I remember Papang Wong when they moved from Avenue Kitchenette to our humble abode in Palace (Soriano St, Cavite City) its not that I do not recall him from before but the clearee memories come to mind from that they forward.
When we moved from Cavite City to Rosario, that is when I came to know him more, but like most things in our lives, we only appreciate people, specially near and dear ones when they are already gone, and with the mantra that I cling on in life (no regrets) surely this is one if not the only that I do regret not being able to do, I fucking can't recall a moment that I told him I love him while he was still alive.
God how he loved me, he always told me off if I play with spiders and insects, and I repaid it with me making kupit his money, he was bed ridden but yet still he was able to always find ways to play with me, how I loved his paper airplanes, another thing that I must say I do regret, is not knowing or learning how to make it, like what I said, we only appreciate and/or give a sigh only after its gone.
I became a nurse, not in my fucking wildest dreams did I dreamt of being one, but I did, and hell yeah a good one at that. Surely it has something to do when I was coached by my family when I was still a child to become a doctor so that I can cure my Papang and help him walk again. Ahhh, I did mention that he was bed ridden, why? Well nobody really did tell me why, but being a keen listener and observer as I am (paki alamero in Tagalog hee hee) I deduced that somebody wanted to assasinate him and he was gunned down and a bullet got lodged in his spine that crippled him, as the story goes, its either by envious business competitors or the Japs, yeah even the freakin Japs haa haa. Apparently, my Papang Wong is really Papang Li, but he needed to change his name from Li Wong Hoi to Wong Hoi Li to escape the Japs from world war 2, damn that is so hard to follow, I mean, how the hell will you know its him when he used the same 3 words and jumbled it up to become his new name, I am still confounded to this very moment.
So I became a teenager, and as most teenager and adolescents were, I also had my share of the so callef teenage angst, it made me drift apart from him, he was kept in a bedroom in our basement, lots of darn things that even I cannot bear to right down hear, to sum it up, he could have been taken care of much better, far much better. During my Junior year in high school, when both my parents were in the Philippines, he was suddenly hospitalized in Cavite Medical Center, I didint know what was happening or perhaps the better word was I dont really care what was going on, until....... I was asked to find a priest having studied in San Sebastian, i think it was Father Granada or Father Dela Rosa who performed the extreme unction on my Papang, then after a few hours, he was gone.
And that is where I was struck, that is when I realized that his call that he wanted this or that was not really what he wanted, he wanted to be with somebody, he wanted to have someone to talk to, he wanted to be with me, but I fucking blew it and even shouted at him to shut up, yeah you can curse me for it, its a free for all, hell yeah even I curse myself for doing it.
So before my tears dry up, let me offer my utmost thanks to you, the original Wong Hoi Li or Li Wong Hoi that I blatantly use as my pen name in some of my works, its a far cry Papang, but I shout out at the heavens and send my love and respect to you........... I LOVE YOU my Dearest Papang Wong, its me.... your WONG and Only, yeah it was you who said that I am the Wong and Only...... Thank you for the love and sorry for not being able to give it back to you.......
Eternal rest grant unto you Papang
And let perpetual light shine upon you
May you rest in peace
Till we meet again Papang Li
Till we meet again............
Amen
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