PREVIOUSLY: The dinner at the city to celebrate the third birthday of little Margarita and the graduation of Andy was disrupted by the unexpected appearance of a distressed young woman who claimed to be Manuel’s mistress, screaming and hurling accusations at the couple. A policeman was summoned to the scene but the young intruderquickly vanished into the busy streets of downtown Manila.

More than half an hour after the policeman left the restaurant, the whole family was still sitting on the dinner table not saying anything to each other, avoiding each other’s eyes. Even little Margarita just kept on staring at the blank face of her mother as tears slowly flowed down her ashen cheeks. When Manuel finally made a move to pay for their food, Rico quickly grabbed his father on the shoulders and gently but with determination pushed him back to his chair.

“Let me handle this,” Rico softly said to his father. “Keep your money. You will need it for the upkeep of your young friend.”

Manuel didn’t react to his eldest son’s mocking words. He just bowed his head and started sobbing. This made little Margarita jump out of her mother’s lap to rush and comfort his father in an embrace.

Andy and Manuel Jr., just bowed their heads and covered their faces with their hands. They would have covered their ears too if they had four hands as Conchita let out a soft but very painful moan.

That evening was the last Conchita and her children saw of Manuel. Nobody knew where he went and nobody knew how to find him.

In the next three months nothing was heard of Manuel. Conchita did her best to get on with her life as normally as she could. In their household, nothing was mentioned about her husband’s indiscretion even if it was the talk of the whole town. Only Margarita, like any talkative three year old, would constantly ask for the whereabouts of her father.

When the three boys were queried by the little sister about their father, they conspired to tell her that their father went abroad to Saudi Arabia, just like most of the fathers in their town. That stopped Margarita from asking about her father for awhile.

Until one Sunday afternoon, when an old lady completely dressed in red appeared with an envelope while Margarita was playing in their front yard with the neighborhood kids. The old woman told Margarita to give the envelope to her mother and that it contained a letter about her father. Margarita rushed to her mother with the envelope but the old woman in red quickly disappeared before Conchita could talk to her.

Conchita didn’t dare open the letter on her own. She wanted her three sons to be present. That weekend the youngest son, Manuel Jr., was due to come home from the big city where he was still studying Andy was in another city trying to find a job but Conchita was able to phone him to come home that weekend. Rico, of course, was in town minding their electrical store.

That Sunday morning after the whole family returned from church, Conchita handed the letter to Rico who immediately opened it in great anticipation. While their father had done a terrible mistake, it was obvious that the children, even their mother herself, missed him very much.

Rico unfolded the letter and couldn’t believe what he was reading. He had to read the letter at least three times before revealing the content of the letter to everybody.

“Father is dead!” he softly said and sat down and started crying after he handed the letter to his mother who read it several times, still not comprehending what Rico had just said.

Andy and then Manuel Jr., read the letter next, as if their individual readings were required to confirm the sad truth.

Conchita had no visible reaction to the sad news that her husband was dead. She just stood there, trying to think of other things, as if figuring out what important household chore she was supposed to tackle next. She picked up the bewildered Margarita and told the boys, now slumped together in the living room sofa, sobbing like infants, that she and the little girl were going to bring the drying fish inside before it starts to rain.

The letter also indicated the address of the funeral house in Manila where Manuel’s body lied in state, so the two older boys went there the next day. Manuel stayed behind to keep an eye on his mother who was still in a state of shock and was obviously unfit to travel.

Andy returned home after two days and told his mother that they have arranged to have the body of their father to be transported home from Manila. They hid the fact to their mother that they had a lot of difficulty convincing their father’s mistress to let go of the remains and that it took the services of a lawyer and the intervention of the police to finalise everything.

Conchita agreed to have her husband’s body brought home not only for the sake of her children. This was the only way she could get through her anger, confront the problem and physically say goodbye to the man who betrayed her and her children.

Manuel’s body laid in state for nine days in the family living room. It was customary in their town to have a wake for at least nine days before the burial. Every evening a group of old ladies would come to the house to recite a series of prayers called a Novena to invoke the intercession of all the saints to forgive the dear departed of all his sins while he was alive.

Tons of coffee and biscuits were consumed during the duration of the wake. After the evening prayers a dozen or so friends and relatives would stay for the traditional vigil that lasted until morning.

It is a common belief that if the dead body is left on its own, creatures from the dark would steal it and replace it with a dummy made of a banana tree trunk. To keep everybody awake, card games and even gambling with mahjong tiles were organized.

Conchita was preoccupied with receiving guests during the entire wake and was very composed all the way but everybody, especially her children, could feel that her grief was beyond measure. She and Manuel had never had an argument in the past and she couldn’t believe it that her husband would cheat on her. She wanted to understand his behavior but Manuel made matters worse by running away from them, returning as a lifeless body that she could not reason with, not properly absolve and take back into her forgiving arms. Her forgiveness could have saved him from certain death. Manuel died in a drowning accident and Conchita knew that it was going to happen in this way, like the rest of them.

On the day of the funeral the whole town showed up. Conchita resolved to be strong for the sake of her children. Up to the last moment, the defiant Conchita did not shed a single tear in public.

On top of a hill overlooking the town cemetery stood an old woman, especially conspicuous in her elevated position because of her bright red dress that blazed as it was hit by the setting sun, her head completely covered in a long red veil that flew in the afternoon breeze like a fluid flame.

To be continued