by Henry Givens
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Well, when I was able to walk good enough to go outside, I would sit under a tree and watch the goings on of the village. The older men and the women were busy getting things to eat and taking care of babies. Every able-bodied man was gone. That left several of the kids to just mull around by themselves. I really wanted to help. But being almost a cripple, there was not much I could do. I busied myself by learning as much Tagalog as I could from the pastor so I could communicate, but that was slow going. He was busy helping them gather food and seeing to their spiritual needs.
“One day, I happened to spot a stray coconut that had fallen off of a wagon that the villagers were going to carry down the mountain to trade. With almost all of the children watching from various places around the village, I hobbled over to the coconut and scooped it up in my hand. I went to where several of them were and motioned for all of them to gather around in one place.
"I drew a line in the sand with the end of my cane and motioned for them to stay there. I hobbled a little ways away, drew another line in the sand and stood on the other side of it. I acted like I was going to throw them the coconut a couple of times and then I threw it up in the air and caught it. I said, ‘catch.’ I threw it up a couple of more times and each time I caught it I would say ‘catch.’
"Then, I acted like I was going to throw it to them and I repeated ‘catch.’ A couple of them figured it out and somewhat put their hands out. I threw it to them. They all tried to catch it but got in each other’s way. The coconut hit the ground behind the line and I yelled ‘point.’ Then, I walked over to the side of my line and drew a mark in the sand with my cane. I pointed to it and said ‘my point.’
“One of them had picked up the coconut and I motioned for them to throw it toward me and motioned that it needed to go past my line to be a ‘point.’ The person threw it and it landed about three feet from the line and didn’t roll across. They yelled, ‘point.’ I shook my head and said, ‘No. No point.’ I motioned to them that it had to go past my line.
“Pedro was one of the biggest children there. He yelled over to me, ‘Ihagis ito’ which is tagalog for ‘throw it.’ Even though I knew what he said, I made a funny face as if I didn’t. I held out the coconut and yelled back the question, ‘Throw it?’ He answered with a smile, ‘Ihagis ito.’ I acted like I did not understand and asked again, ‘Throw it?’ He put his hands on his hips and said, ‘Throw it,……. matanda.’ That means ‘old man’ in Tagalog.
"The kids laughed and I saw some of the villagers snickering as they watched our antics. I threw it again and this time Pedro caught it. He yelled out in English ‘no….point.’ Everyone clapped for him and yelled ‘no point’ the best they could.
“Well, Mr. Macho held the coconut in one hand and pointed in my direction with the other hand. He started spouting in Tagalog something that I couldn’t follow. Then, he got ready to throw it. All the other kids were cheering for him.
“He threw it, alright. That coconut went sailing over my head and bounced into the bushes. Pedro ran over to the side of his line and made a mark in the sand and proudly proclaimed, ‘point.’ All the children clapped and yelled for him some more.
"By the way that he was smiling at me, I was hoping that I was getting through to him. I hadn’t seen him smile in the two weeks that I had been there. I dared to push my luck. I scowled the funniest mean scowl I could muster and pointed my cane at him. His eyes got real wide and his grin broadened. The kids pointed at him and spoke some kind of tagalog gibberish.
"Then with a swift move of my cane I pointed to where the coconut landed in the bushes. When he didn’t move, I pointed to him again and swung it around to the coconut. He got the message. He trotted over to the bushes, found it and brought it back to me. Oh, boy was he proud of his accomplishment.
"I patted him on the back and called him ’abuting tao’ which means ‘good man.’ Then, I said it in English, ’good man.’ Pedro was just about beside himself with joy. He waved one hand in the air and beat on his chest with the other. As he stood on his tip-toes, he yelled with pride the English words, over and over, ‘good man, good man.’
"I had to stop him by touching him on the shoulder. He looked up at me almost as if I had caught him doing something wrong. I put on a real pleading look and whimpered to him ‘tulungan ninyo ako’ which means ‘help me.’ You would have thought that he had been elected President of the United States or something.
“Pedro began to take charge a little bit. He would chase the coconut for me. He would throw it back to the other kids. He always had some kind of banter going back and forth with the others. He would bring me the coconut and say ‘good man’ a time or two. I would always praise him and repeat it back to him. When he saw me giving points to the others by missing the coconut and watching them cheer, he picked up on it really well. He would put on quite an act in trying to catch it but would wind up dropping it. He would act huffy and the others would cheer. Then, he would look at me and wink. I knew I was grabbing his heart but I had to find Tala to work on her, too.
