Faking It
9 A.M.
The morning seems so bright with chirping birds, cool breeze and... hmmm, aroma coming from the kitchen. I woke up to discover something’s cooking. Alas! Spread in front of me showcased an attractive breakfast from my brother. It’s a non-working holiday so I don’t have to hurry up for Makati-work. I’m so happy. Everything seems oh so real.
Just a simple pancit made my waking-up a delight. Full of diced meat, carrots and cabbage, I got thrilled. I was requesting Ryan to buy us some soda but hesitated telling me it’s bad for the morning. I just chuckled. Until I sensed that we need some hot pandesal to complete the meal. I hurried to get my coin purse and ran to the nearest bakery across the subdivision.
The bakery owner greeted me with a smile. It was like living in the Truman Show or Pleasantville where everything is bright and beautiful. I smiled back and demanded for eight pieces of pandesal. That was all we could eat. But the lady told me she only got the double pandesal – the bigger version. I just said “ok.”
She came back with three pieces of hard over-toasted pieces of pandesal that seemed like leftovers from a dying oven. Wow. “I ‘aint gonna eat that,” I murmured to myself. “Please just give me a pack of those buns.” I saw from her old bread achives. “Sir, it’s because you woke up very late, eh” Please stop that, I was thinking of uttering. That’ll do.
I brought the coin purse so I got to pay her in coins. She smiled again until she took out a thing from her drawer - a radio speaker spare-part that seemed to be a large magnet. She put all my coins there and all my 25 cents got trapped.
MAGNET!
She said it’s fake and will not accept it. Frantically, I remembered the National News about the fake coins being raided by the NBI. I am just one of the hundreds of victims. Because of the continuing hard-life in the Philippines, even coins are faked! Poor me, it happened in my most wonderful morning. Whoa, the eight pieces of 25 cents would complete the amount of the bread. I was so embarrassed. There were other people staring. I don’t want to say I’ll just go back and get original bills at my house across street. I was so irritated, I wanna shout and call Super Inggo! Then, I retorted.
“Anyway, I don’t want to eat bread today!”
I was running and I didn’t notice the tricycle would nearly run me over. It was ok. My morning feel-good mood suddenly becomes dark and cloudy. I returned home with nothing and an empty appetite. Ryan didn’t know why I got so upset and told him about the commotion. I just ate the cold pancit in the dining table after my aching stomach complained “...grrr, I’m hungry assh_le.”
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