LITTLE CHRISTMAS DEWS
BY: Iris P. Concepcion

I was having a mid-morning coffee outside my sentinel's den with the usual array of people mounting their works: mothers feeding their children; opening of stalls; newspapers sold; coffee sipped and words slurred.

A familiar face of a guy parked his car outside. It is sky blue. With ample cheeks and happy smile, he asked if he could use the space for parking. I said "Yes."

As usual, was haggling kids for small bargains--small shrieks, new blabber of poetry (they speak in tongues), laughter galore. They never disappoint me. There goes the unique shrieks and cries and mouths tumbling down the throats with vocalized grins. Our smallest tot bonged his biscuit can, singing Jingle Bells.

The parking guy returned. He left three 5 peso coins in front of the kid. This whole transaction of glorifying humanity (I do not know why he needs to pay for a stalled car) sank in.

We forgot to thank the man. We can buy one diaper for the money he had mistakenly construed as a Christmas carol. Now the cute she does not have to pee and walk in shambles like a damp mitten.

I had likewise, sporadically, eaten cinnabons on plate, halved bread, rice, free choco toppings, biscuits, sweets, seemingly out of nowhere. I can also read newspapers for free. I always return them semi-dishevelled. The newspaper guy always teaches me how to fold it properly.

A guy placed his empty lacto-bacilli drink bottle on a toe of a snoring person lying on a tricycle. He has a dome tummy. It was hilarious.

I just read an article by Eddie Ilarde. Gad. Student Canteen resurrection? Baffling. Internet is a real goldmine for comedy skits.

In between extolling the flock to reform, a priest says something like Samurai-Wit among the biblical passages. And he says horrifying adjectives like "Still The Mary Immaculate Conception" like it is 1920. Very Ava Gardner. He showers his flock with not sprinkles, but loads and loads of water. The best place to pray even if it gained a notoriety as the church with the most split couples (if you wed here).

A short guy crying : "I am a Mary believer." Weird.

Nothing beats a good night sleep though. I think I could doze off above a ceiling, on a tin roof, and I'd still snore like a whale (better other always points this out: I do not know where he got my sleeping dossier).

(I am alarmed that this kid beside me is sipping black coffee and dunking his bread on it).

So many opening and closing parentheses on this entry. Where I am writing at, there's a freshly brewed coffee given for free. I can walk briskly. I am eating hamburger. I was not elbowed by a crazy mob in the last 22 hours. I am searching for an orphan this Christmas without realizing that I AM ONE.

I do not know if I can still enter that fabulous airport. I wish I had its interiors camera-ed (my kids do not dig publicity and I hate them for it). All steel, very Superman. The ones helping the OFW's are so young. I could only see their eyes from my seat, like a cartoon strip. It is terribly kewl.

I always wake up to a bright, yellow ribbon: it perks up my day, always.

Sad Christmas? Think again.

Like today: I listened to a Coldplay song "Yellow" redone by a dear friend. He is a brilliant salesman cum gossip fodder. It eerily sounds like the voice of our prexy. The lyrics went this way:

"Am gonna stick my tongue for all the things I've done, and it is called yellow."

P.S. Azure not as nerve-tingling as Crimson. But I like anything with blue on it, as a matter of fact. Note to post: WHAT are you?