The Godmother's Gift

Nope, definitely not FGM… She’s the real deal; a second parent. I remember her being so fond of me, that she named her 2^nd son as Nate too.

***

An hour before my appointment with her, I received an email. I didn’t exactly read it. I scanned, get context clues and closed the email. Those that were stuck in my head were:

Urgent

Meeting

Lunch time

I was supposed to go out, but then, an email that screams urgent flashed on my laptop’s monitor. It took time. I was supposed to meet her at 11:30AM, but it was only during that time that I was able to leave the office and head out to Galleria.

            “Sorry po, got stuck in the office. I’m on my way…”

            “Ok, see you, somewhere at the fourth floor.”

Heavy rain. Congested roads. An hour late. Soaking wet pants. Muddy shoes.

While walking towards the 4^th floor, I felt that my left pocket was heavy. It was filled with coins, sukli sa pamasahe ko sa FX.

“Bat ko ba kasi nalimutan dalhin ang coin purse ko. Tsk.”

I arrived at the resto. She was with someone.

            “Hello po, Ninang…”

Beso–beso.

            “O, hijo, do you want me to order? What do you want?”

Apparently, she already accommodated her next appointment. A client.

I couldn’t blame her, for I was an hour late. She excused herself so that we could talk. The client nodded in approval.

            “Naku, look at you. Naulanan ka. I’m sorry.”

            “No, it’s ok po. Maybe I just need something to wipe my shoes.”

            “Here, hijo…”

She handed me wet wipes.

            “I know you’re in a hurry, so eto na…”

She, then, handed me two sealed, white envelopes; one for my twin brother, one for my younger brother. From the looks of it, I could tell that they were greeting cards, and inside were also green moolahs. Her compadres from the US met up with her and gave her those so that, in turn, she could hand them to me.

            “I’m sorry, there’s none for you, anak. But don’t worry, may gift naman ako sa ‘yo…”

And she handed a blue box, “Go ahead, open it.”

It was a leather coin purse.

While my brothers got something stateside, I got something Proudly Filipino:

So, I guess goodbye now, my old coin purse.

Your two years of service ends today.