The Story Teller

Archive for August, 2011

Last week, my eldest daughter sent me a text message telling me that our printer ran out of ink. So, I called her up and told her that we’ll have it refilled. Then she ranted about her school paper and how she needed to have it printed that very moment. I was irked. What was I to do? I wasn’t home and the black and color ink cartridges are there. So, I told her that maybe she could go to the nearest computer shop and have her paper printed. But she said the shop was jam packed at that time. So, as the last option I told her to take the cartridges out of the printer and bring them in my office so I could have them refilled as soon as she arrived. That did it. She said she’ll check out if there’s a vacant unit at the computer shop..

The BIG BEN originally refers to the bell of the clock in the Palace of Westminster in London. But right now, most people know the BIG BEN to be that marvelous clock tower which is one of the most famous symbols of London and England in general.

It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third tallest free-standing clock in the world. It was built after the destruction by fire of the Palace of Westminster on October 16, 1834 and was finished on April 10, 1858. It was said to be named after Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover, who oversaw the last part of the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament including the installation of the Great Bell in the clock tower.

At the base of each cock dial is the Latin inscription

“DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM”

which means..

O Lord, keep safe our Queen Victoria the First.

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I would like to take this chance to express how happy I am and my children that my husband who worked abroad for 2 years has arrived safely last week. Except for the jet lag, I believe he is in fine health and just as happy as we are for our reunion. After sleeping for almost 2 days, he finally got up and just like his old self cooked us dinner.

They have already eaten when I called from work and I wasn’t surprise when my son, Daryl, told me that his papa was up the attic doing some cleaning up. So, that’s how he spent that one fine afternoon, cleaning up. And when I got home, our house looked as if we were going to put up trade show booths. Old tables, old chairs, broken bed frames, broken clocks, etc. are everywhere.

In fairness to him, he was able to clear up the mess before we go to sleep. Now, that I can’t do

In a province far away from the hubbub of the city, there is a remote town divided into small barrios. In its farthermost barrio is a quiet sitio of about a hundred or so people. There is no hospital, no supermarket, no electricity, therefore, no cell phone and no laptop. The only school it has is an old unfinished multipurpose hall.

They used herbal plants and alternative medicine for sickness and diseases. There is one big store that sells almost everything the people could possibly need, and two small sari-sari (convenient) stores for everyday needs. There is no tv, no laptop, and no cell phone, the only means of amusement are the traditional gossip sessions for women, tong its (card games) for men and local games for children, piko (hopscotch), taguang-pung (hidde-and-seek) etc.

School is until grade 6 only. Those who were lucky enough to go to high school usually leaves the place to work in factories and never came back.

Life was quiet. Neighbors help each other. Children are left outside to play as there is no danger of getting hit by a car. Doors are unlocked as nothing is valuable enough to steal. There are no drunks as there was not enough money to buy alcoholic beverage. There was no crime, therefore, no police officer. It, sure was, heaven on earth.

Until a boy, Telok, found something strange. It was a rectangular shiny silver thing that glitters when hit by the sun. It was beautiful. It feels so smooth and cold to the hand. Telok showed it to his father Sakkal who didn’t know what it was and showed it to their neighbor Tigngi who had no idea either. They showed it to everyone but nobody knew what it was. Everybody was curious about the ‘thing’ and everybody wanted to touch it. So, they passed it on and on for everyone to examine until Ngabay accidentally opened it. Everybody was amazed, inside was a small wheel attached to a windscreen. Ngabay looked closely, there was nothing special about it. He touched the wheel with his thumb, it was rough. He touched it again with his thumb, harder this time. Alas! Fire came out from the windscreen.

Everbody was in awe. Ngabay ran to his house and lighted his kerosene lamp. Now, they know what it was. It was a ‘fire maker.’ Everybody was happy, now they have a fire maker. They don’t need to buy a box of match anymore. As was their custom, the ‘fire-maker’ was shared by the people, and returned to Sakkal’s house as it was his son, Telok, who found it. Everybody seemed satisfied until Ngabay voiced his dissatisfaction. He said that since he was the one who discovered that it was a fire-maker, it must be returned to his house every night. Some people backed up his claim, but some people didn’t. Two big factions were formed.

