Granny

"gran can brother will come to you tonight instead of me, tomorrow I will be coming with you promise"

That what I told my grandmother when she passed by and asked me to accompany her to sleep into her house. We are currently playing hide and seek that time and I don't want to leave my playmates, because I want to play more. And she replied while walking.

"Remember to not ask for a cookies from me after I went to the downtown, I won't give you any if you don't want to come with me in the house"

Then granny walk away with her big basket on top of her head. She was from the farm cleaning her rice fields, actually our rice fields too, she also pulled weeds from her planted crops and I saw an unripe banana in her basket too. She already harvested banana and brought it to be ripened at her house. I immediately called my brother to go with granny.

"Hey boy can you catch up with granny tonight to her house, just now please, tomorrow I will be coming with her"

But my brother just grinned at me and said.

" Granny want you not me, so why you don't like to go with her? "

And then he immediately go back to play. I look at the narrow way to granny's house, I didn't see her so I hurriedly run through the narrow path passing those big santol and duhat trees, that was already near to dark so the way was not as visible as day time. I called granny to wait for me.

" Hurry up! And we still need to cook our dinner and fetch water from the spring"

She answered with irritable voice. I run as fast as I could untill I reach her standing behind a bamboo gate. This gate was constructed to prevent astray animals to go through the rice field nearby. She let me walk ahead of her and held me a bag of vegetable to carry home. While walking we can hear those crickets sounds, the night birds are chirping and an owl howling up in the tree. The night band of insects are alive again.

Granny's House

Her house was an old fashion style, it was a two storey built with woods and bamboo. With galvanize roof. The ground floor was just a hardened red soil with a "papag" as we called, we used this as bench and sleeping area too at day time, and sometimes extension dining table if we got visitors. She has also a dining table cabinet in which she stores her groceries and some important things of her such as new plates, cup and saucer, pots and many more. Here is the kitchen too, our stove was a hardened soil done by our aunt husband when they stayed a while here for vacation, the old stove we used was just a 3 medium size stone in triangular positioned to fit a caserole or cooking pot in it. We also had this "gilingan" a flat surface stone about 1 meter wide and a hump back stone to grind corn. Granny often used this to grind corn kernel to mixed with rice.

The second floor was divided into two, we used wood ladder to be able to reach up top, upon stepping to the second floor you see a free space in which where we eat at night and on the right side was granny's collection of different shapes and sizes of "banga" and some sea shells and stones in different shapes and colors. She always remind us not to touch those things of her and I don't know what the reason why. And upon entering the door that divided almost half of the house was a not so large room with one double wooden bed and in the right side there is also a door connecting to granny's sleeping room.

Granny's house was a 4-6 minutes walk from the barrio, she has a lot of fruit bearing trees around the yard, star apples, mangoes, guavas, santol, duhat, chesa and a lot more. Her house was near the Elementary school. And the creepy thing is it also near the cemetery🥴. One reason that I don't want to stay with her because I'm afraid of ghost😨. The house was isolated from the others, I don't know why that they build their house to that area. During the day you can appreciate the beauty of nature, the surrounded mountains with lushes greens during spring, and in summer you witness the transformation from green to brown color. The air you breath was fresh, we are freely climbed those trees all we want. I remember this santol tree which bear sweet fruit just a few steps away from the front door. I can't climb its tree because it's too big to grapple with and besides I am like a turtle unable to climb high trees😁. I only depend to my monkey like friends to pick some fruit for me. Okay back to granny's house. Sometimes in 1990's I can't remember the exact date anymore, a super typhoon hits our province and the barrio was almost covered with flowing soil from the mountain cause by land slide and the people was forced to evacuate their houses and stayed at granny's till the typhoon stop. Her house was like an evacuation center at that time.

Strict granny

Granny was strick to her own ways, she used to scold me every time that I did not follow what she says, she taught me in my young age to do simple house chores such as washing my own clothes, cooking rice, cleaning the house and surroundings, fetch water to drink. She even brings me with her in the rice fields to removed weeds from the crops. And during "anihan" we help our parents to harvest our rice crops too. She also beats me with stick if I did not obey her and make sumbong to my mother. She taught me to not depend to others, as she always said " if you want something work for it, because no one will do that for you". And she is always right. Those "sermon" of her was annoying to me as a child, that sometimes make me mad at her. I even hide when she ask mother to let me go sleep with her in her house. When I saw her coming I immediately hide behind a tree untill she passed by. But as I get older I realized how foolish I am doing such thing to my Granny. Maybe I just did that because I'm still a child who wants was to play along with my friends.

A thoughtful Granny

She has always brought something for us when she came home from the down town. Ovaltine drinks, biscuits, junk food and even a toy. Sometimes new sleepers too. When we got sick she's there to help my mother to take care of us. She send us medicines, sometimes send the "manggagamot" or " albularyo" to check for us. Maybe you are not familiar with this especially the millenials but some believed that they can give cure using herbs and plants as medicines. And for that I am a believer too because one of those help me to recover from my sickness before.

Anyways, I will end up here for the moment. Hope you guys gets interest to my granny's story, that is not all but I will try to write more this coming days.

Thank you and God will bless us always!

Love,

Kendy🧡