The Story Teller

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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