Chapter VIII: The Old and The New
Calle Crisostomo is no longer the quiet street it used to be. A year after the RQ Store that Mercy had made in the Favis House, the transformation is undeniable. Brighter. Busier. Bolder. Mercy stands at the doorway one early morning, arms crossed, surveying the hustle and bustle with a tired smile that says, "This is all working. It's like Ma and Pa used to say and do. 'Diskarte lang deta' (It's just strategy)."
The cobblestone roads of Calle Crisostomo have been repaired with care. Decorative gaslight-style electric posts line the street, casting warm glows during nightfall. Hanging flower pots, maintained by the Barangay's Beautification Committee (led mostly by chatty Titas with a passion for bougainvilleas), spill pink and orange blooms. Restoration by the municipal government made it an eye-catching to visitors, and even foreigners from other countries, especially the US, China, Thailand, and Japan. It feels like a movie set.
Which is probably why a real movie crew does arrive.
One Monday morning, rumors spread faster than a chismosa with free Wi-Fi: Tom Cruise is coming to the Heritage Town of Hermosa. At first, no one believes it. Then vans and camera trucks pull into Calle Crisostomo. A production team arrives to shoot scenes for a Hollywood war-romance-drama titled The Fourth of July.
And yes and there is the man. Tom Cruise. In the flesh. Wearing aviator sunglasses and smiling like a toothpaste ad.
The residents of Calle Crisostomo don't hold back. They cook huge pots of Miki in their backyards and deliver bowls to the sweaty crew. Teenagers pass around pudding cups. Stores stretching from the tip of Florentino and Tiongson Houses hand out bags of chicharon and cornick like welcome gifts. Even Manang Ising, whose smile is rarer than rainfall in April, is spotted blushing when Tom Cruise says, "Salamat po."
The RQ Store, of course, becomes a pitstop for staff members and extras. Mercy installs a special Hollywood-themed menu for fun: "Miki Impossible," "Chicharon Protocol," and "Cornick of the Day." Meric, wearing a makeshift director's beret, pretends to shout, "Action!" every time someone opens the fridge.
Just across the street, another revolution is happening. A school—Macro Learning Institute—rents out the second floor of the house southwest of the Favis residence. English crash courses, Korean classes, even Nihongo on Sundays. Students, many of them foreigners, flood the area.
And of course, they all get hungry.
Sales at the RQ Store double. Mercy barely has time to rest. Rico drives the tricycle non-stop. Elric and Jonn invent ways to sneak extra fishballs. And Meric? Meric watches. Learns. Absorbs everything like a sponge.
One year passes.
The camera crews are gone. The lights have dimmed. Calle Crisostomo returns to its regular heartbeat. But sometimes, photographers with large cameras take pictures and stunning photograph of the Heritage Village, and some movies, like the FPJ franchise are getting filmed there often. But sometimes, not all electric lamps on the streets don't glow and shine.
On a golden afternoon, Meric walks the familiar road home from Hermosa Central School. Her shoes tap confidently on the warm concrete transitioning to smooth and classic cobblestone. The breeze smells of sampaguita and barbecue smoke. She pushes open the wooden door of the Favis House.
"Mamang, addanak pay (I'm home)," she announces, slinging her bag to the side, "I've got good news. As I'm graduating, I'll be Salutatorian."
Mercy pauses from wiping jars. A soft silence passes. Then, she walks over and hugs her daughter.
"Wow, salutatorian. I'm proud of you, Mer." she whispers. "But there's some bad news"
Meric doesn't move a muscle and confused.
"What happened, Mang?", she asks.
"Your Lelang... Lelang Tinang... has died this morning."
Time freezes.
Meric's joy folds into quiet shock. In the back room, Rico sobs. Tinang, though not his biological mother, had been his source of affection. His foundation, and his compass.
They travel to Pampantok, the Hermosa Chinese Cemetery that weekend. The skies are a brooding gray. Uy Pit Sing's (if hispanized, it would be Pantaleon Uy) gravestone waits silently as the pallbearers lower Tinang beside him. Elric, holding a flower, is unusually quiet. Meric clutches Jonn's hand tightly. Nobody says much.
After the burial, Mercy makes a decision since no one is at the house at Calle. Gen. Antonio.
They move.
The family—Mercy, Rico, Meric, Elric, Jonn, and Conching—transfers to Calle Gen. Antonio. The new house feels less like a home at first, more like an empty box. But Mercy knows what to do.
She reopens the RQ Store.
And this time, it's not just a store.
It's a full-blown carinderia.
Wooden and steel tables and chairs. A painted counter with the menu above, and a lot of candies, and biscuits too. People line up as word spreads across Hermosa: the RQ Store has reincarnated into a food haven. Dishes like Kare-Kare, Adobo, Tinola, Warek-Warek, Lomo-Lomo, Poqui-Poqui, Bulalo, Pinapaitan, and Igado bring in a loyal crowd. And of course, the Miki—that flavorful, steaming bowl that warms stomachs and hearts.
