LONESOME

The fast-food restaurant is really busy. It‘s 10 minutes past noon and employees from nearby offices are rushing to have lunch. A charming lady in a shining red suit, standing in front of a table for two, looks at the guy sitting on the other side of the table. She’s silently standing there in front of him and looking at her, “You can sit down”, he said smiling.

When they finished their lunch the guy breaks the silence, “I saw you in that building”, and he turns his head to look at the building nearby. “Are you working there?”

“Yes, are you working there too?”

“I’m working at the third floor. How about you?”

“Fifth floor.” And she stands to leave.

“Would you allow me to have dinner with you tonight?” he asked.

“Six o’ clock.” She said then left.

Cindie never fails to attract attention when she walks. Her buttocks graciously sway from side to side. She manages to maintain her sexy body by exercise and not eating too much. Would be lovers are always on the lookout to strike a date with her and she welcomes free dining and chocolates.

Noel feels triumphant. He checks his pocket to see if there is enough money to buy chocolates and a dinner for two. Of course, taxi fare is necessary. It’s his coup d’état. And this lover hopes to conquer this charming lady ASAP. Though normal looking with a protruding belly, he boast of a beautiful and spacious bungalow and ten hectares of tilled land that makes him attractive to young ladies. He is in his mid-forties and his wife is working abroad as a DH. He dreams of making babies from different women. It makes him proud.

Together, they emerge at the classy restaurant’s door smiling. Noel’s hand wrap around her shoulders and Cindie’s hand coiled around his waist.

“Let’s pass by my house and have a drink or two of my special champagne.” He said showing a charming smile that he practices every morning before going to work.

“OK, but I can only stay a minute or two”.

He is silent. Inside his mind is an atrocious plan and he’s ready to do anything possible to succeed.

Unsuspecting, Cindie drinks her glass of champagne.

She wakes up at 6 AM and suddenly realizes that she’s naked. Pushing Noel away from him, she blurted, “What did you do to me?”

“Cindie, I love you and I want you to stay here… with me”.

She’s silent. Two days earlier, the owner of the room that she’s renting confronted her. If she can’t pay her rent today, she will have to leave. Cindie is two months late on her payments.

“Okay, fetch me after work”, she then stand up and pick her belongings that was scattered on the floor, dressed up and left without another word.

In their first year together, Noel so loves, caring and so sweet to Cindie who seems to be contented to just be in the care and company of this gentle man.

Always true to himself, he again found another woman to cherish, love and focus his attention to.

Cindie, armed with a sharp intuition, found out about it and confronted Noel. She’s blurting nasty words to him within the hearing distance of the people nearby and just can’t be stopped.

Apparently shamed and his face turning red, he clench his right fist and executes a vicious wide swing that landed on her face. She stumbles and fell face down hitting the dirt. But she quickly recovered and stands up rattling curses like the burst of an armalite rifle. He delivers a wicked front kick that landed in her belly. In pain and clutching her stomach, she couldn’t say a word. He succeeded in shutting her obnoxiously noisy lips. Noel flags a taxi and they both take a ride home in silence. The crowds were stunned by the award winning performance they just witnessed.

Cindie won’t let him get away with that gruesome act. So when Noel goes to the CR to make his day, she steals his savings, hidden in a box, and run away.

He was furious. Without his money, the grandiose date with his newfound love is ruined. He’s cursing like crazy, something that he never does since the day that he can remember.

His wife who is living and working abroad learned about this amazing drama, eventually files a divorce and married a co-worker.

And Noel, because of what happened, became notorious overnight and this clouded his attractiveness to women. Beautiful young women maintain a wide distance from him.

And he is alone…a lover turned a loner.

MAID

In a flourishing town that lies beside the seashore of the Pacific Ocean, lives a middle-aged woman, Nonie, who wished that she have a maid who would carry her groceries whenever she goes to the supermarket and help her in her household works.

She is the richest woman in town but manage to keep it secret from everyone. Her house looks modest and nobody really thought that inside the house is a secret door leading to a mansion ten meters away. She has great fear of robbers and kidnap for ransom groups. She maintains five maids and a driver who most of the time works as a gardener around the beautiful mansion. The eldest of the maids post as the owner of the house and had recently died in an accident. She had served Nonie for twenty years and during that span of time, her children, seven in all, had graduated from college and she owns a beautiful bungalow strategically situated near the center of the town. This is because Nonie paid her generously for her faithful service.

A friend suggested a maid for Nonie. She has to make sure that she can trust this young maid who is in her mid-twenties. So they both live in the small house near the mansion. The secret door is in her room so she can sneak out and go to the mansion without the maid noticing her.

After a few months, the young ambitious maid already convinced that Nonie is living alone and helpless thought that if this old woman that she is serving dies of a heart attack she would own the small house and everything that is in there. She went on her way to poison her slowly, unnoticed to avoid suspicion and Nonie’s death would look normal with no apparent foul play.

The old lady, smart as she always was, installed a CCTV camera inside the maid’s room long before she hired the maid, learned about the evil plan and fired the maid and start looking for another one and hoping that this time she can trust her.

 She’s right. The trusted maid is eventually introduced to the mansion and enjoying a high salary and a good life.

The stupid maid eventually learned about it and was sorry for scheming against her boss.

LOST

     A familiar music is in the air, he checks his cellphone and read, “Hi, I’m Dyna of Exsia Inc. You are being requested to come in our office for an interview and get the job that you want”.

Wow, this is real quick, he thought.He e-mailed his online application just the other day. He didn’t expect to be called this early.

