"Insik sibai, kaon kamay, patay,
Inum ihi, buhi."
Tony Lee would clench his fists and grind his teeth anytime he heard this
racist ditty mouthed by those young thugs from "laud" or from the "pantalan" He
could not forget what happened to him in 1983, twenty two years ago. He was
seven years old then. He was sick and tired of having a nanny and a bodyguard
follow him around as if he were a baby. One summer day, after lunch, pretending
he was taking his usual siesta, he slid out the kitchen door and escaped
through the side gate and out to the streets without his "yaya" or the guard
noticing him. That was the first time he ever was by himself. He walked several
blocks to the junction of J. C. Aquino Road and Montilla Boulevard and stopped
near the street corner, across the street from the movie house, watching some
children playing, kicking empty evaporated Alpine milk cans, trying to see who
could kick them farthest. The pedestrians found the street children a nuisance
but did not bother to do anything about it and would just go around and avoid
them. For a long while he just stood there watching the others play. He was
tempted to join them but did not know how to make the right approach or
initiate the contact. He had never played with street children before. They
seemed to be having loads of fun.
Felix noticed him standing by the corner, came towards him, and shoved his
face a couple of inches in front of Tony's nose. He sneered and jeered at Tony
as he jabbed his index finger hard on the little boy's chest. Felix must have
only been twelve years old but was very muscular and mean looking and had begun
to grow a dark fuzz above his upper lip. He acted like he was the leader of the
pack of six, two girls and four boys, who looked and smelled like they had not
bathe since the last rainy season. A real bully.
"What are you looking at us for?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean nothing, runt? Were you not watching us?"
"No. I was not!"
"Are you calling me a liar?" Felix stared down at him.
"No, I'm not." Tears were beginning to form.
"You're lying, you Chinese communist chicken shit!" Felix yelled at him, then
pushed him against the wall and kicked him in the shin. The kids formed a
circle around the two, shouting "Fight! Fight! Fight! Insik sibai, kaon kamay,
patay, inum ihi, buhi. Insik sibai, kaon kamay, patay, inum ihi, buhi!" again
and again.
Tony was crying as he tried to escape and run away. But the other kids would
push him back into the circle. The pocket of his white shirt was halfway torn.
Felix smacked him in the face with his closed fist that sent him reeling down
to the concrete sidewalk that had layers of dried muddy silt near the edge of
the open canals. He was helpless as he lay in a fetal position trying to cover
his face with his hands and arms and protect his abdomen with his legs and
thighs. The screaming children were now kicking him and hitting him with the
empty milk cans. "Talawan! Why don't you fight back, you faggot. Insik Pikot!
Insik Pisot! Pisot, pisot, pisot!"
"Hoy! What are you kids doing?" As soon as they saw the man in PNP uniform
half-running towards them, the street children began dispersing, running away
in all directions, not unlike cockroaches suddenly exposed to bright light.
Felix was nowhere to be seen. They were all gone in a split second.
"Are you all right?" Rogelio "Loloy" Burgos was a big man with a deep sonorous
voice. Loloy grabbed his hands and pulled him up. Tony's upper lip was bruised.
He had a small abrasion above the right eyebrow which was not bleeding. His
face was smudged with tears, snot, and dust. He was pale and shaking.
"Yes, I think so. I don't know," brushing the dirt away from his pants and
shirt.
"Yeah , looks like you're okay. Let me take you home. Where do you live? What's
your name?"
"My name is Tony Lee. Our house is just outside the Fernandez subdivision."
Loloy Burgos looked at the boy more closely. He looked familiar. "Hey, wait a
minute. Aren't you Inju Lee's son?"
"No, I'm his grandson. My father is Amado Lee."
"Lat naamo!" Loloy thought. He knew of the family. They were the richest
Chinese family in the entire province. That family owned department stores in
Cebu, Davao, and Butuan and had a banana, durian, and mango plantation in
Tagum. They were in the construction hardware and supply business as well and
were the major stockholders in the Blue Sparkling Waters Company that produced
and distributed most of the bottled drinking water in the entire Mindanao. And
they have approved concession applications for twenty thousand hectares between
Agusan and Surigao for unspecified mining which could be worth billions of
pesos once operational. Representatives from mainland China had already sent
investigators twice for feasibility studies in their area. Everybody knew that
the Lees had considerable local and national political connections. "What are
you doing here all by yourself? It's dangerous out here." There had been news
of kidnappings of members of rich Chinese families in Manila. "Come, let me
take you home."
Rogelio Burgos whistled for a tricycle and gave directions to the Lee
compound, a three hectare rectangular property surrounded by fifteen foot
concrete walls which were topped with barbed wire and imbedded multicolored
glass shards. The place resembled a fortress more than a home although one
might also imagine it as a prison.
