第9話 August, 1984 --Chapter 9 --
The next day, I was on a street, casting my eyes at the letters in black and red on the back of Melba’s tee shirt, which read ‘I ♥ NINOY!"
The former Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. had been assassinated in August the previous year. So it had passed only about one year since the shirt had been sold to the public. Nevertheless, the colors of the letters were faded away so much as if implying that people’s memory on the tragedy also had faded away so quickly.
Melba and I had had very little conversation during our walk in the town ever since we had left Sakura’s dormitory.
It was when we were just outside of an entrance of Pistang Pilipino on Mabini Street, having walked about on such avenues and streets as United Nations, Taft and Adriatico, that Melba turned her face directly to me. Her eyes were luring me into the one of the most popular tourist attractions in Metro Manila.
“I don’t clearly know why, 'Ate', but..." A mild smile was on Melba’s face. “I love this place very much. Maybe, that’s because I feel here as if I were a foreigner who has just arrived in Manila for an adventure, being surrounded by all kinds of handicrafts and paintings, as well as dolls and lamps, collected from all portions of the Philippines. Looking at those things so foreign to me, though all are made in this country, I always become very happy here. ..They’re so stimulating."
“Indeed, Melba." I agreed with her. “We don’t know so much about our own country as we think we do, in fact, do we?"
Having already uttered those words, I realized I had spoken in an oddly pretentious manner. The bewilderedness I had felt toward her the night before might still be on my mind, guessed I, and must have prevented me from expressing myself casually.
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I had noticed, in the meantime, Melba had not necessarily been enjoying her walk.
Well, she had shown a big smile, which any teenage girl might do, when she had found Sanrio’s Kitty goods at a stationery store in Robinson’s on Adriatico. But that smile of hers had not looked to have come from the bottom of her heart. She must have been preoccupied with something else.
And to guess what that something else might have been did not seem to be very difficult. I was virtually convinced, as a matter of fact, that Melba had asked me o go out for a walk with her because she had wanted to talk with me about Takano-san again.
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“Can you guess, 'Ate' Trina, what I’m going to tell you?" Melba’s voice was suddenly cheerful now.
We were already inside the Pistang Pilipino. Melba was pointing her finger to the wooden show-restaurant building in which sightseers were to be entertained with Filipino cultural dances and music.
I heard no music there, however. Apparently, no dance was being performed, either. Besides, no sightseers were seen around the building at that moment.
“Something to do with that show-restaurant, right?" I asked her.
She nodded deeply, smiling a little playfully.
“Well, let me see." said I, returning my smile to her. “But, I surrender, Melba. I can’t."
“In my hometown in Batangas, I was, in fact..." Melba stopped there for effect.
“In fact?"
“I was one of master bamboo-dancers... If I say so, do you believe that, 'Ate'?"
“Oh, you were?:" I said, feeling the lingering cautiousness toward Melba in me suddenly vanishing. “Of course, I do, Melba. But..."
“But?"
“Well, if so, how come, Melba, you work for a karaoke saloon like Sakura? You might have had chances to work in Japan as a dancer, instead of a singer. Wasn’t that much easier and shorter a way for you to get your purpose achieved?"
My memory of her not-so-great performance as a singer in the previous night was still very fresh. Well, to be true, she was gifted so sweet and attractive voice that even I -with little talent for music- had had to appreciate. But, without help from her fellow singers or her customers, she had not been able to catch up with the tempos of the most songs she had sung. And it had looked to me that she had needed a quite long time to become a true karaoke singer who could earn a reasonable amount of money in reality.
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“I don’t think so, 'Ate'." She answered me, shaking her head solemnly as if she were a well mature woman with an abundance of experience in life. “The reality wouldn’t have been that simple, I suspect."
I only said, “Yeah?" and waited for Melba to continue.
“Sure enough, I once contemplated of the possibility to become a cultural dancer, 'Ate'. However, I found there were three problems there, and abandoned that idea almost immediately.
“One: It appeared that it would be very difficult for me to find a job as a professional bamboo dancer in the Philippines because not too many people here would want to watch the cultural dance. For, firstly, foreigners might not be so interested in bamboo dance as to go watch it three, four times, for example, during their stays in this country no matter how long their stays were, and secondly, there would be very few Filipinos who wanted to see the dance, paying some money for it. I figured there wouldn’t be too many places I could work at domestically as a cultural dancer.
“Whether as a karaoke singer or as a bamboo dancer, 'Ate' Trina, if your ultimate purpose is to work in Japan someday... Usually, you have to spend much longer times in this country, than in Japan, waiting for the next chances to visit Japan to come, while working here, right? Like, you work in Japan for maximum six months and then you have to wait in the Philippines for ten months, one year or even longer? ..Because it’s not easy for you to obtain a valid visa that allows you to work legally in Japan due to too many applicants for the visa? Then, what if you can’t find a job as a dancer in Manila, in the Philippines? I just can’t hang around with my family in Batangas."
“The same here." I responded. “Indeed, you may somehow be able to find a job somewhere in Metro Manila as long as you are a karaoke singer, just as we are. ..Being given an opportunity to earn some money for your family."
“Yes. That’s exactly what I considered about, 'Ate'. And, two: This is more important. I guessed there would be much fewer jobs for Filipino cultural dancers than for karaoke singers in Japan, too, Right?"
I nodded, wondering how she had obtained such information even before she actually had started working in the real world, whichever job she had wanted more initially.
Melba continued. “My goal was to go to Japan, earn some money there, effectively, for my family, as soon as I could. And being a cultural dancer didn’t appear to offer me such good chances."
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“Then, what was the last problem, Melba?"
“Three..." She smiled broadly. “That’s a funny story, 'Ate'."
“Go on, Melba. I’m listening."
“Look, 'Ate'. Don’t you think I’m a little too tall for a bamboo dancer?"
“Well, you surely are on the tall side."
“Let me tell you what one of my best friends whom I used to dance with called me. She called me a rich man’s pencil in a poor man’s pencil box. Can you guess why?"
“Why?"
“She said, ‘While all other pencils are 'short', you are the only one that is 'long'.’”
I could not help bursting out into laughter.
Melba followed me. And that must have been the moment I shared one same feeling with Melba for the first time.
“A professional bamboo dance team," Melba was still smiling, “I believe, had better be well balanced as a whole and its movement must be well harmonized. Don’t you agree with me, Ate? It’s not good if one of the dancers draws too much attention from spectators because she is too tall, is it?"
“Maybe."
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Following Melba, I was slowly climbing up the wooden steps at an entrance of the show-restaurant.
“So I responded to her," Melba said, “with a kind of cliche, 'Ate', ‘You’re a sesame seed in a hot frying pan." ...She looked so short and extremely nimble when she was jumping over bamboo poles. Really, her jumps are very high and quick!"
“I almost can see it, Melba."
“Technically speaking, 'Ate', our ways of dancing had no problem, I believe. But if you are too long or too short, your dance team doesn’t look too beautiful, does it?"
“That’s a funny story, indeed, Melba."
“Oh, yes, it is." She giggled.
I really liked the way she giggled, which made her look truly youthful a teenage girl as she actually was.