Foreigners come, too. Some Korean backpackers. A pair of retired Canadians. And then—one peculiar afternoon—a group of Chinese tourists walks in.
"Ni hao!" one greets, smiling.
Meric blinks. Rico's out delivering passengers. He's the only one who speaks Chinese.
"Mang?"
Mercy looks up from chopping onions. "Oh no."
The next ten minutes are pure comedic ballet. The tourists gesture drinking motions. One draws a circle in the air. Another makes slurping noises. Mercy and Meric respond with awkward smiles, exaggerated nods, and several attempts at miming a beverage menu.
Finally, Meric shouts, "Ah! Mountain Dew?"
The group cheers. Thumbs up. Bottles are handed. Everyone claps like it's a successful hostage negotiation.
Time marches forward.
Meric graduates grade school and enters Hermosa School of Arts and Trades. Her uniforms are sharper now, her steps more measured. She helps out in the carinderia before and after class.
One day, she mutters, "Why do Elric and Jonn always get to go out? I'm always here."
Mercy, without looking up from slicing carrots, says, "Masapul yu nga sursurwen dagitoy nga banag, sakbay nga mapukaw nak ditoy rabaw ti daga. (You need to learn these things, before I'll vanish from the surface of the earth)"
Meric doesn't answer. But that night, she stays up, writing inventory lists.
She grows quieter. Wiser. And then—one random day during her third year—she finds something odd.
In her binder, tucked between Math notes and a flyer for a lost kitten, is a letter. Folded neatly. It smells faintly of perfume.
Her heart pounds. She looks around.
Inside: A love letter. Handwritten. Poetic. Anonymous.
Her mind races. Clarence? No, his handwriting is hideous. Maybe Ian? He flirts with everyone. Or... someone else entirely?
Before she can solve the mystery, tragedy strikes again.
At the carinderia, Mercy answers the phone. Her face drops. She turns away from the counter, her hand trembling as tears fall quietly.
"It's Papa," she says. "Melo's gone."
Mercy's tears run down her cheeks. The Don everyone loved, is now gone. The Don that donated electricity to the church and made it shone, now dead. It turns out that Melo had a heart attack.
They travel back to Brgy. Banggai.
The old brick house smells of candles and sadness. The siblings—Al, Rogie, Lucio, Maxi, and Mercy—sit in the sala. Tory, now a widow, wears a black veil, staring blankly ahead.
The coffin rests in the center. Surrounded by flowers.
Suddenly, a man enters.
He walks straight to the casket.
"Papa," he whispers. "Napukaw ka met nga biglan (You were gone in an instant)"
Meric tightens her grip on Jonn's hand.
"Mang," she asks. "Who is that?"
Mercy sighs. "That's Moses. Our bastard brother. Melo's illegitimate son."
Elric rises from his seat and approaches her mother. "So, Mang, did Lelong Melo cheated on Lelang Tory?"
Mercy nods. "Yes indeed. Moses and her mother live at Tuanong, but I can't remember their last name. He's a good guy, just don't get him near my brothers."
"Rico, iyawid mo paylang da Meric. Agbati nak paylang ditoy kadwak dagiti kakabsat ko. (Rico, take home Meric and the others. I'll stay here for a while, with my siblings.)", Mercy whispers to Rico.
"Then, how will you get home?", Rico asks.
"I'll call you up soon.", Mercy reiterates.
Rico takes home the kids, as Mercy stays.
After a while, Moses leaves. The only ones left in the living room are Mercy, Max, and Rogie. Then, tension erupts as Rogie brings up the inheritance. His voice raises. Followed by Max. A heated argument is among the two, then Max goes to the kitchen and gets a buneng (sword).
Mercy stands in the middle, "Tagbaten dakon, ta agtalna kayon! (Stab me now, so you'll both stop!)".
Eventually, Max gets a wound from the buneng.
The funeral at Guardino Municipal Cemetery is slow and somber. Junior arrives apparently. After the internment into the tomb, and the showering of Holy Water by the parish priest of Hermosa, Junior is seen not to be close to them while these events are taking place. Tory frowns deeply, lips tightening like a storm cloud. This is Junior's tradition, strange and very mysterious.
Weeks pass.
Tory stays in the house alone, but her children visit regularly. Maxi cooks. Mercy prays. Life goes on, one step at a time.
Meric takes a special exam to catch up on her studies. She sits in a quiet classroom, the fan humming loudly, and finishes her test.
Then, just before the school year ends, a classmate approaches her.
"Meric?"
She turns.
"I'm Belarmino. Belarmino Lamento Jr."
A pause. Her eyes widen.
"I wrote the letter," he says. "In your binder."
Her cheeks flush. She doesn't know what to say. So she just nods. Smiles.
They walk away from the classroom together. Quiet. Calm.
The carinderia bustles. Calle Gen. Antonio thrives. Secrets bloom quietly like midnight flowers.
And life—always life—goes on.