I have had two big surprises for the day inside a bank in the city, exactly located along a busy street which was in normal gridlock as of three p.m. last Friday. The bank could be the smallest structure on that street in a glance only, yet, when it comes to assets, it’s the biggest in the country.
After I yawned in boredom, my first surprise came when one of the guards said “Dali lang” as I waited for my turn to deposit a big bulk of cash, not mine of course, when suddenly another nervous-looking guard rushed in and they both turned on to panic mode to ward off all the chairs around in full force. I likewise switched myself on to alert mode; I sensed something unusual, wondering, was that a “hold-up code”?
I quickly put the money deep inside the front of my undergarment and let out loosely my shining white shirt which was originally tucked in. How I wished there had a presence of an official representative of the GSIS right in that moment, that even though it was not my money I would gladly turned it all over right away to him for all my outstanding loans’ one-time payment. My reason for it was it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to pay my biggest debt in full, since it would only be taken away totally by would-be hold-uppers after all.
Shortly, there were bursts of noisy drums and I ducked soon that to the floor itself I might quickly sit on, when all of a sudden both glass doors swung open, and there and then did enter the “dragon.” I jumped to my feet and looked on askance. I thought it was a new bank robbers’ trick using a Chinese Dragon Dance. And I was relieved only when all eyes were focused and smiling. Everybody around enjoyed that three-minute spectacle inside the bank including the employees who were seem to be high-ranking.
My second surprise came swiftly when someone I noticed who ignored the “dragon” inside her chamber, came over when a teller uttered “override please” and keyed in something in her computer. I was still figuring out her face when our eyes met, and followed immediately by a brief lifting of eyebrows after only our smiles to each other did greet.
After I yawned in boredom, my first surprise came when one of the guards said “Dali lang” as I waited for my turn to deposit a big bulk of cash, not mine of course, when suddenly another nervous-looking guard rushed in and they both turned on to panic mode to ward off all the chairs around in full force. I likewise switched myself on to alert mode; I sensed something unusual, wondering, was that a “hold-up code”?
I quickly put the money deep inside the front of my undergarment and let out loosely my shining white shirt which was originally tucked in. How I wished there had a presence of an official representative of the GSIS right in that moment, that even though it was not my money I would gladly turned it all over right away to him for all my outstanding loans’ one-time payment. My reason for it was it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to pay my biggest debt in full, since it would only be taken away totally by would-be hold-uppers after all.
Shortly, there were bursts of noisy drums and I ducked soon that to the floor itself I might quickly sit on, when all of a sudden both glass doors swung open, and there and then did enter the “dragon.” I jumped to my feet and looked on askance. I thought it was a new bank robbers’ trick using a Chinese Dragon Dance. And I was relieved only when all eyes were focused and smiling. Everybody around enjoyed that three-minute spectacle inside the bank including the employees who were seem to be high-ranking.
My second surprise came swiftly when someone I noticed who ignored the “dragon” inside her chamber, came over when a teller uttered “override please” and keyed in something in her computer. I was still figuring out her face when our eyes met, and followed immediately by a brief lifting of eyebrows after only our smiles to each other did greet.
Then I knew right away my eyes couldn’t fail me even after many broken cheap reading glasses ago and despite her being just a blast in the past. She was a dear classmate with an angelic face in Theology in San-Ag where we both laughed at our predicament every during exams especially the finals because we were forced to answer what we both believed to be in contrast.
We had a chance only to talk to each other intimately when I was about to graduate. But she was one of the finest Christians in that school that I ever met though it was already way too late. But I remember the time when I looked for her after graduation somewhere riding a motorboat across the seas. I was determined to find her there saying to myself if I’d find her that day something would change in myself since I already had an answer as I asked “What if?...”
I said I could start a new day since I was then in a finishing stage of that period’s phase after my heart was crushed and my spirit abased. I thought she could be a good start since her very name means The Beginning, of everything, even of heart’s time and space. As I walked away without looking at her again, something inside me was silently questioning: “What if our paths crossed that day when I sought you without you knowing? Will my story have a different plot and ending?”
Or, as they say, same, same? She’s another “lucky” Eve then.
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