That's what my ate would call me every time she's annoyed at me when I leave the house to either play with my friends in the neighborhood or go to the beach with them.
"All you do is play, hang out with your friends. Why don't you help with the household chores? That will make us very happy! I just don't know why you are so lazy", my eldest sister desperately said.
But I didn't want to listen!
"You are like Juan Tamad!", she added...
If you don't know who he is, he was a guy who would wait for a guava fruit to fall while his mouth is widely opened. His story is a part of Filipino culture.
The nerve of my sister comparing me to him but it's true, I really was lazy.
When I was in elementary, I won't take a bath unless my sisters boil water for me. Waking up at 4:30 or 5:00 AM is too cold. They had to wake up early to do it and bathe me. Yup, my ate would sermon me while cleaning my body. I don't even fix our bed after waking up. It couldn't find any happiness to do it, we'll go back to sleep on it anyways. They say I am like a snake leaving my skin behind and then getting back to it.
And I didn't wanna sweep our wide ground. I could only imagine my sister's anger upon seeing the Kaimito or starfruit leaves. "Ngotngoott!! I told you to sweep all the leaves, the surrounding looks so dirty!". "It's still early, if I sweep right now they'll just pile up. I will do it before the sun sets", I told ate while walking towards the door.
I am the youngest and I felt so privileged to just be lazy. And I was a papa's girl, I was untouchable.
"Look at your cousin April, she already knows how to take care of her siblings. She even laundries their clothes, iron them and wash the dishes. And you? You don't know anything! Your dirty clothes are all begging for soap and water. Be like your cousin", sermoned Lola Pinas.
So I took our dirty clothes and rinse them thrice. I didn't know if it has to be soaped and soaked, or brushed. I proudly hang them under the sun.
"Ngotngottt! What did you do?", my ate's blood pressure was almost out of control. "I thought Lola wanted me to be like April?", I replied. "The clothes are still stinky!", ate desperately responded. "I did what I thought was right", I sadly said.
Then one day, "Glaiza, can you go to your uncle's house and turn the light on?", Papa ordered. I didn't listen and pretended to sleep until I heard him fighting with my uncle because of the light. It was so bad that they almost killed each other because of my laziness.
"Dear Ma'am I am sorry if I am absent because I have a stomach ache"...Then a headache, toothache, and all the other aches I could use as an excuse. I didn't wanna go to school because I didn't have shoes, I wanted to watch my favorite Julio at Julia, or I just wanna climb the guava tree, eat its fruit and just kill the time.
I don't wanna defend my attitude when I was younger. But I learned a lot from my laziness. I changed as the years gone by. I just wished I knew how to properly do the household chores just like how my Spanish great-grandma Julia did. But I believe I am doing my best by remembering what I've observed from her and my sisters.
Thanks for reading my friends!
This is my entry for this week's prompt which is laziness. Should you wanna join the fun, remember to:
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Were you lazy when you were a kid? Do you think laziness is bad? Leave your comments below and let's have a chat!
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©Ngotngot, the fyrfinex 🔥🐦
October 16, 2021
The lead image was from Unsplash.
The rest of the content is mine unless stated otherwise.
It's funny how you tell this, hehe. You were a lazy girl. Or maybe you were a little spoiled by being the youngest.