There were probably hidden video cameras somewhere because as they approached
the main gate, the doors suddenly opened and two tough looking, pig-tailed,
shot-gun toting, tattooed guards came out followed, by a smartly dressed woman,
a grey bearded old man and an arrogant looking gentleman with manicured
fingernails, an adult version of the boy. Loloy had met Amado before, and had
seen Inju Lee in the mayor.s office and in official functions, usually seated
in a table with the governor or the congressman.
Tony rushed to his mother's arms and between sobs and speaking in Chinese, told
her what had happened and how brave he was, fighting off the mean street
gangsters. Loloy did not say anything and just stood at attention, listening to
the boy talking to his mother, and looking at Tony's concerned father and
grandfather who were both studying him from head to foot. Understanding finally
what had happened, Amado came towards Loloy, smiled at him. "Please come in to
our humble home," pointing to the imposing mansion. Gardeners were working in
the impeccably maintained front yard. He could just see the Olympic size
L-shaped swimming pool, with a diving board on one end, a hot tub adjacent to
the other end and a fountain in the middle spouting water ten feet into the
air, some distance from the backside of the house. There was a white and brown
gazebo which looked larger than his entire house in Bading. Morning glory vines
with saucer sized blue bell shaped flowers crept up a trellis that doubled as a
visual screen. The two guards had disappeared. "I remember you. Mr. Burdeos,
no, Burgos, right? We met once at one of the functions at the Balanghai Hotel.
This is my father, Inju. And this is my wife, Jin." Neither offered their hand.
"Yes sir. Burgos.You're right. I have seen you several times before. And I know
of your father. But this is my first time to meet Mrs. Lee. Ma'am, it is my
pleasure." Loloy nodded, almost curtsied, towards Mrs. Lee. There was a hint of
expensive perfume in the air that wafted to him from her direction. She did not
wear any lipstick at all but her lips were vermillion red which blended well
with a shimmering crimson-colored cheongsam with slits in the sides of the
skirt that ran up way above the knee, exposing milky white thighs and legs that
seemed to have never been touched by sunlight. He could not help but notice how
tiny her feet were. "Must have come from nobility." He was thinking to himself.
"Oh, thank you so very much, Mr. Burgos. My son tells me you saved him from
those-- those hooligans. My God, he could have been killed! How can we ever
repay you?"
"Oh, I was just doing my job, Ma'am," was Loloy's "Aw, shucks" response
although in his own mind he really wanted to say "How about two million pesos?"
He thought he sure could use the money. His salary was not enough to support
both his family and his mistress. Of course he had a share of the daily "tongs"
collected from the jeepney and tricycle drivers and free fish, meat and
vegetables from the market but these were never enough.
"You're much too modest. But please come into the house. I'm sure you men will
have a lot to talk about." Then turning her attention back to her only child,
"Come Baby, let's wash you up and you can tell me more about it. And don't ever
go out alone again like that!" hugging Tony tightly. "Now, Langga, tell me,
who did this to you?"
"He was black and ugly and mean and he smelled like rotting fish. I don't know
his name. Maybe that big man does." Then he whispered into her ear, "I like
him. He's nice."
"Yeah? Okay, I'll mention that to your father." Jin answered. "Umm, I can like
him, too." she thought, trying to appraise the big man with her peripheral
vision. She gave Loloy a tiny glancing smile that suggested it was exclusively
for him before she took her son into the interior of the house.
Loloy caught the smile. "Forget it, you dumb ass. That is definitely off
limits!" he reminded himself. But he could not help but wonder how it would
feel to slowly and softly run his fingers up the inside of her lily white
thighs to her... "Stop, you idiot!" Loloy warned himself. The thought caused
him some physical changes so much so that he was getting uncomfortable and had
to pull down on his pants to get relief from the expanding pressure. Loloy was
well built in every way.
Grandfather Inju had not said anything. Loloy was getting uneasy with the old
man's gaze. "Can this old goat read my mind?"
"Oh, I beg your pardon sir but I can't stay much longer. I have to go back to
my post. And the tricycle is waiting for me out front."
"Well, if you must go. Thank you again."
PNP Rogelio R. Burgos was escorted out of the premises to the main gate where
the tricycle driver was waiting. He weighed more than two hundred pounds so the
carriage creaked and tilted to the right when he got in. He asked to be driven
back to the corner of Montilla Boulevard and J. C. Aquino Road.
The day has started to get very hot. Loloy wiped his sweaty forehead and his
massive neck with an already soggy handkerchief. "Wat-ho." Dummy, he said to
himself.
The tricycle driver turned to him. "What?"
"Nothing." He answered back, lost in thought, that smile imprinted on his
mind's eye, an invitation to paradise or perdition or both. "Grrr, that edible
white leghorn thigh," he imagined. He shifted his weight and pulled down on his
pants again. The pressure in his jockey underwear was getting too
uncomfortable. "I changed my mind. Drive me to Buhangin instead."
"That will be twenty five pesos more."
"Come on, just go faster and I'll double that." Loloy knew his mistress would
be happy to see him. She always liked it when he was in this excited
disposition.
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Next - Chapter 7
