A Child No More
At the tender age of 13 my life took an awful turn. It irrevocably tore whatever remnant of childhood might have lingered in myself. I only remember that my parents were out of town in the provinces...in those days, no cell phones, not even a phone in the province (bukids) for my parents to call and check on us. A lot of the details of this incident are now vague, my brains' protection against the trauma I suppose. I remember asking my brother to take me to the beach in Batangas, I cannot be more specific and later you will see why. He did. He dropped me off, I assumed he would come back the next day to fetch me, which he did not. After he left, I went to one of my real blood uncles beach house which I assumed I could use but was closed for some odd reason, even the caretaker was no where to be found. I strolled down the beach till it became dark and I came upon the home of a family “friend” allied by friendship since my grandfathers time. I knocked and my two “titos” ...