“The ladies of the tribe had fixed us some lunch so we all walked to the center of the village to eat. Tala was sitting by herself in the corner of the cooking area. Pedro went over to her and held his hand out to her. She gladly stood up and grabbed hold of it and walked as close to him as she could. She looked as if she was on the verge of crying.
“The pastor told me that her expression had never changed from the day she had watched the soldiers beat her mother. Sometimes, she would start crying for no reason at all. Generally, Pedro would be the only one who could calm her down.
“Everyone but me sat cross-legged on the mat underneath the shelter that had been built to serve as their eating area. They brought me a stool that made it easier for me to get up and down with my bad leg.
"Pedro brought Tala over to me and sat down next to me. He rattled off something to Tala about me and patted me on my good leg as if we were best friends. There was a bowl of wild boar stew in front of everybody, and, there was their version of loaf bread sitting close by.
“Tala leaned up against her brother for protection and only piddled with her food. Pedro did his best to get her to eat. On a whim, I got the pastor to ask Pedro to put her in my lap and let me try to feed her. Boy, did she ever give me a weird look when she wound up in my arms.
"I bent over and took a piece of bread and dipped it in the stew. Carefully, I offered her a bite of it. She just sat there stone-faced and stared at me. I could see no emotion in her eyes at all. I took a bite of the bread and dipped it back into the stew. This time I put it on her lips and smeared a little to try to entice her to open her mouth. No dice. Just a stare.
“I ate the rest of it and then rubbed my stomach and said, ‘Good.’ Pedro was sitting where he could see her and he did the same thing and uttered the same English word, ‘good.’
“The ice cracked a little bit when I saw a hint of a sparkle in her eyes. Gingerly, she stuck out her tongue and licked the stew that I had dabbed around her mouth. With this encouragement, I reached down for a piece of meat. I first put it up to my nose and made a show out of how good it smells. Then, I put it up to her nose. She actually bent her head down and smelled it just like I did. Out of the corners of my eyes, I noticed that the other adults were watching intently.
"Slowly and carefully, I bit off a piece of it and again I said, ‘good.’ As I held it up to her, she kept her eyes on me but slowly opened her mouth and took a small bite. I smiled at her and asked, ‘good?’ My heart jumped as I saw just a hint of a smile. I glanced at the pastor as I reached down to dip the remainder of the piece of meat in some more stew. He was smiling and nodding his head very gently.
“A bold plan began to form in my mind. Did it come from God? I don’t know. Knowing what I now know about His leading, I would be inclined to say yes. I broke off another piece of bread and dipped it in the stew. This time, instead of lifting it straight to her mouth, I began b
ouncing it along up her leg and her arm and then to her mouth while I whistled a happy little tune.
"She shyly leaned her head up against my shoulder as the offering came nearer but she never took her eyes off of me. She looked straight into my face. By the time the bread was up to her mouth, she had already opened it to take a healthy bite. And all the time she watched my face. I held it up for her to take another bite after she had finished chewing the first one.
"Now get this, she held her finger up and tapped my lips a couple of times. I quickly tossed the piece into my mouth and made a big deal of it by saying. ’yu-u-u-u-u-m.”
Tom stopped with a thin smile as he reached for his handkerchief again. Olivia guessed, “The ice must have melted. But, I should have known that. Ain’t nobody able to resist my grandpa.” She held on to his arm and laid her head back on his shoulder.
Arthur mimicked her move and agreed, “That’s right. Nobody.”
Tom started back up, “And, Arthur, you and Wendy would be proud of her. When she saw me throw that piece into my mouth she giggled. It was just a slight, ‘tee-hee’ but it was a giggle none the less. Her grandmother and her aunt sitting across from us threw their hands across their mouths to keep from saying anything to stop the moment.
"That gave birth to a bolder move. I reached in for a small piece of sinigang with is almost like a potato. This time, I made it float around in the air as if it was a bird. I tried my hand at whistling some bird-type songs. She watched with fascination as I made the piece flitter back and forth and then up and down. I acted like I was going to give it to her a time or two.
"She finally opened her mouth and I held it a little ways away from her. Keeping her eyes on me, she leaned forward and took the bite. I quickly pulled my hand away and said ‘ouch.’ I shook my hand in the air and put a funny frown on my face.
