Quick stops

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

YESTERDAY, I boarded a bus for Urdaneta to attend the last rites for Auntie Charing Salcedo, whose name is really Emerenciana, not Charito, as I always thought. Auntie Charing passed away at 97. As a child, I remember her sitting in front of her sari-sari store (retail store of assorted things), especially an assortment of dried fish where as young children, my sister Lydia and cousin Auring would try to sneak in some between their skirts. It is a prank they enjoyed, because they never knew how to cook it, but took turns smelling the different kinds of dried fish, amazed how such peculiar smells can end up in the frying fan and be consumed. When Auntie Charing was not looking, they would return whatever they took, before racing one another to the steep climb to U-Need Store.

I decided to stand in the morning sun for my Vitamin D, instead of joining the crowd assembled for the prayers in the gazebo. Throughout the ceremony, at least six flights (maybe from three small planes) hovered and blended itself with the Holy Marys and God the Fathers. I watched Auntie Charing fly with the planes, faster than full speed, stopping on a cloud. Shifting my gaze on the ground, I heard the priests talking about the afterlife with a certainty that only faith affords.

From there I proceeded to Dagupan for a quick visit to my friends, Aloc (Enoch) and Gwen Tan, who brought me to Dagupena, that old restaurant I truly missed. The rain was heavy but Gwen managed to maneuver in secondary roads that made it easier for us to reach the place. We ordered grilled bangus, locan (clam) soup, alama (crabs), pinakbet (mixed local vegetables cooked in bagoong (fermented fish). Aloc complained that I should not visit like lightning and stay longer next time. He remarked, “Why do we see you only if someone is dead?” Which is not entirely true, because I make a point to pass by each time I have meetings in Pangasinan.

After the very sumptuous lunch, Gwen and I visited another friend, Armi Bangsal-Lorica in Lingayen. Armi looked much better than when I saw her last, but needs to work on her speech. I am reminded of Demosthenes, a Greek orator who had a speech defect, a condition described by Plutarch as “an inarticulate and stammering pronunciation” which he overcame by “speaking with pebbles in his mouth and by reciting verses when running or out of breath.” She should try this method in front of a mirror, or while she walks on the beach for her early morning exercise along the Lingayen Gulf.

Time passes quickly, we must make an opportunity to stop by friends. It is good to see them smile and cry and laugh in person, nag and complain, do stupid things together, refresh memories, freeze mortality in the moments shared. The social media can never approximate bonding on a personal level, and this connection strengthens and ensures our survival as human beings.

Stops

a quick stop

to a full stop

another stop

to a pit stop

next stop,

stop.

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