Thirty-One

RIGHT after breakfast, Yna prepped the kitchen for cooking.
She wasn't worried about her mother because the hacienda staff who brought her to the hospital promised to take care of her and bring her home after they finished with her last test results. She wanted to get everything ready for lunch so she could have time for her mother when she arrived.
She had just finished clearing up when someone arrived with a clean sack of whole plucked chickens and slabs of pork ribs. Another neighbor brought large pots and pans that she said the former cook used for cooking. That cook left to work abroad just a month ago.
Other neighbors came to help her on her first day, and soon enough, the kitchen and backyard were busy with women peeling and cutting vegetables and parting meat for the boiling water in the big pot or oil in a big pan.
Before she knew it, the steaming chicken tinola was being transferred to lunch containers and kangkong with pork ribs and rice to bilaos layered with banana leaves.
Two men in trikes came to take them to excited workers waiting for their lunch. They gave her the budget for a week's worth of whatever else she needed in the kitchen after that.
Some other workers from the livestock area came, and they served them lunch at a long table under the shade of lush trees in the yard. After burping a lot, men returned to their jobs with hands over their bulging tummies.
The women rested and chatted outside.
"Is it always like this?" Yna asked, tired but thrilled.
Aling Bigne, one of those who'd helped, laughed. She was a widow for ten years but had always been a cheerful aunt-type of neighbor to anyone younger than herself, even if it was just a year. "They enjoyed the meal. There will be more coming here tomorrow."
"Oh, I had help. You all helped. It's not just me," she protested.
"But you mixed the soup with that powdered leaves you have in your kitchen. It made the taste whole and more delicious. What was that?"
"It's just a mix of herbs we dried in the sun for soups, so Mama will not have to use salt in her meals. We ended up putting it in everything we cooked."
"You'll have to teach me how to do that," said Aling Menang.
"Aww, what do you mean? Let her do it herself and let's just buy from her so she can earn from it. It's her secret recipe. Don't steal it."
"What do you mean, steal?" Aling Menang exclaimed, hitting Aling Bigne's side with her soft fan. "It's not stealing if I'm asking for it, am I?"
"It's fine. I'll tell you what you need to do, Aling Menang. It's healthier to use it than salt and soy sauce. I'll be glad to share it."
"See? These siblings... they know things. Haven't I told you how Tommy told the chairman to mix... I forgot what it's called... so-so for the feeds for the fish and that hole where they started using it just last week showed faster growth of fish than the other holes? They're going to do this in the next five ponds this week."
Aling Linda nodded. "It's really different when you have a brain and you use it, no?”
“What do you mean? Are we not using our brains, too?” Aling Menang asked, acting offended. She received a soft thump to her head from Aling Bigne.
“I mean they read. They read and read a lot. Did you not see the books and those old magazines in boxes when they arrived? Where did all those come from?” Aling Bigne asked her.
“The old public library,” she replied, coloring a little. “They always give us what stock they have there that they have to throw away. Some of them are from the time Papa was still alive. The librarian is an old friend of our grandfather and we usually keep all the publications that are about farming or gardening.”
“Ahh… many felt sorry for you both when your father died and you dropped out of school, then your brother this school term. But we didn't have to worry, right? You two learn in or out. Ahh, you'll both soon be back at school with the way things are going. You can mix your herbs and write your recipes and get some of us to cook and mix them for you when that happens, so you can attend college. It's going to be both a job and a business for you, see?" said Aling Menang, who'd had a store of juice packs and organic teas in town before she retired, so it was now managed by her son. “I’ll even have what you mix here sell in my store.”
Aling Bigne nodded. "It's the one thing we parents dream about for our children. Your mother would want you and Tommy to get your college degrees and we'll have better managers in this hacienda in the next years."
"I think they only gave me the cooking job so they could help us."
"Ay, hija, no! Señor Quiroz went to the fishponds just last week after he just arrived from his trip in Davao. He tasted Tommy's lunch... that kangkong dish you just cooked today. They do that. Father and son would sometimes have lunch with the workers, but this time, it was only the Señor. They said he really liked it and told them how they could convince you to cook for the workers when he found out you're not employed anywhere because you have to stay at home with your mother."
This surprised her. "What? Tommy didn't tell me that."
