BLEAUD STAINED LETTERS

SHORT STORY

4:19 mt

 

            Definition of a Bad Day - Your name is Tomas you are out of work.  You are poorer than the poorest guy you know.  You are down to your last centavo, which unfortunately because of your clumsy hands fell into murky waters and you were not able to find it.   Your wife is in labor, in your small hut because you cannot afford to bring her to the hospital.  Then she gives birth to three hungry mouths on a rainy day. d

 

            Definition of a Good Day – Many years passed, you are called Mang Tomas, a respectable person in the community.  The three mouths you fed are now capable men of the society; a teacher, a policeman, and a government employee.  They have not forgotten their Tatay Tomas, and every year on their birthday they come home to see you and join you in fishing. 

 

            Definition of a Good Timing – You are Tomas, you do not know what to do with the three babies you have.  Your wife is exhausted in giving birth, you are new to this situation, you have no idea what to do, and you are wet because of the rain.  Nothing else to do but surrender, you kneel down, and you pray. Then there was a knock on your broken down door, three missionaries you have helped some time ago passed by your house.  You do not understand what they were saying because they came from parts of the world that you did not know even existed.  But even without asking, they helped you.  And the rain also stopped.

 

            Definition of Good Friends – Some years passed, Tomas with the help of the missionaries learned how to read and write, and they also helped him buy a small fishing boat.  This enabled him to support his wife and his three sons.  The three missionaries are now in a different country but they do not forget to send Tomas a postcard or two from time to time.  

 

            Definition of a Good History – You look at your birthday cake, you are sharing it with two brothers.  You look at your names – Audrigh, Mateos, and Ernes – you are sharing it with good people, friends of your father, the three missionaries.

 

            Definition of a Good Birthday Gift – It’s the 19^th of April.  You received a postcard from the good friends of your father.  The picture was them with their families on a boat in Galilee, Israel.  Written on the back were their happy birthday greetings and written on the upper right hand corner was a verse.

 

“Come, follow me,” “and I will make you fishers of men.”

 

            Definition of Good Tradition – Every year in our birthday, we go out fishing with Tatay Tomas.  It is our way to remember what our father had done for us.  To remember our roots and to keep us humble.  It is also our way to say thank you.  And also every year we manage not only to catch fishes but also great stories.   Like the time mt April (our first boat) tipped over, or the time a giant sunfish was caught in our net (we let if go of course) or the time we went swimming with a whaleshark, good memories.      

 

            Definition of a Bad Day that turned Good – I never got your name, but you missed your ferry to go to the nearby Island.  You hired a small fishing boat so you can follow your friends, but of all the people you can hire, you hired Mang Jude the only fisherman, in fact the only person, I know who do not know how to swim.  As if your day was not bad enough, during your trek the weather was fine and there was no sign of a storm so there was no risk of your boat toppling over, but somehow the worst case scenario happened when the wave of a powerboat hit you and turned you over.   Mang Jude was no help as he was screaming for his life and holding on to his slowly sinking boat, I was waiting for you to rise above water when suddenly someone jumped over our boat and told us to go after them.  He was explaining that you were not able to swim.  I guess that makes you the second person I know who does not know how to swim.   When we got to your position Tatay Tomas quickly swam over to Mang Jude.  The other guy then jumped in the water to save you, both of you were gone for a good number of second.   When you surfaced, you were out cold, and both Mateos and Ernes had to carry you in the boat.  I extended my arm to lend a hand to other guy.  He said thank you.  I remembered the postcard and smiled – fishers of men.