Short Story: Winds

Winds
By Ginnie Faustino-Galgana

Manong sat there quietly watching her. She is but a child, innocent and playful. She loves music, just like her mother. And her voice could whisper like the wind or sound off in a hale, just like her mother.

Too bad, Yoko has never met her mother. She has been with Manong since she was a baby. Manong’s wife, Ate Ming, does seem to want to be anywhere around her. Ate Ming kept on telling Manong, “I’m telling you, that girl will be the death of you and I won’t stand for it!”

What was her mother like? Yoko often wondered.

“Sirocco.” Manong called her by her full name. Yoko flinched. At seven years old, her classmates would tease her about her name for it sounded like “Sira ako” (I am nuts).

“Manong naman,” Yoko said with that tone that told Manong she minds it.

“Ok, Yoko. Come here, child. I need to tell you something.” Manong acquiesced. Yoko climbed onto Manong’s lap. Manong could only smile at the child’s sweetness.

“What is it Manong?” Yoko’s eyes were questioning, curious and bright. Manong was suddenly awashed with emotions remembering how Yoko’s mother looked exactly like that, he had to pause before starting.

It was about nine years before that Manong was a very eligible bachelor and the toast of the town. Women adored him and gifts from mothers came in the name of their daughters hoping to gain favor and interest.

Manong wasn’t rich. His family lived off the land though they knew how to hunt in the forest as well. Manong’s mother taught him how to respect the forest and to take only what he needed, nothing more. Manong’s father farmed but was the best marksman in the village. They were respected and it was good that Manong had the looks that people called “artistahin” (handsome as an actor).

As a young boy, Manong had always been called Manong for he was always the leader among his peers. When Manong said no one was to go into the forest, no boy would go into the forest. When Manong said they were to swim in the forest spring, all the boys and girls will go swim in the forest spring. Such was Manong’s influence and he kept it until nine years ago.

No one had understood Manong’s relationship with the forest creatures. All they knew was that he was kept safe in the forest while others had to fear for their lives. Even if he went alone into the forest, he would come back unscathed and with a bounty of fruits and a good-sized prize animal.

No one knew they were gifts from Mariang Sinuluan, the protector of the forest. No one knew that Manong played with Maria’s daughter by a doomed mortal, Isabel. And absolutely no one knew that Manong had fallen in love with Isabel. He had been spending more time with them since his parents died one after the other of sickness the year before.

Unfortunately, Isabel had been betrothed to Habagat, the wind-master, from birth as a pact between the forest and the winds.

Isabel belonged to Habagat and all the forest creatures knew. Manong knew too. But his love for Isabel grew just the same.

One day when Manong was paying homage to Mariang Sinuluan, Habagat’s sister, the young Amihan, flew in. Immediately, she and Manong took a liking to each other. Over the next couple of weeks, Amihan would stay with Isabel and Manong during their walks and talks in the forest. When Isabel was with Habagat, the jealous Manong would settle with Amihan, and eben gave her a pet name, Mingming. Soon enough, Manong confided in Amihan his feelings for Isabel. It broke young Amihan’s heart for she had fallen in love with Manong.

Manong, in an effort to gain Isabel’s attention, started getting more and more of the villagers to pay homage to Mariang Sinuluan. As more people knew Maria and Isabel, more people asked for special favors from them. Soon, Isabel didn’t have much time to spend with Habagat.

In the meantime, Manong gained even more popularity in the village. He grew arrogant and boasted of the favors he could get from the forest. As more women swooned over him, Manong started believing that he could actually get in between Isabel and Habagat and be the one Isabel marries. Amihan told him otherwise. But Manong was undaunted.

In a show of force, Manong boasted that he could cut down the oldest tree in the forest and not gain the ire of its protectors. The villagers believed him and made plans to make a church with the wood he would cut down.

This did not sit well with Maria. She then sent Isabel to talk Manong out of it or suffer the consequences of his actions. While walking in the woods, Manong thought Isabel had finally come for him. Instead of letting her talk, Manong took Isabel into a cave and forced himself on her. In the depths of the cave, no one heard the cries of Isabel and no one could come to her rescue.

Feeling reinvigorated by his conquest, Manong went out of the cave and proceeded to cut down the tree. It took him a while before he could make it fall, but when it did, it sounded like thunder had hit the ground.

At this sound, the villagers rejoiced and went to Manong and the tree. At this sound, Mariang Sinuluan let out a cry and rushed to the site.

Red in fury, Mariang Sinuluan demanded to know where Isabel was. Manong proudly proclaimed that Isabel was his already and that Habagat should give up pursuing her. In her rage, Mariang Sinuluan struck down Manong, breaking his left leg.

As he fell, a big gust of blinding wind came and carried before them the disheveled and weeping Isabel. As the wind died, Habagat was cradling her. Maria went to her daughter and asked who did it to her, but when she touched Isabel’s stomach, she withdrew it with a jolt. It had life inside.

Slowly, Maria stood up and faced the villagers and said, “You have taken far too much from the forest. How can you let this violation happen?!” she shouted as she glared at them.

“Know this then, “ Maria continued, “no one can anymore lay claim to the bounty of this woods. No one can hunt or forage without risk to his life. And no one, from now on, will be able to call on me, my family and our folk!”

Thus Mariang Sinuluan cursed the village.

She then turned to Manong and said, “You betrayed me. You shamed my daughter. You laid waste the trust we had given you all because of your pride! You will bear this shame yourself and everyone will know the curse you had brought upon your own people. You will grow old faster than anyone else. By the time your child reaches the age of 7 years, she will be taken from you for you will be too old to care for her and you will never see her again.

A softer wind flew in then Amihan stood in their midst with tears in her eyes and pleaded, “If it will be alright with you, I would like to stay and care for Manong. He can’t live alone with only one leg. Please Apo Maria.”

Seeing the sincerity of Amihan, and the genuine love she had for the young man, Mariang Sinuluan allowed it with a warning, “You may live with this cursed man, aware of his curse, but your affinity to such a curse puts you in the same situation. His child will be your bane. Your love is for him and the child is not yours and will remind you of his arrogance and affection for another.”

Mariang Sinuluan banished them from the forest from then on. Not even Amihan could go see her beloved brother as he cared for the pregnant Isabel. Amihan gave up her power over the breeze and took on the life of a mortal, becoming a wife to the cursed Manong.

A year later, the mortal Ming found a basket at the foot of their door. It had a baby girl inside. In a flash, she remembered the events of the year before and her heart broke once more. Without taking counsel with Manong, Ming named the girl Sirocco—a foreign wind that gusts in the desert.

oOo