The Truth Berries

XXXI

        Bernie came at the house an hour after the mute woman. He was still a teenager, no more than twenty, but the way he perceived life was something that boys at his age would never imagine. He was still in his prime and he spent most of his time doing chores in exchange for a small amount. He was shirtless when he came carrying a big taped box and he took his steps carefully at the stairs, though it posed a great challenge because of the box hindering his line of sight. When he reached the top of the stairs, he was already out of his breath. Without taking the box down, he called for the woman. Miguel and Inday peered out of the house to see the young man struggling outside. Miguel came to help him carry it to the house where they put it on the floor.

       “Morning, Sir. I’m Bernie. It’s nice to finally meet you. Aling Inday talks about you a lot. And I wanted to meet you since then because I always dreamed to be a great policeman like you someday.”

       “Pleasured to meet you, Bernie. Inday told me so and I can see you have a lot of potential stored in you.”

       Miguel winked at him and messed his long black hair. Bernie smiled shyly at him.

       “Aling Inday, I brought some grilled milkfish for our lunch. I’m proud to say that I caught and cooked that myself. You know, you thought me that one. And I’m sorry to say that I made some slight alteration to your own recipe. I added some ginger to that. And a little spice too.”

       Learning new things is always a good thing, boy.

       “I know. I’m going back down now to get those two remaining boxes I left at the big mango tree. I’ll leave you so that I can finish carrying those boxes here before lunch. Would you like anything else?”

       The woman shook her head.

       “How about you, Sir?”

       Miguel brought out his wallet and took out a five-hundred peso bill. Then, he gave it to Bernie.

       “Can you buy me a fresh pack of Marlboro red?”

       “I’m sorry, Sir, but those stores don’t sell that brand around here. Majority of the smokers here cannot afford to buy that one so they sell the cheaper brands. Though I wouldn’t know the difference between them. I don’t intend to smoke. I read somewhere that smoking shortens smoker’s life. I wouldn’t want that.”

       Miguel was impressed.

       “You read a lot?”

       “Only when I don’t have anything to do. I borrow some books from my friends or sometimes I read newspapers from their stand. Most of the times, the seller would drive me away.”

       Miguel feared the boy read something about him and his eyes narrowed the way he always looked whenever interrogating a stubborn subject.

       “And what does the news say about this past week?”

       The young man never seemed to notice the sudden steely change in his voice and he continued to answer in his ecstatic manner.

       “Oh nothing much, Sir. Just the same old stories that keep on repeating themselves. Sometimes I wonder why people still bother to buy them when all they can read is rotten human history. I read a few days ago about someone killing his own wife over some petty issues. Then I told myself, ‘there goes their vows’.”

        Unintentionally, Miguel felt a surge of anger towards the young man and he was ready to take a step forward when he felt a hand gripping hardly on his shoulder.

       Bernie, I think you should go down for those boxes now. I’ll make sure the table’s already prepared when you get done. By the way, you should try asking the new grocery store by the railway station about Miguel’s cigarette. They might have it.

      “Okay, Aling Inday. And I’ll bring a cold bottle of cola when I get back.”

       The young man went down to his chores, oblivious of everything. The woman called Miguel’s attention and asked him to forgive the poor boy.

       He didn’t mean that, I’m sure. He was just trying to get your appreciation and approval about his dream. If he only knew that . . .

       “He must not know.”

       I know. Just be patient with him. He’s a good boy. He talks too much at times but he really works hard. And he looks up to you, remember?

        “Okay. I promise I won’t hurt him.”

       Good.

       Bernie was done transporting the two remaining boxes at a quarter past twelve. He cleaned himself up and he put on a white cotton shirt before sitting for their lunch. The woman and the young man discussed something during their lunch while Miguel was silently eating and was already laying out his plans in his mind. Fifteen minutes later, he stood first and went to examine every box. The first box contained solar panels, two loops of wires, some bolts and nuts, a rope, a big battery that resembled a car’s and two 9-watt LED light bulbs. The second one held nails in four different sizes, a hammer, a saw, a plumb bob, some rattan strings, a half roll of GI wire and three dozens of empty egg trays. Miguel did not open the third box yet. He left it taped until the construction of his war room was finished. When he got out, Bernie and Inday was already done eating and the table was already cleaned. He sat back on his chair and looked at the young man. The mute woman watched Miguel nervously.

       “Do you have something else to do today?”

       “No, Sir, I don’t. Why?”

       “How does one thousand five hundred pesos in exchange for helping me build my room sounds?”

       The young man’s jaw dropped.

       “That sounds like a lot of money. I never held a one thousand peso bill before.”

       Miguel almost laughed at what the young man said.

       “Well, you have your first chance right now. So what do you say, Officer Bernie?”

       It worked on him, just like Miguel had expected.

       “I think we should get going now, Sergeant!”

       The first thing they did was dig for the four posts of the room. Then they nailed all the beams and all the other brackets supporting each post. They hammered and saw for two straight hours, stopping only to take a drink while examining their job from a distant. Then, Miguel and Bernie went to the peaks with the first box that Bernie brought earlier before. Miguel searched for a sturdy tree and found a big star apple tree standing proudly a few meters away. He instructed Bernie to climb that tree and chop all the unnecessary branches while he assembled the solar panels below. They finished their tasks at the same time. Miguel tied the rope around the solar panels and then he threw the rope upwards to Bernie. He caught it and he started to carefully lift it. Then they secured it to the top of the cleared tree where the sun should hit it the entire hour of the day. After that, they laid the wire from the panels down to the battery in his new room and Miguel installed the two LED light bulbs – one inside and the other outside.

       At five thirty in the afternoon, Miguel gave Bernie his deserved pay and it almost brought him into tears. Miguel and the woman thanked him and told the young man to go now before it got too dark. The young man thanked them numerous times and before he went, he hugged Miguel tightly and gave him an incorrect salute. Miguel thanked him again, messed his hair once more and saluted back properly. Bernie went down to their house afterwards. The boy was really hard-working and he knew that he would be a fine policeman someday. Once he was gone, Miguel went back to his newly-finished war room. The light was still out for there was still no stored sunlight in the battery but he somehow could imagine the looks of it with his own eyes.

       “Almost done”, he told himself.

       All he had to do was unpack the third box and install every gadget in it and his own war should start soon. He could do that by himself tomorrow

       “So what’s next, Sergeant Miguel Romero?” a raspy voice behind him asked.

       “Next, I start to fight. They shall regret . . .”

      Miguel stopped himself from talking and turned around to see Inday looking at his new room. She had a strange smile on her face.

       “Wait, what?! You can talk?”

       “Looks like it.”

       “And all this time you kept it a secret?”

       “Oh boy, oh boy. There are a lot of secrets that you still don’t know, Mikoy.”