11
Fativa
Fativa was not at all an acceptable bride for Nicodemus, the first son of Lim Po and Vicenta.
Nico had found work in the mines. His hands became fivelegged, black spiders. They grew thick and cracked at the joints. His skin peeled in layers, like the stone he pulled from the earth.
When the Santo Niño mine in Benguet province ran out of gold, they made the copper pay. When that ran dry, he followed the work to Mindanao. In the new wilderness of the southern island,
they did not strip mine. Instead, they tunneled. Tunneling meant cave-ins; there was no way to avoid it.
The roar came in muffled stone voices first. Nico was deep in the mountain. His headlamp was dim, but better than nothing. The tailings and stone carriers, all women and children, had nothing,
no lanterns to