     Mike Goodboy is sitting in a chair waiting for his turn. He’s sleepy. His eyelids are heavy. He’s fighting hard to keep his eyes open. What are my chances to be hired? I can’t even think straight. The trip from his home to here took six hours. He had to leave his house two hours after midnight. He’s restless. Agitated by the sudden call, he had no real good sleep until now and for the last twenty four hours. It’s plunging him into a disadvantage and considering that he is already past his middle age doesn’t really make him hopeful. How can I hope to pass this interview if my mind is floating and all I can think of is to go home and sleep?

     His mind travels back to the time when he filled up a resume online at Surjob.com and every day the company presented a list of possible jobs for him through his e-mail. Finally he had chosen one. He answered an ad that says,” 200 call center agents needed ASAP, no experience required”. This really sucked him in. Surprisingly for him, his application was quickly answered.

     It sounds too good to be true. But it’s too late. If he ignores this, his resume will be tagged ‘NO SHOW FOR INTERVIEW’ which, of course, will be bad for him. He felt trapped but he must do this.

     He arrived at Exsia a few minutes before ten O’clock and was ushered at the interview room by a charming young lady which turned out to be his interviewer. After a brief interview, he was given an endorsement letter to two companies, LETSI and ICM.

     While on his way to LETSI, he had in his mind a clear picture of that charming face and a beautiful smile that can captivate any man. Am I in love? He asked himself. He felt ecstatic. Being celibate for seven years, his youthful energy is coming back.

     As he had expected, the company interviewer rejected him outright so it was still noon and time to take his lunch. He didn’t consume anything solid up to his time. Only a good cup of coffee and now he’s hungry.

     On his way to find a suitable place to eat, he found himself in front of his next destination. ICM is right in front of him. I’d better finish this first and see what happens.

     He heard his name called and he rose from his seat and went to the interview room. The interview was brief. A few minutes later, a note was handed to him saying, “We’re keeping your resume for future reference. You can apply to other companies”. For a brief moment he thought, Wow, this is a great relief.

     On his way out he cannot find the elevator. He’s on the tenth floor of the building and the fact that he is not able to find the elevator annoys him. How can I easily forget where I came from? Finally, he found his way and silently kidded himself, how stupid of me to have forgotten my way so easily. Maybe they’re right for not hiring me.

     Though he was told to report back to Dyna, he voted against it. I have no chance. This kind of job is not for me. I’m just fooling myself. In his dulled mind he is resolve to simply forget about it and find something else that will suit his ability and old age. I just can’t forget that beautiful face. Would I ever see her again?

     Mike Goodboy found a job sitting in front of his computer. He keeps on writing novels and short stories. He became wealthy and bought an island where he can continue to write, undisturbed and restless.

     A soft voice of a woman echoed in his ears, “I brought you a warm coffee dear. Pls. don’t forget to eat your breakfast”.

     “Thank you sweetheart, would you mind closing the door when you leave”, Mike said while looking at her. That beautiful face is so inspiring.

      “Okay dear”, she said. Dyna closes the door softly.

CHAMELEON

THE CHAMELEON

It’s quite amazing how people can be connected to a Chameleon – A lizard with the ability to change color. There are many who frequently and rapidly changes personality. One of them is a lad named Jaban Gruebaddd, who grew up in Sama Island in the Vesas region, somewhere in continent of Asia.

He excels in his school class and his uncle Nacha took notice of his scholarly performance. Watching him closely, he came to admire his persevering attitude and the way that he can adapt quickly to a situation like a chameleon. It got him thinking; maybe I can do something so his talents wouldn’t go to waste. He helped him acquire scholarship grant in Great Teacher University. With free tuition and free lodging, Jaban graduated and became a school teacher in Honethem Technical School.

He has a funny way of speaking English that makes him shy away from Call Centers but would probably catapult him to stardom as a comedian. Some of his students laugh while in his class and they laugh the more when he takes it negatively and confronts them and talk his funny talk. He learned to adapt to the situation but also developed a deep-seated anger directed to his students.

Eventually, he became the supervisor and he has the power to introduce changes that he thinks will boost the schools performance. He thinks. Alas, it’s about time to show them who they’re laughing at.

He created complications in the examination papers by revision, to force the students memorize every word to be able to answer the questions correctly. The usual choose the best answer or the simple fill in the blanks was omitted.

These things created a rift between the students and teachers. Jaban laughs secretly thinking, Ha! Ha! Ha! I’ll give leaks to those who will plead to me so they’ll easily pass the exams.

He began dating girls that attracts him. He forces students to harass those who refused to have a date with him. He’s turning students against each other.

 His naughty scheming looks fine until he decides to assign OJT’s as classroom teachers. This act displeases OJT’s and students alike. The students felt that they were cheated because their proxy instructors spend their time in classrooms spreading rumors instead of delivering valuable lessons that they’re paying for. Plus the fact that he is continuously devising schemes, which is obviously, to make the students pay more, prompted them to file a complaint to the school board. The OJT’s, working without compensation, were understandably silent. They don’t want to risk their few months stay in the school. Soon they will finish their stint and leave.

The board has to study the complaints well before acting on it.

The Chameleon’s time to submit a yearly report came. He is now face to face with the board of directors when they read the complaints and ask him to explain. Apparently taken by surprise, he over-confidently goes on to explain his side and in the course of doing so, he commits a grave slander against a student and while the board are looking at him in disbelief. Seemingly unaware, he continues to tell his story which is base on lies and half-truths.

 Finally the board renders their judgment: He committed misrepresentation of facts and slanderous remarks. A request is made for him to present proof of this slander and until such time, he will be given indefinite leave of absence. This action sweep Jaban off his feet.

He’s in a state of quandary. He realizes that no matter what he does, he has no proof to show now or ever. His lying buried him in the mire.

He learned a valuable lesson as a school teacher and it is written on his records – a lesson that will always haunt him for the rest of his life.