Now aware of Ngabay’s ill feeling, Sakkal put a hatch on his door to deter Ngabay from stealing the fire-maker. Ngabay, still feeling more deserving of the fire-maker, told the people how selfish Sakkal really was. The people, aware of the hatch on Sakkal’s door was convinced. But Sakkal didn’t mind just as long as he keeps the fire-maker at night. But one day, something happened. As a neighbor, Antok, used the fire-maker, no fire came out. Everybody was shocked. What happened? What did Sakkal do? But Sakkal himself didn’t know, Antok rushed and punched Sakkal on the face. It was the first act of violence everyone has ever witnessed.

Chaos came after. Everybody talked at the same time. Children were crying everywhere. Until a boy screamed at the top of his lungs..

‘”Stop!!!!!!” it was Telok, the boy who found the fire-maker. With tears in his eyes and the fire-maker in his hand he spoke..

“What is this thing? Why do you have to hurt my father over this? Why does he have to lock our door at night?  Why does nobody want to play with me anymore? What is happening to us?” and then he ran and never stopped..

The people were silent. Nobody seemed to have the courage to speak. They seemed to know the answer to the boy’s question. They knew what happened to them..

It was almost dark when Telok returned. His hands were empty. No one asked for the fire-maker. No one wanted it anymore. Everybody wanted his old life back.

Ngabay was the first to ask about Sakkal. And as if nothing happened, everybody did what he used to do.. HELP OUT. The following day, everything got back to normal and the people were happy again..

Telok buried the fire-maker in the hill and planted over it a fruit-bearing tree, that they may benefit from the destruction of the thing that brought them pain.

*Made-up story by the blog author, inspired by the comedy film ‘The GODS Must Be Crazy I’

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Our word for the week..

Source: Dictionary.com

“Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.”

~Frank Lloyd Wright

It’s been raining hard for the past 2 weeks and the flood caused by the heavy rains is getting on almost everybody’s nerves. For one, flood results to too much traffic especially on the main roads. Needless to say, travel gets very unattractive these days. Honestly, I’m really not much thrilled with travelling. Though I do like going places, I don’t like the ‘transporting’ part. So, I was kind of awed and amazed when my sister went all the way from Alabama to Illinois to visit my mom and relatives and stayed there for almost a week. With her was her entire family which includes a teenage boy, a younger boy, 2 little girls and of course, her husband who drives the RV. I know they are comfortable  being packed inside and with reliable rv emergency roadside assistance they really have nothing to worry about and they can simply enjoy the ride. And I guess they really did, because I just saw some of their pictures posted on Facebook. They all look radiant..

This is the Coral Castle in Florida, USA, said to be single-handedly created by the Latvian-American immigrant Edward Leedskalnin.

Originally named Rock Gate Park, this stone structure is a collection of several gigantic stones, formed from coral, weighing by the tons.

Just like King Nebuchadnezzar and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Prince Khurram and the Taj Mahal, the Coral Castle was built by Leedskalnin in memory of his “Sweet Sixteen,” by that he was believed to be referring to his 16-year old fiancee Agnes Scuffs who broke up with him the day before their supposed wedding. After several years, Leedskalnin moved to America and in 1920 started building the stone structure which he opened for the public in 1923.

Historically speaking, building a structure for a loved one is a common gesture. What’s not common, however, is building a structure single-handedly, and that’s what the 5feet, 100lbs Leedskalnin did. It’s as if he used an unknown science and really ‘discovered the secrets of the pyramids..’ as he said.

But the secretive immigrant preferred to work alone and at night under lantern light that no one can give any creditable evidence as to how he really accomplished such an impossible task except for few teenagers claiming to have witnessed Leedskalnin making blocks of coral move like hydrogen balloons using only a perpetual motion holder.

Regretfully, the secret behind the construction of the Coral Castle was taken by Leedskanin down to his grave as he died of stomach cancer in 1951 three days after he had taken himself to a hospital by riding a bus.

In 1984, Leedskalnin’s marvelous creation was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name “Rock Gate” but the name was changed to Coral Castle in 2011.

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