The teenager squeezed the sponge slowly, letting the warm water spill down his arm over his chest as he relaxed in the bathtub that morning. He was loving every minute of it, allowing this day to become indelibly impressed in his mind. He gave himself plenty of time to dress for his interview, a grand occasion that would change his life. He was certain that it would change the lives of his family as well. It was a lifetime opportunity that he had no intention of squandering.
His father, Captain Adonis Dizon, had lived in the barangay (*district) of San Pedro for the past twenty years. He had been stationed there as an officer in the Spanish Army and enjoyed a life of comparative luxury in contrast to his family"s Spartan existence in their native Barcelona. Only the military defeat in the
