AROUND two months ago, I found myself travelling with a group of women to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) area and Zamboanga City.
We stayed at Lantaka Hotel -- that once glorious address of elaborate furnishings with a lobby graciously faces the sea.
Now, everything about Lantaka Hotel is aged, old, and in need of repair or replacement. The rooms smell of musk though clean. The hallways are dark and dusty specially on the left wing of the building --the wing where we stayed.
Lantaka Hotel was witness to the Zamboanga siege and the staff would be overflowing with stories about how the hotel served as shelter to some of them and their families and some guests for days on end.
Our rooms were located at the end of a dark lobby and though the walk to the elevator was brief, the dimly lit hallway, and the smell of old wood was a bit creepy.
At first, I found it amusing that my roommate said she can see ghosts because while she did, I could also smell the sweet pastries at the coffee shop below our room. She said she saw “guardiacivils” at the foot of the stairs near the elevator. I only saw sacks of rice stacked against the wall, cracked tiles, and water marks on the ceiling. But, during those times when I had to walk through the lobby alone, I held my Benedictine pendant close just in case I bump into one of those “guardiacivils” that I could not see.
After a tiring visit to Fort San Pedro and the barter trade, we rested inside our huge room and compared our shopping hauls. And while she was talking in front of me with a huge mirror at her back, something white -- like a huge feather that was about a foot long floated above her head. I stared and she saw it too and stared at me. We were not scared but stunned mostly by something that disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
My first instinct was to look for a scientific explanation -- like light from a nearby boat reflecting on the mirror. But there was no boat outside our window. No bright billboards either.
That night, we slept with more than just the night light on and I never took off my Benedictine necklace. My roommate said maybe we just needed to pray for them and so we did - me with Catholic prayers while my roommate did hers in Moslem.
The “guardiacivils” never bothered us though, they were allegedly guarding our rooms every time we left or marched with us to the elevator like bodyguards. I felt like a Donya only my guardias were invisible.
Over the weekend, the twin daughters of our neighbor arrived to visit their mother. They are now based abroad and last year, when their father died of a massive cardiac arrest, it took them some time to go home to bury their father. During dinner last week, one of daughters recalled that during the first night when she arrived for her father’s wake, she woke up at dawn to hear someone walking at their garage and smell someone smoking - just like her father. Being a dentist, she surmised that it was her grief that was causing it all. A mind trick.
However, the next day, their young helper asked if one of the daughters has taken to smoking as he wiped cigarette ashes from the arm of the rocking chair of their father at the garage. No one else smoked except their father.
Last October 21 was my mother’s death anniversary and until now, I dread the date. When she died, her eldest apo, Monica, was not at her funeral because of her first collegiate athletic meet. When her mom asked me whether she should be made to attend the funeral, I was thinking about the expenses and the repercussions of her missing an event on her scholarship.
In my mind, I heard my Mama’s voice saying: “tell her to pray instead and win that gold.”
Before Mama was buried, Monica already bagged her first gold for the collegiate meet. This year, her first event was on the exact date and almost the same hour when Mama died.
I didn’t remind my niece as it might upset her. Before the event, I dreamt about Mama telling me to pray that Monica will win golds and that her team will be the champion again.
I couldn’t see my mother in my dream, just heard her voice. Yes, Monica has won several golds again and her team has reclaimed the championship in UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines) Women’s Swimming.
Oftentimes, I wish, that Mama would talk to me in my dreams about winning lottery numbers.
