The Ex...

I was finally able to visit Dave last Monday. I finally got copies of Mandrake ( a Linux distribution) that he promised me. In an unexpected turn of events though, I crossed paths with an ex-girlfriend.

When I got there a little past ten, I looked for Dave. My first hunch proved correct. Things rarely change in small towns. I got to the right office, but there was no Dave in sight. I waited around for a few minutes, still no Dave. I decided to ask a few people if I was in the right place. I was beginning to worry because I was standing in the corridor on the second floor of the town's municipal hall, a stranger to all these people passing by. I was there alone, standing in front of the unlocked doors that now held their LAN servers. If things go haywire around here, witnesses would point to the only suspicious fat stranger standing in front of a restricted but unlocked infotech room- me. Anyway, after 15 minutes of self-induced paranoia, I heard Dave call out my name from the other end of the corridor.

After dispensing with the cursory catching up, we went downstairs to the other offices that had the proper cd-drives to make copies of the software he promise to give me. I met a few people who were also old acquaintances. One of them happened to be the boss of one of my ex's (para namang napakarami) . He told she was out for the day. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Dave and I then went about our business, catching up and talking about what we were doing with our lives. While on our way up after a brief merienda outside, I stopped by the stairs to talk with an old sis and kumare of mine. While chatting away, I saw a young woman make her way towards my direction. Her face was familiar, but I could not remember where I knew her from. When she was within hearing distance, I said a polite "hi" and unconsciously waved my hand towards her. She smiled back and proceeded to knock on one of the office doors nearby. It was at that moment that it dawned upon me that she was actually my ex's younger sister ("ading", as they called them in Ilocano). She peeped her head into the door and when she stepped back, there she was -- the ex!

She was wearing her hair shorter now, hair she swore she wouldn't cut short when were together. It was a testament of the thought I had when I was trying to compose in my head (what to say to the ex???) while keeping my conversation my with kumare alive. I had moved on when we parted ways. Judging by the way she looked, she had done the same. I wanted to say that blinded as I was by my queasy sentimentality, I chose to move on quickly when we parted. But no words came. Only a gush of perfunctory words came out meant to continue my conversation with my kumare. I managed a smile and waved at her. I was still a motionless, awkward mess. And then that was it. She went on with her business and left me to my conversation.

After a few minutes, she passed my way again (I was still there with my kumare, silly me). She asked if we'd like to come inside their office . I gave a polite, "sige, ok lang kami dito."

Then, it was time to go. I came back to Dave's office and packed my stuff. I said my goodbyes with express promises to visit again. When Dave and me passed by her office window, I waved goodbye to Ruby and mouthed a silent "goodbye." And as I was riding the tricycle with Dave (who graciously offered me a ride to the highway where the buses passed) , he asked about another one of my ex's. I replied that he was talking about Maricel, the one that got away. He replied he wanted to ask her out during those times (some ten odd years ago), but he felt that she had already fallen in-love with another torpe that happened to be me. I almost spoke out loud when I thought, "they're part of my past and they will stay that way. sweet memories they are, but stay that way they will. memories"