20Merla seemed to be going through a rough patch. The tough, stubborn, carefree Merla of old was hardly recognisable now. My cousin’s emails suggested she was having psychological problems. The messages were troubling, full of gibberish I couldn’t understand. In one of my emails I asked her to turn her webcam on so that we could chat. I want to see you, I wrote. She refused. I begged her. I insisted. A week went by, more or less. Then she sent a message saying, I want to see you.
About one year after leaving the Philippines, I saw a Merla who didn’t look like Merla. There she was on the screen. The surroundings suggested she was in an Internet café. The picture was clear at first but gradually faded. We tried again. We turned off the camera and restarted it whenever the picture faded. Eve
