I got home to our village after school. (I can't exactly remember what errand my mother had asked me. Because we live in town and we only get home if there was some field works to be done.)
As I stepped on our front yard, I immediately sent my eyes to our grandparents house just nearby. My sight scanned their front steps and into their front yard. My grandpa's not at his favorite spot.
"Oh! Maybe he's in his room." I thought. I ran to their house and made a slight knock. "Lo?" I called, "I'm home." No answer. I kneeled down and started to untie my shoelaces at the staircase. I felt a cold air from my back that made the hairs at the nape of my neck stand.
I nearly cried as I remembered that it was a month since he passed away. How I missed him.
_______________________
I ran from home to my grandparents house nearby after dinner. I can hear my other two siblings chuckling inside. The house was made of wood and galvanized iron for the outside walls. The insides was double walled with "lawanit," a type of old but durable plywood.
I get in and greeted my grandpa by the door at the balcony. My grandma was at the kitchen still preparing for their dinner. I found my two brothers wrestling with each other. The one's older than me whom I came after and the other ones younger, who came next to me. They were playing and tossing pillows that their laughter filled the entire house.
I joined them but I was later stopped by our granny because I was a girl and it is not unsightly she always told. I went to my lolo (grandpa) who was plucking his slightly growing beard. I asked him politely for his tweezers and do the tweezing.
I told him it's done and I would like to hear some stories. He promised that it would be after dinner.
He sat on his favorite spot near the door at the balcony after he's done eating. I let him for a while but I kept playing with those saggy leg muscles. I love to play with it because it feels smooth and soft. I bugged him with questions of why's. Why does he and lola (granny) had a saggy skin. A joker that he was, he would make funny answers but understandable to a 6 year old.
I asked him again for a story but he asked me also for a "kettel" our dialect for a type of massage but not exactly a massage wherein one is like scratching the back with the finger nails.
He had an old scar on his back which he acquired from an accident in the mines he was working years ago. It gets pretty itchy at times that he made us kettel it. Sometimes it will bleed when he scratch it by the big stone by the spring whenever he go their to take a bath. Sometimes even if we were scratching it he would ask us to make it firmer but we won't agree because it will bleed.
One time he funnily described to us that it would be good if a knife would sliced through it. He said maybe there were pieces of sand which was not taken out when they cleaned the wound.
That was our routine every night. I sleep with our granny on one room while my two brothers sleep with him on the other room. He told us stories, legends and even his "kalokohan" during his childhood. However, he has a lung disease that's why sometimes he gets weak and needs to be hospitalized.
Even when we were growing, we still loved to hear his stories. Their house was a place for our granny and her friends to tell stories at night. They chit chat while having a cup of hot brewed coffee with biscuits late at night. But it didn't stop us to make our lolo tell stories. Me and my siblings go to his room and make him tell those old stories until we feel sleepy.
During the day, especially on weekends we loved to swarm around him as he tells stories, jokes, and bugtong. He was a very caring grandfather to all of us. He also had a monthly pension. Everytime he went to receive his pension, he would buy us our favorite pop rice or the pop macaroni which was glazed with sugar, and fruits.
When I was in grades 5 and 6, I can see that our lolo can hardly go to the spring to take a bath. He was getting weaker and he can hardly breath walking a long distance of 300 meters.
I made sure he takes a bath every other day on hot days. Hurriedly came home every dismissal at noon and convince him to take a bath. There were times that he would tell me he just took a bath the other day and now I am again bathing him. I treated him like a child; I have to see that his clean clothes and towel are ready before he starts bathing. However, he doesn't like to take a bath at the comfort room so he bathed outside under the sun. He gets cold easily that's why.
He had a rounded, flat stone he took from the spring which I used to scrub his back especially where the scar was.
That was how I had always treated him. Not until I stepped highschool in town. It was where my family had resided ever since I was in grade 6. And I was left with my grandparents care to finish elementary.
At the middle of the school year on my first year in high school, he passed away. I was saddened, everyone was. I shed tears silently when everyone left to go home to our village where he was. I was left because there's no one to feed the hogs, dogs, chicken and ducks. I nearly got angry with my parents because I was left and I wouldn't be able to see my beloved lolo for the last time.
I no longer would be able to hold those wrinkled hands and saggy arms and legs muscles. No longer would hear those natural funny words that would make anyone burst into laughter. No longer would I hear those old stories. No longer would those wrinkled hands held me when I feel bad when scold by my parents. Those wrinkled hands that often hand us financial support with those wrinkles on his face yet beaming with life and joy when he saw the joy in our young and innocent face.
However, he left me with words to treasure- advices and words of wisdom.
I feel no regret after he passed away because I have showed him my love and compassion when he was still alive. Yes, we may not be verbally vocal but it showed in our actions.
_______________________________
More than two decades already and am still missing my gramps. The first part was the time I was in denial of his death.
z_graeden
I feel your love to your grandpa while reading this. I was teary eyed after reading. I don't know. I am emotional.