Alex is lying down on her bedroom floor. Her neighbor's dog is barking incessantly. She closes her eyes and remembers getting bitten by a dog in her province.
She was in her cousin's house waiting for her grandfather, who was talking to her uncle. Her cousin's dog was lying down when she decided to pet it. It suddenly bit her. Afterwards, the dog began to bark like crazy. Her arm started to bleed a bit. She screamed out to her grandfather for help. Her grandfather chuckled. She frowned at him at confusion. She forced him to bring her to the doctor to give her anti-rabies shots. He told her that he'd bring her to a "mantatandok" instead. A mantatandok is an Ilocano term used for someone who can get the rabies out of a person's system after he or she is bitten by a rabid dog. Her grandfather was with her through the entire process. It was scary at first but it was just like getting a ventosa massage except the bite wound is cut open using a blade. Her grandfather tells her she's not allowed to take a bath for a day. She looked worried. This look made her grandfather chuckle.
"You'll be okay," he says with a comforting smile.
A phone begins to ring. She opens her eyes. It's her phone. Someone from her grandfather's house in the province is calling her. She answers it. They tell her her grandfather has just passed away. Tears begin to fall from her eyes. She began to quickly pack a few of her clothes and headed to the bus station.
On the way to the province, she passed by several farms. She began to tear up again. She thought of her grandfather. She could never remember a time where he didn't wear his thinning white camiso-de-chino. He was such a simple man. He'd always match his white shirt with shorts and slippers you can buy from the palengke. She remembers the time when she was around 6 years old and had woken up around 6 in the morning. She was the only one awake aside from her grandfather. She was never close to her grandfather before that time so she didn't talk when she saw him awake. He asked her if she wanted to go to the farm with him. She willingly went because she has never had a bonding experience with her grandfather. They rode in silence. The wind blew in her hair. They fed chicks. After a while, they went back home. He made a cup of coffee. She wanted to try so he made her a cup. He taught her to dip the white bread in to the coffee. She tried this and it was so good that up to this date, that's how she takes her coffee.
She didn't notice she fell asleep on the bus. She must have been so tired from crying. She got off at her stop and walked towards the house. It was the month of the town's fiesta so there were a lot of kids roaming around near the fair grounds. She saw an old man walking with his child sitting on his shoulders.
As she was walking towards her grandfather's house, she remembered that after their bonding experience, he began to grow fond of her, and vice versa. He would always carry her on top of his shoulders. He was the kind of person who could lift you up emotionally, she thought. She felt so big and tall whenever she was on her grandfather's shoulders. He made her feel important. He never failed to make her feel special, most especially when she is on his shoulders.
She reached the front door of her grandfather's house. There were a lot of people there but she couldn't look at anyone. She kept her head down. She took a deep breath and opened the door and went straight for his grandfather's coffin. She slowly lifted her head to look at his corpse. He was wearing the thinning white camiso-de-chino. A tear fell from her eyes. He lived simple in this life and he'd continue to live simply in the afterlife.
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