“Now get this. She giggled again and got down off of my lap and pulled out another piece of sinigang from the stew. Then she climbed back up into my lap and whirled it around in front of my face. When I opened my mouth, she teased me as I had done to her. When I gently took a bite, she snatched her hand away and said, ‘ouch.’ Everybody laughed and clapped their hands.
“The people made such a loud noise that it scared her. She stood real still and all the expression went out of her face. I pulled her back up into my lap and she did not resist. I shared my meal with her and then Pedro handed me her bowl. They told me that she ate more that day than they had ever seen her eat at any one meal."
“So what do you get when you combine a 2 year-old-and a good meal?” he asked.
Olivia answered, “A good long nap. She fell hard and fast asleep, I bet.”
“Yep. She was as limp as a rag doll. Pastor helped me get up and I carried her over to a nice shady spot underneath some trees. Pedro brought me something for a pillow. I laid her on my chest and she slept for a couple of hours.
“Would you believe it, all the children came over and sat around quietly while she slept. Here comes another brain storm. I off-handedly had the pastor to ask Pedro who in village knew how to construct a bahay kubo.”
“A huba what?” Arthur asked.
“A bahay kubo,” Tom corrected. “It’s the Filipino name for grass hut.”
“Oh.”
Fred started chuckling, “It’s time you sent Arthur to bed, Liv, I feel a Tom special coming on.”
“A what?” Olivia asked with a smile.
“I’m sure of it. I can tell by the look in his eyes. He is a con artist extraordinaire.”
“Fred, I just asked the pastor to ask them a simple question, that’s all.”
“Tom Dandridge, you have never asked a simple question in your whole life,” countered Fred. “You might have asked who knows how to build one. BUT, what you were actually asking was, ‘Hey, guys, how about y'all going out and cutting the bamboo and leaves and do all the work to build me a huba huba, whatever?”
“It’s bahay kubo, and ALL that I asked was who did they know,” Tom said in his own defense.
They smiled at each other and Fred asked point blank, “What did they do?”
Tom raised his eyebrows and answered nonchalantly, “They, all ran away.”
“To get their hatchets and machetes, I bet.”
“Well, of course, how do you expect them to collect all of the material to build me a bahay kubo if they didn’t take their machetes,” Tom answered matter-of-factly.
Olivia and Ryan had been looking from Fred to Tom just like anyone would when two people talk to each other. However, after Tom’s admission of guilt, they both looked at Arthur. Ryan looked at his wife and said, “Now we know.”
She agreed as she looked at him and shook her head in the affirmative, “Yes. I must say that Grandpa’s confession answers a lot of things we have been wondering about.”
Arthur tried to look like Mr. Innocent and Too Cute, “But….me? What did I….you can’t….”
Mom and Dad were smiling one of those you-know-it’s-true smiles and shaking their heads ‘yes.’
Mr. Stutterguss blabbed, “No…no.. I never…it………..” then he pointed to his great-grandfather, “it’s his fault. See, he admitted it. I’m just an unwilling accomplice. Uh…..Grandpa could you finish the story? I’m really, really, interested. Really I am.”
“The kids all ran to find machetes. The pastor was close by and heard everything. He motioned to one of the grandfathers to come and go with him to supervise. He came by me on the way into the jungle and told me that they may as well plan on a pretty good sized kubo because I might have quite a bit of company. I told him that I was hoping that that would be the case and shared with him my thoughts about Pedro and Tala. He readily agreed that God might be using me to rescue those two. No one else in the village seemed to be able to help them.”
“It seems to me, Grandpa, that even though it wasn’t under the best of conditions, God had you in the right place and at the right time,” Ryan commented.
“You are so right, Ryan,” Tom agreed. “It was never God’s will for their father and mother to be taken from them. And, it was never God’s will for Ellen, Billy and me to be separated either. Just the same, there we were, three lonely people in the middle of something we did not create. Through a set of circumstances, God poured his love through all three of us to fill up each other’s empty glasses. When I finally did leave, those two were strong Christians in a village of strong Christians.”
Fred summed it all up as he said, “If God had not had you, His willing vessel, there at the right time, could you just imagine where those two innocent children might have wound up? I shudder to think what would have happened to them.”
“Amen to that,” concluded Olivia.