BAYANG MAGILIW

BAYANG MAGILIW

14” x 20”
pen and ink on paper

Remember Yellow?

I knew I'd see him again after several months since I last saw him being beaten with an umbrella by another hapless victim of his skirt pulling. This time, he was at his usual post in front of the Mcdonald's at Taft Avenue but I doubt if I can still call him that moniker.

"Pssst... bosing. Bili ka ng bandila (buy a flag),” he poked me with a tiny flag on a stick as I was standing there reading the headlines on a news stand.

“Oh, may gulong ka na pala. Tagal mong nawala ah (I see you have new wheels. You’ve been gone for a while),” I said with a start. I also noticed that he didn’t have his yellow umbrella and his lifeless leg dangling from a string wound around his neck anymore.

“Oo bosing. Pinutol na nila dyan sa Pasay Gen mga paa ko. Patay na daw eh. Ngayon katulad ko na talaga si Gloria (Yeah boss. They finally cut off my legs at the hospital. Now I am as tall as Gloria),” he answered while pointing with his free hand the two stumps that were once his legs.

I couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the way he compared himself with our diminutive president. Come to think of it, they are both short now that he’s sitting on a small wheeled contraption with shiny wheels.

“Tulad din ni Gloria, may bandila din ako. Bili ka na bosing. Araw ng Kalayaan naman ngayon eh (And like Gloria, I too have a flag. Buy one. Today’s Independence Day anyway),” he said as he egged me to get his flag.

I did buy one from him for twenty five pesos and stuck it on my gate when I got home.

The next day, when I went down to buy pandesal from Quirino Bakery across the street, my tiny flag was gone… and so was Yellow.