Tatay's Adventure
When I was born until I turned 3 years old, my parents and I lived with my grandparents, I call them Tatay (grandfather) and Nanay (gramdmother). The house is old but cozy. Even now, I dreamt of the old house sometimes. I miss it. It was big but it didn't look haunted. Daylight would stream inside the house and rooms. There was no electricity line back then and the house is located 500 meters away from the highway. Aside from 3 of our relatives houses, the next neighbor was a kilometer away.
After dinner, my cousins and I would gather around a bright Petromax in the kitchen and listen to personal stories from our elders. This is one of them.
One particular very dark night, my Tatay went home very late. He attended a birthday party and got drunk. He walked through the forest with no flashlight or even a made-up torch. He said he knew every rock and stone of the way so it didn't bother him that he had no light; not even from the moon or stars.
After a few minutes of walking, he noticed that he didn't recognized the trees and rocks of the path he was walking on. He just went on thinking he made a mistake in his turn which would lead back to the river he just crossed. So he turned back towards the direction of the river and walked on.
A thought passed his mind, the sound of the gushing river is getting fainter and fainter. But because of his drunkenness, he ignored and walked on. After he surmised to have been hours of walking, he came upon a clearing and there stood a very big house which is very bright.
Tatay said to himself it must be new settlers in town. He saw people walking about wearing very nice clothes. A man saw Tatay and approached him. The man was tall, has white complexion, and very handsome who looked like of a Spanish blood. He asked Tatay if he is lost, and the man's voice was soft and gentle and had an accent according to Tatay. The man graciously led Tatay to a path he didn't noticed before, and told Tatay that the path will lead him back home. Tatay thanked the man and walked on.
Tatay got very tired of walking but he pushed on heeding the strange man's words to keep on walking and to never stray off the path. After he surmised to be hours of walking, his legs were tired, his drunkenness wore off, he heard his name being called from a distance. Because he was so tired, he couldn't shout back so just kept walking on the path. Tatay was able to see light from the torches up ahead and saw my father and my uncles calling and looking for him. One of my uncles saw him and called for the others.
Tatay sat down on a big rock near him to catch his breath while waiting for my father and uncles to reach him. My uncle who reached him first asked him if he was okay, where he went, if he was hurt. Tatay said he was okay but just tired from walking. My uncle asked him where he went, and tatay, still catching his breath eyes closed, pointed to his back the path he walked on. My uncle asked him, "what path?" Tatay answered turning his head and pointing, "that path." But to his astonishment, there was no path there. They were at the vicinity of one of the biggest trees in the forest.
Tatay always told us to say "tabi po" whenever we pass by that big tree and be very careful around the tree. It is an act of respecting the elements we cannot see.