Deal with the devil

Cinco

They left Maria’s grandfather, and went to the reception area of the villa, where Maria had agreed to meet the villa’s caretaker Crispin but he wasn’t there.

Cobwebbed in a dark corner of the reception area was an ancient house phone that suddenly began to jangle and ring intermittently.

“That must be Crispin,” said Maria.

She walked over to the jangling phone and took it off the hook, holding the ceramic earpiece to her ear.

“Hello, this is María de Aragón y Castilla of Luciano Villa,” Maria said into the mouthpiece, giving her full name and title which Iphigeneia had never heard her use before.

“Yes, … I see … okay … I’ll inform my friend Iphigeneia, said Maria to the person on the end of the line.

“It was Crispin. He said he can’t come, because he has some kind of emergency situation,” Maria informed Iphigeneia.

“Is that so?” She replied.

“Maybe you can go alone? And I’ll just follow you later,” Maria suggested.

“Yes. It’s okay,” she agreed.

Maria let Iphigeneia use her grandfather’s vintage car, because she said that there’s no public transportation anywhere near the villa, because all the surrounding lands are private property attached to the villa.

The plan was that Iphigeneia would drive to Crispin’s cottage, and he would function as some kind of guide for her planned tourist trip to the nearby town of Vigan. Maria had told her to turn right when driving out of the gate and then to follow the signs for Sagada.

When she was in the vicinity of Sagada, she would see a signpost reading, “The Hanging Coffins of Sagada”; some short distance after this she would read the signpost Villa Luciano Cottage – which would lead her to Crispin’s residence.

Iphigeneia wasn’t sure she would ever be able to follow these complicated instructions.

Iphigeneia started the 12-cylinder engine of the J12 Hispano Suiza by pressing a small bakelite button on the dashboard. The engine sprang into life.

She gently depressed the acceleration peddle and the car moved off in a dignified fashion. She didn’t realise at the outset that it was such a long way.

Fortunately, although the car was almost a museum piece, its gigantic engine and 12 cylinders enabled it to cross the Sagada mountains without any problems, and its large headlamps penetrated the darkness of the forest so Iphigeneia could at least see where she was heading.

After following all the driving instructions, for what seemed like an eternity, she finally saw the signpost that read, “The Hanging Coffins of Sagada” – and driving further she saw the signpost, “Villa Luciano Cottage”.

Through the narrow windscreen of the old car, she espied what must be Crispin’s cottage. She parked the large limousine in front of the crofter’s timber cottage – in fact, the old distinguished car was almost larger than the tiny cottage.

Iphigeneia felt quite proud of the fact that she was able to drive this prehistoric car, and actually find a destination in this God-forsaken region of her homeland. It was now the evening – so the sun had long since disappeared beneath the horizon.

But it wasn’t that late that civilized people were still not awake. With this thought in mind, she approached the front door of the cottage, and bravely gave it a manly knock with her delicate girl’s hand.

“Hello? Anybody here?” she called.

A young boy suddenly appeared and looked at her curiously.

“Hi kiddo! Do you know where I can find Mister Crispin?” Iphigeneia asked cheerfully, despite the sullen atmosphere of the dank small cottage in the dark forest.

“Wait ma’am,” he said respectfully.

She didn’t know if she was even at the right place. She watched the boy turn around and walk into the small wretched cottage.

She heard him say, “Papa, someone’s outside.”

“Who?” A baritone voice answered – which must be the father of the boy obviously reasoned Iphigeneia.

“Tourist,” the boy simply answered.

The boy returned with his father in pursuit. The father must have been in his late thirties or early forties.

“You need something ma’am?” the father asked respectfully.

“Yes, yes. I’m sorry for bothering you – I’m staying at Luciano Villa with my friend, Maria, and she told me you might be able to give me some advice about some local attractions.”

“Ah yes – I talked to Maria on the phone – I was supposed to meet her, but something unforeseen turned up. It’s okay. But there’s nothing around here, except for the hanging coffins. But perhaps you can drive into Vigan town. It’s one of the few towns left around here whose old structures have mostly remained intact, and it is well known for its cobblestone pavements and unique architecture combining the Spanish and Filipino, especially the Bahay na Bato houses and an Earthquake Baroque Church,” he explained with a friendly smile.

“Alright. Thank you for helping me out,” she said.

“That’s okay. But how come you didn’t know? You’re staying in the town, right?” He asked a bit confused.

“Ah no. I’m staying in Villa Luciano with Maria and her grandfather Pablo,” she replied.

“Villa Luciano?! Are you sure!?” he asked shocked.

Iphigeneia didn’t understand what he meant by his exclamation.

~

Maria was disappointed that she couldn’t join Iphigeneia visiting the tourist spots in the province, but she didn’t have any choice, because she had to look after her grandfather.

After Iphigeneia left, she went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes and clean up. She then had to go to her grandfather’s room to check up on him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed looking out of the window at the old decaying garden.

When Maria walked into the room, his face turned from one of blank expression to fear.

“Why, abuelo?” She asked him.

“Why don’t you rest, Maria?” He suddenly asked, still looking at her.

“It’s okay, abuelo. I’m not tired yet, and you need to have a check-up soon,” she said smiling.

But he just remained silent, while still looking at her with the same fear showing on his face. He looked like he was scared that something unpleasant was about to happen.

Maria didn’t understand. “Who or what is he frightened of?” She thought to herself.

“Are you ready?” she asked, referring to his check-up.

“Por favor,” he exclaimed.

And she was really surprised at her grandfather’s sudden outburst. She wasn’t sure what was happening to him – was he sick – or just getting old? She needed to be more patient she thought to herself. She felt sorry for him.

She decided to leave the room and go back to the reception area. Before closing the door of his room, she looked back at her grandfather and saw that he still look terrified, his sick eye staring out into the void of the room.

While she was leaving, he was mumbling to himself, but she couldn’t discern what he was saying.

“He’s really getting worse,” Maria thought to herself. “Maybe he’ll get even worse during the next few days.”

All she could do was to get ready for such an eventuality. She closed the door and went back into the reception area.