Thursday morning has arrived earlier than expected at the Arguelles-del Mundo backyard. Widower Mang Kanor has been scattering instructions to his two sons ever since they set foot on the ground heavily-laden with leaves.
“No, Angelito! No, no! You must fasten the rope to the tree first, east-side, so that it will not accidentally fall on the bungalow!” The old man thoughtlessly knocks on the wood of the tree. “Pepito, Pepito, help your elder brother! Go climb that branch over there and we will topple this old giant down slowly, carefully – limb by limb.”
Disgustingly, the older Angelito finishes tying the trunk of the tree to a large boulder near the eastern wall of the yard and butts in to his father’s coaching. “Tatay, if we do it your way, it will take ten years to bring down t
