When we say that the best fit model of reality follows logic or the laws of physics, we acknowledge how mundane our daily lives are—a routine that no matter how we say our day was adventurous, we can never escape logic. So when a glitch suddenly happen in our best fit model of reality we begin to doubt our own reality, our own universe.
My daily routine follows the same pattern. Mama wakes me up at around 6AM with an alternating vocalization of my nickname. “Pepen” in high pitch. “Pepen” in low pitch. “Pepen” in every line of the musical staff. Breakfast is rice and fried egg or fried fish. My brother who works as a nurse in Bicol Medical Center would either be at the table, have gone to work, or just coming home from work. Papa is watching the news as he does all day. Mama is sharing a new information she read on Facebook like drinking cold water when eating is the cause of fat lining in our arteries or that baking soda is the cure for cancer. After breakfast I go to my computer, check Facebook to watch cat and dog videos, then Instagram, then my Gmail account. And then I take a bath for 30 minutes and then go to work on the projects I currently do, I have so many backlogs but today I have decided to watch a new anime series I got from Leir. Since my graduation, I have more time to catch up with the things I missed while I was busy working and studying at the same time.
After lunch, at around 1pm, I have decided to drop by the University Press to check on the final manuscript of the book I am about to lay out. Kristian is not around, and Vic is busy. I see a Twining Four Fruit flavor tea. If I will take notice of it, Vic would sure give it to me. And he does. Tonight, I’ll drink a sweet and fragrant tea with fresh honey instead of the usual brewed coffee or Kopiko 78. Around 3pm, Jusan comes telling me that he has finished copyreading the manuscript and has submitted it to Kristian. We smoke outside the gate after with Ken while discussing his thesis and many other things I seem to forget. At 4pm, I hang out with friends at the ALA office. Jovi shares her fascination in Icelandic culture and literature. She corrects us when we (intentionally) mispronounce the name of her favorite singer Björk. Krizzia reads her law books, Leir pokes fun at her new pimple. Jonathan and Lee laugh at a video they watched yesterday. I beg Chei for a chocolate she brought from Tina. Gabriel comes in with a good news about his army of lettuce he’s growing using his senior’s project technology. At 6pm, Jusan, Ken and I are deciding whether we’re dropping by Alfogens for some beer or look for another drinking place. But tonight we decide not to drink but just wander around the city.
We walk towards Plaza Rizal, drop by the new gift shop on the newly constructed white building fronting the plaza. Jusan picks a box of chocolate asking me and Ken if it would be a good gift for Pauline. I suggest the chocolates in the jar, but he likes how the box looks like. We leave the store and go to the plaza, watching the street kids playing tumbang preso amid people passing by. They throw one of their slippers toward the empty can of evaporated milk they got from the palamig vendor. They are all boys in the game, when a girl tries to join them they shoo her away. The taya guards the can waiting for someone to hit it so he can immediately pick it up, tap it twice and run after the other players who haven’t reached the throwing line. He’s now called “balaw” by his playmates for he has not caught anyone of them.
The peddler of magic items shifts our attention toward him. He is performing several magic tricks using a special kid of playing cards he is selling for 150 pesos with free tutorials. He lets a man pick a card then he multiplies the card by showing several copies of the same card to us. I believe the cards are magnetic and some of the cards are really identical. I want to buy a deck of the card to prove my claim and to perform the same trick to my nephews.
The kids playing tumbang preso are already arguing with each other. The taya finally caught one of his playmates but the other kid resists to be the new taya. The can of evaporated milk waits for them to resume the game. It waits for someone to hit it with a slipper.
