“I can’t look!” said Lisa and she turned away as she walked with Nestie forward past the ambulance. They walked silently for several minutes before any of them was able to speak.
“It was probably an accident,” said Nestie when they had gone far from the ambulance.
“You think so?” asked Lisa.
Nestie did not reply. “I hope so,” replied Nestie, tapping his friend’s hand. “Probably a pedestrian who got hit by the float.”
“Poor woman!” lamented Lisa, shaking her head slowly. She remembered seeing the hem of the woman’s white gown that protruded out of the blanket as the body was being loaded to the ambulance. She was certain that it was the young actress they had seen on the float and not a pedestrian as Nestie said.
“Let’s just forget what we saw.” Nestie walked a bit faster and urged Lisa to do the same.
They walked on without saying anyt
"Okay, you win, Lisa. I'll tell you all about him,” said Celie all of a sudden as she sat in her bed inside the guest room with Lisa. She had finished briefing Nestie almost an hour ago about what would happen the following morning and Nestie had given Celie his reassurance that he would be able to handle the program. It was agreed that Nestie would be driven by the de Luna family driver to the House of the Elderly to help the staff in preparing the venue. Celie and Lisa would be coming afterwards.Lisa had already switched off the lights and had just lain down in her own bed, ready to go to sleep when Celie suddenly spoke. Sensing that her cousin was not sleepy yet and wanted to talk, Lisa sat up and propped her pillows to lean her back on. She turned on her bedside lamp and looked at her cousin in the dim light. She observed that Celie's complexion looked different, a lot paler, but it must be because of the darkness of the room.“Are we talking about tha
Celie hugged her legs and pressed her cheek against her knees as she remembered meeting the mysterious man in the bar. Her eyes sparkled in the dim light coming from Lisa’s bedside lamp. In Lisa’s eyes, Celie’s face took on a paler shade, much like the pale face of a sick person. Her eyes too seemed to have a different glow although it could just be the reflected light from the lamp. Celie’s sighs filled the room as she looked dreamily towards the window.“Ah, Lisa…” Celie started, her voice a tone higher as if mimicking a little girl. “Would you mind opening the windows a bit wider? I want to see the moon as it rises. It’s looks so romantic, don’t you think?”Their beds were of equal distance from the windows, but Lisa did not mind getting out of bed to do what her cousin requested. Lisa also wanted to have more of the fresh air circulating inside the room.“Thank you, Lisa love,” sa
The cousins bid each other goodnight and Lisa turned off her bedside lamp. As she did so, she realized that she still had her garland of sanaria on the bedside table and wondered what she would do with it. The moon shone higher in the sky and was like a spotlight shining inside the room from the open window. Lisa decided to turn her face to the wall to get to sleep. Before she did so, she noticed that Celie was still sitting up in her bed and staring outside at the moon. Lisa thought she heard the flapping of wings, but after spending the whole day walking, she felt her exhaustion and was soon oblivious of what was happening inside the guest room.Lisa did not know how long she had slept when she heard Celie’s voice as if she were talking to someone. Slowly, Lisa opened her eyes and tried to see through the haze of sleep. She blinked several times before realizing that the room itself was filled with a smoky haze. Then, she heard Celie speaking, but her words were unint
The following morning, Lisa woke up to the sound of birds. She opened her eyes and saw that the guest room was flooded with daylight from the open window. As she stretched her arms outwards, she remembered the strange events of the previous night and immediately looked across the room at Celie’s bed. She observed that her cousin was still fast asleep despite the bright light of the day and the chirping of the birds from the tree near the window.Lisa remembered the things that Celie said to her the previous night. She wondered if it was really just a bad dream that made Celie see or feel the presence of the dark figure. The same bad dream that made her cousin walk in her sleep. Lisa knew that it was improbable for anyone from outside the house to enter the guest room after all the security guards stationed at the gate and the grounds. Lisa’s wandered to that other possibility, however, that there could be something else, some other reason why Celie would conjure v
It was getting close to noon when the van carrying Celie and Lisa arrived at the venue. Nestie was already there, having gone earlier in the morning to direct the staff and get the venue ready. Nestie watched the two women alight from the car."May I bow before the princess?" asked Nestie after seeing Lisa’s attire and make-up as she got off the car. After a graceful bow, Lisa then looked at Celie who was also stepping out. "Of course, you will always be the queen," said Nestie. Both Lisa and Celie giggled and they flanked Nestie holding on to his arms."You took your time, both of you. We've fed the seniors breakfast and just ending the fun activities. Gift giving would be next." Nestie led them towards the nearest building where there was laughter and dance music.As the trio entered, they saw a group of elderly women in costume onstage, dancing to a modern song. The music ended and the crowd applauded. Nestie went up stage and took the microphone.
Toto placed his wrinkled hands on top of his notebook. He took off his glasses and looked at his audience around the table. They had all finished lunch and were listening to him as he read from his notebook. "Why did you stop?" said an old lady. "Go on. I want to know what happens next." "Yes, I want to know what happened between you and Clara," asked another bright-eyed old lady. "You had me talking for almost an hour. I think I deserve some breather," said Toto. He coughed, prompting Nestie to grab the pitcher and pour cold water onto Toto’s glass. “Thank you,” said Toto to Nestie after taking a few gulps of water. Lisa was amused. "You mentioned the Devil's Sea. Is that a real place?" Toto gave another cough and set down his glass on the table. "It's real alright. You don't hear a lot of stories about it now, but in those days, there were a lot of boats that went missing in that area." "You mean like the Bermuda triangle?" a
The rain fell just too heavily and too sudden that Lisa could not tell if she did see what she thought she saw. She remembered seeing banners pinned on the trees outside as they entered the building earlier and knew that she could have imagined those to be something else. There was another flash of lightning followed by thunder and Lisa knew that it could be another one of the freak weather disturbances that she and Nestie had been seeing more frequently lately. “Toto, you have to stay calm,” said the nurse to the old man. She had come to the old man’s assistance when she found him to be distressed. “It’s just the rain. It will be over soon.” Lisa walked over to Nestie who was looking at the nurse as she tried to calm Toto. The two friends wanted to help the old man, but knew that the nurse would be able to do a better job. The nurse turned to Lisa and Nestie and gave them a smile. “He’s always like this during thunderstorms. Crying like a child.” “Ju
The gates to the Adobe House opened slowly to allow the van to enter the grounds. There were soft knocks on the van’s window that made Lisa look at the person making the sound. She saw a young woman outside the van offering her garlands of sanaria. After a short pause, Lisa decided to lower the window and bought several garlands from the young woman. The young woman beamed, briefly showing her white but misaligned teeth. She thanked Lisa before walking off to find other buyers of her sanaria garlands. The sweet smell of the fresh garlands filled the van as it drove inside the Adobe House grounds. Lisa took a deep breath and was quickly reminded of her time as a young girl in Cardena. She remembered that there used to be plenty of sanaria growing wildly in nearby vacant lots and she and Celie would compete on who could pick the most. The flowers were brought to the kitchen were the kitchen maids would take some of their time to turn them into garlands. Sanaria leaves that did