On the road

While traveling to Marawi last week, I was kidding my colleague because she kept on opening the window of the vehicle and spitting what turns out to be phlegm. She had colds. You have to keep on coming up with stuff even as mundane and utterly nonsensical as phlegm just to beat the dead air especially on an 8-hour trip. And my bootleg mp4 player is busted.

So I told her to watch the perimeter when she spits because there might be a motorist tailing the van. At the rate she’s spitting, the poor guy propped up on a motor next to the vehicle might now be covered with splattered phlegm given he’s not wearing a helmet. It was gross but we laughed anyway.

And then we were eating fried peanuts and throwing the maroon-colored peelings off the window. I told her to watch out still the peanut peelings may shot up through the motorist’s nose, block his trachea, choke him, cause him to jerk malevolently till he skids off the road and slams into some huge tree. Now it turns morbid.

Then talks of sex and more sex which was like talking about office work since both of my colleagues are already married and have kids. I laughed with them as if I’m actually a 30-something bachelor who’s spent so many one night stands.

Then smoke suddenly comes out of the front hood. We had to stop twice. It was the fan belt that needed to be replaced. So much for the merriment. I jumped out to observe the nearby rubber trees, its dripping sap being scooped up by small coconut shells attached to the trunk. It was the first time I saw such a process. I proceeded to the vehicle and picked up Woody Allen’s Without Feathers and chuckled away.

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Higanaon house

entrance to Marawi Demo Farm, MSU compound

Ranao Pool