The President of the Board of Directors has kept on talking about business
for half an hour already. I was beginning to get bored and worried. Time
and again, I kept on glancing at my watch. Some of my colleagues might have
noticed my unusual behavior this afternoon, for whenever I stealthily
looked at my watch, they turn their heads questioningly to me.
I must be there at 6:00. I kept reminding myself, as I absentmindedly
sipped at the glass of gin on my hand. The excitement surging inside me was
unbearable. At last, the President took his seat after some time of
deliberation on finances. When I heard the term "adjourn", I raced to the
door without a word, much to the astonishment of my colleagues. I seated
myself in the car contentedly and fumbled for the key inside my bag. In a
matter of minutes, I found myself driving along the smooth byways of E. de
los Santos Ave., flanked on both sides by a series of nightspots, tall
edificed, and flushed houses. I noticed an upcoming infrastructure which
gave a bright promise to the onlooker. The big signboard gave the
architect's name wide and clear, Quintin Estioko, Jr. I remembered how
Kinjo's hands skillfully produced figures during our Electron days.
The ads in the newspaper kept on flashing through my mind. The Q.C.S.H.S.
class '77 will be holding a reunion at the Q.C.S.H. S. Alumni Center, E. de
los Santos Ave., Corner West Ave., Q.C. at the end of March, 1997.
Interested parties may call to Major Juanito Ramos, Jr. of the Philippine
Armed Forces, 97-25-31, BIR commissioner Jose Aristides David and Ofelia
Marquez of the UP Student Affair Department. A smile came to my face, as I
remembered these VIPs during my times. How did they ever get there?
Soon, I maneuvered my car into the entrance of the Q.C.S.H.S. and how it
was changed. Somehow, the land looked bigger than it had seem before. But
then, I realized that the Q.C.S.H.S. compound has stretched further and
occupied the land that once belonged to the Study and Youth Reception
Center, was transferred into a more proper place. You see, we were totally
washed away --- the two-story building where we spent our last two years in
high school. Instead, it has been replaced by several other
modernly-equipped buildings and laboratories, which I remember, were just
dreams before. The left side of the land is now a vast sports ground,
abounding in sports facilities.
I was moving deeper into the school premises and I have realized that I
have reached the far end of the school compound, accentuated by a big and
wide multipurpose hall. The lines of cars led me to the Alumni Center. I
found a space near a Mercedes benz and I was even dumbfounded when I found
out that it belonged to none other than Atty. Wilfredo Martinez, who long
ago, was just contented in driving his daredevil Yamaha bike.
I could hear the laughters from inside the center but I singled out a
familiar chuckle, who I was certain belongs to Fritzi Pascual, now a ground
stewardess of PAL. It became evident then through Fritzi that science
indeed has its wonders.
I stood at the portals of the flushed hall, trying to catch the familiar
faces. From the far end of the hall, Master Kennedy Salcedo was fingering
the keys of the piano with brilliance, filling the air with his music.
Master Salcedo has just finished a course last month at the Curtis School of
Music as a national scholar.
It was Grace Abad who saw me by the door and waved frantically for me to
come inside. Grace is now one of International Heart Center's heart
specialists, just as she has always dreamt of, and is happily married with a
guy she always nag in her teen-age days.
It was a great thing seeing all those people again, to hear all their
cranky voices; some of them have never change at all. In just an hour
everyone was cracking the good old jokes and calling each other their good
old names. It was a real sight to see big men and women in the field of
science and politics acting this way, as in the bygone days.
Lieutenant Colonel Marcelo Garbo was there, who was always carrying that
PMA aura with him, was enjoying an animated talk with Honorable Ezra-Elmo
Martinez of the NSDB. For Elmo, science has always been a priority.
Amando John Jimenez still run around with his boyish and pokish face. Once
in a while, he would create trips am,ong the executive ranks with his
papomba. After all, he is now the owner of GMA 7.
I couldn't help eavesdropping on a conversation by the next table.
Makar-Josef Delacruz and Athena Gorospe are now big names in the newspaper
industry. They seem to be engaged in a very serious talk in the development
of R.P. Space exploration.
As more class '77 alumni poured in, the noise inside the hall grew wilder,l
much better compared to a market place. But then the party has to end.
After the song "Auld Lang Syne", everybody shook hands and waved goodbye.
Driving home, I never really knew how I felt. My thought raced back to
those golden years in high school. Twenty years back with the people who
formed the bunch of now laughing, now serious crowd of seemingly endless
jokes and foolishess.
Then I had the sudden yearning to relieve those days when love was free and
life was beginning to change its tempo to a faster beat, now dim, now
colorful music. Of this one hell of a people, I still believe they are what
they are now.
The yearning was so intense but I have realized I couldn't get it. It was
long till I found out that I was already crying, for high school life is
hard to find unless you know where to go searching. But still it lingers in
the heart.
Ma. Lourdes Sadiua