that I didn’t want to compete with my first cousin. I simply hated public speaking. The deep profound truth was I am an introvert who loves to live alone in silence. To this day I am glad I didn’t have to compete onstage. As graduation approached she would walk up and down the classroom aisle asking my classmates where they would go to college. She told me, “We are offering a new course called mass communication. You should take it. I think you are made for it.” I just smiled back. One day in desperation she said, “Where are you going for college? I’ll bet you’re going to commit mortal sin and go to UP.”
“No, Sister,” I said. “My mother is sending me to Switzerland.”
“To a finishing school?”
“Yes, Sister.”
“Hah!” she said. In the end I agreed with her. It was Hah!
I thought I saw a glimmer in her eyes,
which gave me a hint. Maybe she had a sense of humor.
Many years passed. I am a terrible graduate. I never go back for homecomings. I never get in touch or call. I got married and had three children. That didn’t work out. I lived with someone else and had a son. That seemed to be working out then. I got into batik production and needed someone to sew caftans for me. I can’t remember who, what, where, when or how but one
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