Tuesday, May 15, 2007

DRIVING WITH MY BROTHER



ROCKETMAN
pen and ink on paper
13" x 9.5"



Driving With My Brother

… 5:45 p.m.
… my brother’s car
… waiting for the traffic light to turn green at that new development called Serendra


““Im going to kill you! I swear I’m going to kill you!” you kept on saying when you were chasing me down the street back then”, my brother was reminding me of the time when I did chase him several blocks down the old neighborhood. “…and all that for a stupid slipper that we keep on confusing for the other.”

“Come to think of it, I never did care for those slippers. I walked barefoot inside our house anyway”, I admitted. “Pretty dumb things we did and say when we were kids huh?”

“But you’re dumber.”

“Nope you’re dumbest.”

Laughter.

“You remember those afternoons when we’d be stuck in the room doing nothing. Then I’d put you on my knees and you’d pretend like you’re on a rocket ship. You called yourself – The Rocketman”, I reminisced.

“Well I remember that big old closet with mom’s clothes in the bedroom. Kuya used to scare us with those monster-in-the-closet stories.”

“And we used to hide under the bedsheets and we’d fall asleep both scared. Hehehe… you were always snotty.”

“You snore like a horse.”

“You always kick me with your foot in your sleep. I’d wake up with it in my face every morning and it’s the most sour-smelling thing I’ve known. ”

“Your fart smells like a dead animal.”

Laughter.

“You remember those afternoons when we’d tie the bedsheets around our necks and pretend like they’re capes? We’d mess around with mother’s lipstick and I’d put on some red and pretend like I’m Dracula. You’d pretend like… well, I don’t want to go there.”, and he gave me that “eyebrows-are-raised” kind of look.

“I DID?? I was thinking of that when I was a kid and you knew?” my eyes were so wide I couldn’t believe what he said.

“Come on tol. You had that “I’m the Queen of Sheba” attitude with that red cape and lipstick”, he stifled a laugh while releasing the brakes when the light turned green.

“Those were the times huh?”

“Yeah, they sure were.”

…and we were silent in our own thoughts as the car turned into the parking lot.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

do you have an online gallery? how much do your paintings cost? range?

Señor Enrique said...

Ahh ... memories! My brother called from NY the other day and we got to reminisce a bit, too.

palma tayona said...

hello there anonymous... currently i hang my works at 1/of gallery. it's at serendra in the fort city in taguig. as far as an online gallery's concerned... i have most of my works at yahoophotos.. :-) if you send your email, i can send it to you.

it's a bit embarassing to discuss price ranges here, but since you asked, with the sizes i do and the medium etc... the works range from between 4,000 to 85,000 php.
____

thank you senor enrique.
my brother and i, we're like two drunken whackos whenever we're hanging together. it always feels like we're both 13 years old. :-)

Anonymous said...

...."I’m the Queen of Sheba attitude" ... this was hilarious. In a way, it kinda reminded me of mike too, except that, he was always bullied by the "maton" in the neighborhood for being effeminate. The spunk, he got soon right after he decided to go all out. And nothings been the same ever since. :)

palma tayona said...

hello anonymous,

i suppose mike's your brother.

you know, the funny thing about being brothers is when you're kids, no matter how much you hate each other and want to wring each other's necks (it's only your brother who knows how to tick you off), in the end, nothing's more stronger than the bond of blood. despite our difference - me and my brother - i'd say he's my best friend.

cheers!

oh, the queen of sheba thing... it jolted me when i realized, i did think of that. scary... hahaha