"I think the boy wasn't there. The others opened his lunch box after he left. He told them to do so anyway because they always share. He's been bringing more of your vegetable dishes for his friends, and they've been telling people they love eating his food more than their own packed lunch!"
"Ahhh... I remember that," Yna now said, thinking of the day Tommy rushed home when he learned about the groceries and cash incentives given to workers that day. "He was requesting what he wanted to be cooked the next day because of them."
"The old man, kuu..." Aling Bigne crooned, "when he is here and not on his other farms, he likes spending time with his men." She smiled. "The father loves everything about planting, while the son wanted to expand the fisheries to paddy fields that aren't used. Now he's talking about going into hydroponic farming, which the Señor barely likes because he is old school, but he encouraged it because it means Señorito Enrique will stay longer in the hacienda by managing what he's starting to implement."
"Ah... so that's why he's spending more time here now than in Manila," said another.
"Yes. The Señor is very happy and everybody feels it. What about all this help we're receiving now? We were happy when we heard you were moving here because of your mother's health. We didn't know you'd be helping with our health, too!"
She had poultice done for a joint pain Aling Bigne was complaining about this morning and the woman swore it took the pain away instantly.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Why did she worry about people thinking their move here would be strange? It never even occurred to them that Eric had anything to do with it.
The aunties went home to rest after that and she had time to clean herself up before her mother arrived.
And when she did, she looked so well and cheerful about the house, complaining all the while about staying long in the hospital because she wasn’t able to help with the move. They were relieved all her tests went well.
"They had the air conditioner turned on and I wanted them to turn it off because I'm not used to it and it's too cold, but they said it helped clean the air inside. Then there is this humidifier run by electricity, and we have our pot with its water and herbs we use here to boil as our own in the kitchen. What better way to have clean air than to stay at home? Fresh air and free, too! We didn't have to pay for it!"
She was laughing. "So you didn't enjoy your stay in the hospital even though it is free?"
"Not that I really am complaining because we were reimbursed by the Quirozes, you're right. But it just seemed senseless, what they do in those places to get people healthy. It just seemed the rich paid more for their health while the poor stayed away from that place for a very long time and appeared healthier."
"You just felt bad because you weren't able to help here," she chided.
"And that, too."
They chatted for a while. She was happy about Yna's new job as a cook and excited about the promised fridge, not complaining that it was ran by electricity! Her mother loved cooking as much as she did. She learned all her basics from her, and was already thinking of asking for her help in writing recipes they had only cooked themselves, and making lists of herbs they could use to introduce the unique taste the workers liked.
Her mother was happy to learn she'd helped Aling Bigne with the poultice and was already thinking of other mixes they had been using through the years for aches and pains, burns and cuts, to help their neighbors with when she finally yawned, so Yna left her mother to her siesta and went to her room to take her own nap.
After that, she went down to the living room to arrange what was left of their meager furniture there and put curtains on the two windows.
She didn't think the living room was big, but when she was done, she suddenly noticed they were sorely lacking other furniture in the spacious house.
Never mind, she thought as she pulled out the curtains to hang.
After they had saved up, they could buy stuff. They hadn't touched the ten thousand pesos they received from the Quirozes, keeping it for any emergency use for their mother, and they'd earned a bit since then, too.
All the food they'd been eating came from their garden so far, and from groceries provided for them the last time. They hadn't really spent anything. When they get paid, they might buy cheap tools and art materials to make wall decorations and hammer nails into new furniture.
She loved to paint with watercolors. Tommy was very good at making simple furniture. Wood was cheap if you bought it right here at the hacienda.
Their living room set was from bamboo given to them by the Chairman. Tommy designed and sawed and put them all together, then coated them with varnish as a final touch.
It looked so good that those who'd seen the sofa and two armchairs with its low coffee table didn't want to believe they had not bought the set from a furniture shop in town.
She was standing on a stool and fixing the curtain when she felt she was no longer alone in the living room.
She glanced at the door she had left open to let the breeze in. The only electric fan they had was in their mother's bedroom upstairs.
And pleasure flooded her to see Eric standing there as if he'd just come in, followed by nervousness.
He was frowning in obvious disapproval.
Before she could think about why she was happy to see him, she got irritated.
What was he doing here?
And what?
What had she done now?