our youngest sister, could have it as we wake up the next morning. Normally for our supper, Tatay would ask me to cook our favorite pork adobo and a creamy paksiw na bangus with okra for Nanay—who is always conscious of her health.

It’s either a bedtime story from a teacher’s monthly journal (of my mother) or watching television shows in our 12-inch black-and-white TV set would follow after dinner.

There were instances when Tatay would ask me to make a cup of coffee for him especially when he sees those coffee commercials on TV. I hated it, though, because a gas stove and a thermos don’t not exist in our kitchen that time. I still have to scratch a match stick so I could build a fire from a wood and would have to wait for five to ten minutes before the water would start to boil. Sometimes Tatay would ask me to make another (after discarding the other one) cup of coffee using a boiling water if he could notice some tiny bubbles in the surface of the hot beverage. He doesn’t like half-cooked coffee, he said.

Tatay had a great influence on me.  I am who I am now, mostly because of him.  I’m glad I followed his advice that I should enter the path of veterinary career. Despite his busy activities before as a chief of the barangay and a rice farmer, he still spared some of his time collecting buffalo lice and cattle ticks, as well as looking for live poultry or canine for my Parasitology and Anatomy classes.

Indeed, every father in this world has its own way of showing his fondness to every member of his family. Like mothers, the genuine love and care of a father is equally immeasurable! Oftentimes, fathers wouldn’t utter the words I love and care for you, nor would he publicly display his affection, yet most of his acts would clearly prove that he really does. Sometimes his gestures of fidelity to his family may come to pass unnoticed but his efforts in pursuing his plans to eventually fulfill the dream of every member of his little kingdom are always fervent.

In this age of modern technology, children away from home, like me, could easily say that celebrating Father’s Day is just within our reach. We can send precious gifts items through ‘express padala’ and expect it to be delivered right on our Tatay’s hands within or before twenty-four hours; or simply send SMS through our mobile phone to Papa back home; or just spend fifteen pesos to enjoy a thirty-minute webcam chat with Daddy abroad.

BUT WHAT IF TATAY HAS already gone ‘home’ and is now with our Creator up above? Just like me who will celebrate Father’s Day without him for exactly four years now! Yes, the 18^th of June is my Tatay’s death anniversary.

For some reasons (that’s another story) I couldn’t go home to visit his grave in North Cotabato this time. I believe, however, that this article would serve as a tribute for Tatay who, I know, had always strived to become a perfect father for us.

For those who still have their father alive, they are really very lucky because they still have their Tatay who could bring home a siopao, a kilogram of pork and a fish for them; they are surely blessed because they still have their Papa who could collect laboratory specimens for them; they are very fortunate because their Daddy is still there, waiting for a cup of coffee…

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