When Leron went to Town

I’d always known that I should never interfere in the affairs of humans, but I never listen. This week, I am secretly hiding in a small farming plateau. This is where Leron lives. Every day at sun break, before Leron attends to his papaya and coconut farm, he helps his neighbors by giving away sackful of dry grasses to those who need to feed their milking cows. Before noon, he is at the town market deliver

ing his produce to his long-time patrons.

One windy day, a golden flying pumpkin from the progressive city of the south arrived carrying a lady who walked gracefully as a cat, a dog with furs pigmented as corns’ hair and seven men dressed in dark robes who ducked their heads as they stepped out of the craft.

The men walked around town interested in business particularly with Dita, the town’s healer.

Meanwhile, the lady and the dog seemed to be an inseparable pair. She walked around town gaily looking at the crafts and wares peddled on the busy narrow streets.

“Ayyy Dios ko po!” Maria screams in fright as her basket tipped a clay vase off the table. It fell broken into several pieces on the dirt. “Mabuhay, why did you tug the basket?! See what we had done,” she scolded the dog who kept wagging its tail and looks up at her with a seemingly smiling face.

“Binibini, let me help you with that,” Leron said as he helped pick up the broken pieces of clay.

Dita, who owns the stall, squinted her eyes and pursed her lips while looking at the two “I’ll clean that up later, my handsome Leron. Just let her pay me first for the damages she caused.”

Maria handed Dita several pieces of her most expensive seashells.

Dita, with her raised brow, received the payment. She then turned to Leron quickly giving her sweetest smile. “Do you want to have some barako coffee, Leron?” she asked.

But Leron wasn’t listening. His eyes were glued upon the lady in red with skin as unblemished as milk. Maria also looked upon the gallant and muscular man with a face as gentle as a sheep and whose brown skin glistened under the warm sun.

“What’s your name, Miss?” he said.

“Oops!” Dita said in a whisper as she spilled the searing hot coffee over to Mabuhay.

The dog yelp then ran away wailing in pain.

“I’m Maria. Sorry, but I got to go,” she said dropping her basket filled with fresh tamarind, green watercress, and sweet golden papaya. Then, she hurriedly ran after Mabuhay.

“Why don’t you bring this burn medicine to her?” Dita said; smiling as she held up a black bottle along with the basket to Leron.

Maria gratefully accepted the medicine from Leron, but as days past, Mabuhay did not get better. Instead, it got worse. On the sixth day, it passed away.

The following day, Maria laid Mabuhay’s body down on the hole she dug herself. She cried a lot that day, and every time she scoops some dirt to cover Mabuhay, her fist tightens up. She vowed never to talk to Leron ever again.

But the young man kept coming to her house every day wanting to explain. She kept her doors closed and pretended not to hear him. Leron would then sit for an hour in the garden before leaving with his head bowed

After every time Leron leaves Maria’s house, Dita would secretly drop by bearing mangoes and bananas. Maria timidly opens the door and welcomes Dita in. As they ate together, Dita would talk about Leron and make up evil stories about him. This further fuelled Maria’s distrust on Leron.

But one day, Leron accidentally dropped his seashell bag at Maria’s garden, so he came back for it. When he did so, he overheard Dita’s lies about him.

He confronted Dita at her shop the next day. He asked her politely but sternly that he didn’t like her telling lies to Maria.

Dita’s face wrinkled in many places as she listened to him admonish her. “Sige na! I won’t do such,” she said. She was far from over, though. She wanted to hurt Maria badly for taking Leron’s attention from her. Luckily, she knew who could do her dirty work for her.

 “Where are you taking me?” Maria cried as she spoke. The men in dark robes dragged her like a rag doll far away from town towards the rocky cliffs above the violent ocean water below. “What fault did I do to you?” she asked in tears.

“It was me whom you wronged,” Dita said with delight as she saw Maria helpless and bruised. “You should have never looked at my Leron the way that he does on you!” she shouted close to Maria’s ears before making a quick tug at the poor lady’s dark hair.

I, of course, couldn’t stand such cruelty. I had the cliffs echo Maria’s pitiful cries. Leron heard it while he was loading a cart with his papayas. Instantly, he felt alarmed. He ran towards home. He took the seven slingshots and seven bolo knives he uses for hunting. He didn’t know where to go to so I had Mabuhay’s spirit roll a papaya towards Maria and her captors.

It was fun to see Leron’s reactions as he watched a papaya rolled on the ground. Startled, he hopped an arm’s length away. But he was a smart man, he quickly knew what the papaya meant on doing. He looked up, whispered a prayer, then walked briskly after the fruit. He pursued it until he was near enough to see Maria, Dita, and the seven gigantic men.

“What are you going to do, Leron, slay these towering men with your slingshots and puny bolos?” Dita said which got the men laughing proudly.

With unsteady hands, Leron raised and loaded a slingshot with seven marble-sized pebbles I secretly placed by his feet. He pulled the string back.

The men, unthreatened, began striding confidently forward. Their weight pounding the reddish soil underneath their feet. Then, they sprinted forward. The earth shook.

Leron’s hands trembled.

I slowly floated all the bolo knives around Leron’s back. That surprised the charging men. They tried to skid to a stop, but it was too late. I tapped Leron’s shoulders one time, and he took a shot. Each pebble flew to each of the attackers. It hit them hard like a cotton ball, but at impact, all their strengths were zapped by the pebbles. They dropped on their knees and hands. Unable to stand back up, they crawled away towards the jungle in shame.

Dita, realizing she lost, pulled Maria with her down the cliffs towards the unforgiving sea.

Leron dove as if he could catch Maria’s hands and save her, but he was ten cow-lengths away. He curled his body, bowed his head on the ground and pounded the dirt with his fist. “Nooooo!!” he cried.

“Tulong! Tulong!” Leron heard a woman’s faint voice from below the cliff. He baby crawled towards the edge and saw Maria splashing in the water.

“It’s a miracle!” he shouted at Maria.

“Someone pulled me towards this deep pool of water,” she said in between breaths.

Leron looked behind him and he saw me. “Kupido?” his brows furrowed.

I jerked in surprised, hurriedly fixed my bow on my shoulder, arranged my heart-tipped arrows, stretched my smoky-white wings and flew away. “Onto the next town!” I yelled in victory.

-The End-