Then this suddenly happens: Out of whim, I kick the can full-forced like I was wearing Conan’s shoes. The can flies in burning speed hitting one of the giant lamp balls held on the head by lady statues of Plaza Rizal. The glass ball shatters, leaving everyone in the plaza frozen for a few moments. I look at the faces of Jusan and Ken who are still as shocked as me. Without any thinking I walk out fast out of the place and run towards the jeepney terminal to del Rosario. The jeepney still waits for several seats to be filled so I hail a tricyle and negotiate a special ride to Villa Corazon for 80 pesos. As the tricycle reach the rotunda, I realize I left Jusan or Ken with the mess I made there.Â
As I reached my house, I told no one about what happened. I also never checked my mail or any social media both on my laptop and my phone. I feel everyone in Naga is talking about the big guy who crashed the giant lamp ball in the plaza because he kicked the can the street kids were playing with, and then left his friends own up the mistake he made. I am shrinking in embarrassment I wish my bed would eat me whole and delete my existence. I fell asleep sniveling on the bed sheets.
The next day, I wake up expecting things to get worse. But the same routine just happened during breakfast. I join my father watching Marhay na Aga Kapamilya to check if the incident last night at the plaza would be mentioned. The City Hall would sure be upset if someone vandalized their property. It would take several days to replace the lamp unless they have spare lamps. They would surely run after me and ask me to pay for the damage. But no news about it comes out. I guess the incident have escaped the attention of the local media, but there is social media. I’m afraid someone posted a status about the incident last night and identified me as the culprit. Perhaps the cctv if they are really functioning could have gotten a video, and zooming the footage they have already identified me. I need to check my Facebook immediately. I need to call Ken or Jusan and ask them what happened last night after I left them.
As I open my Facebook, no one ever mention of what happened last night. I check on community pages, no news. Maybe I was too early to check. Jusan, opens Facebook around 11. Ken rarely checks on his fb. I call Jusan’s phone, he’s not answering. I call Ken’s, he’s not picking up too. I need to go to Ateneo later and meet them. Working full with baggage, I cannot concentrate on layouting this book. This documentary from Sir Vic about Charlotte Bronte seems interesting. I’m gonna watch it first.
After lunch, I take a bath a little longer recalling all what happened yesterday. I have decided to dropped by near the plaza first before going to Ateneo. To get a full view of the lamp I have broken while a bit conspicuous to the plaza vendors who might recognize my face and my enormous built, I positioned my self near Puregold Centro. And as I get a closer look of the lamp I broke last night, I was taken by surprise to see it fixed. Questions began filling my head. How can that be? Is this real? How can the city hall fix the lamp quickly without making a fuzz about it? The lamp must surely be expensive and they would surely look for the culprit who have broken it by hitting it with a can of evaporated milk. I called Jusan and thankfully he picked it up.
“Hello Pen, why did you call?”
“Hello Jusan, I’m sorry for what happened last night. I left you and Ken after I broke the lamp at the plaza. What happened after I left you?”
“Huh? Broke the lamp at the plaza? I can’t remember that.”
“This is weird. I clearly remember kicking that can of evap and hitting the lamp. I was with you and Ken. You were even so shocked that I kicked the can. And then I left immediately as everyone starts to crowd around the broken lamp.”
“Huh? That really happened? We were drinking at Alfogen’s last night, remember? Allan even joined for a while. Are you going to Ateneo?”
“Yes, let’s meet later. I need to see You and Ken.”
Then, I text Ken. “I’m sorry for leaving you at the plaza after I broke the lamp ball on one of the statues.”
He text back, “Wht r u talking abt?”
“The incident at the plaza, when I kicked the can and it hit the lamp.”
“We were at Alfogen’s. I left early with Krizzia. Lola ask us to go home early.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“What’s happening? Can we meet at 4 at the gate?”
Just outside the main gate, I wait for Jusan and Ken. I light up some cigarette marveling at the whole situation, How can two incidents happened last night at the same time? This is nothing but illogical. I’m sure they cooked up some kind of a prank to teach me a lesson for ditching them after messing up last night. But the lamp wasn’t even broken.
Ken arrives first. I explain to him what happened last night. He seems confused as I tell him the incident in full detail. Then Jusan comes askng me to retell the incident.
At first they are trying to make me concede that the version of reality I am telling them is nothing but an imagined one. Maybe I was creating things in my mine, but then there's possibility of two strings of incidents happening simultaneously. Maybe I was present in both incidents, or I'm sniffing a glitch in the universe I am in, or maybe the universe is playing prank on me all along.
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