Machetes

I see it!

Where. I not!

Elvie, you are looking at the wrong place. Look, see that little thing wiggling? That's it.

How you sure, Jenny?

I been here before. My father, he would come back from Dubai every two years. He come on the ferry. I sit and wait for him, right here. I so miss him. He come back and stay for two weeks then he leave again. I remember last time he come like it yesterday. He has a big smile. He hug me tight.

He died over there?

Yes. They say an accident. His body sent back but I not see when he arrive, only at the funeral parlor. That when we become very poor. ... But see, it is getting bigger now. Exciting and scary!

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k'Ren! Stop pulling your hair like that!

Oh, Ate, what if they hate us? What if they mean? This is not good. What if they make Ron leave us?

If they don't like us, I not care. If they mean, we be mean too. I don't think they can make Ron do anything. She is the daughter. She must respect her father. Why a daughter not respect the father? I think she will behave. No child wants to dishonor a parent.

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You are sure about the plan? You willing to do this?

Ros, maybe it our only way to make the daughter understand. She not know how life like here. Ron say she filled with ideas from her culture that makes what we do, very criminal. He say, in his culture, daughters put their parents in places to live when they get old so the children not care for their parents. They not treat parents properly. He not know what she will do. He is scared. If Ron scared, I scared.

Friend Emelyn gud¹, I worry, maybe she is hurt when you do this. Maybe she not able to live this way.

I be careful. I only do this if no choice. But no tell others.

Jenny know. She not tell. She know, if Elvie know, Elvie will tell Ron. It must not happen, di ba?

Yes.

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Pearl and I see the ferry at the same time. The sky and ocean are beautiful in the fading light and reflections of a sunset. There are a myriad of colors and hues that change as you watch them. It would be the most tranquil of settings it if were not for what all this portends.

We are all standing in little groups stretched out and in conversations. I suspect each girl is both curious and worried. It is hard not to be.

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Mom! I see Poppop and maybe the others too. But there are so many waiting for our ferry! It's hard to tell.

I see him too. He is standing there, tall, tanned, and in each hand there is the hand of a girl who can't possibly be as old as Melissa. But if there are three women who are thirty-five with him, I don't see any. Maybe some in the twenties. Oh, Jesus, yes, they are all gathering around him. They are his Pretorian Guard! This is one hell of a greeting! They are not here to welcome us! They are here to protect him!

Mom, they look so young. Some look much younger than Melissa. Isn't there one supposed to be a year older than I am? I don't see her.

I don't either, Aubrey.

Mom, they look like they really like Poppop.

Yes, so it would seem.

Aubrey is right. Regardless of any concern I have, these women and girls want to protect Dad. They seem to really care. You can see it in their faces. We are not that far away now as the ferry is being secured in its moorings.

I can see that Dad must have shaved this morning but, needs another shave now. I can see the flip-flops on the feet of some. The school girls are wearing a type of uniform and have black leather shoes. Dad is wearing leather sandals. All Dad's other companions have leggings and long sleeved shirts on or a long sleeved cover over their blouses. Five are holding umbrellas and they are all hovering under the umbrellas to keep out of the sun.

One woman is holding her umbrella high enough to shield Dad. She is young but, not as young as the really young. She is also one with a determined look on her face. It is a 'Do not cross me or my man' face. That is a face you can see anywhere in the world and it always means a really pissed off woman who will do anything and everything to keep you away from her man. What is it with these women?

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The ferry is disgorging its passengers. Sarah and her girls are being assisted by three young and strong Filipinos who are smiling broadly and more than happy to make a favorable impression on pretty foreign women. Their expression changes slightly when they spy me and note that this is the destination of those they are assisting. But I give them a big smile and offer each ₱20 which they accept with equally big smiles.

Welcome to my small part of the Philippines, Sarah. And you two! It is so good to see you two. It has been too long. Well, allow me to do the first set of introductions. We will need to repeat some of them a few times, before you get them all. I look at my girls. This, pointing to my daughter, is Sarah. And these two sweet girls are my grandkids, Aubrey and Melissa. And now, you three, let me introduce you to my household. First please meet Susan and k'Ren. They are sisters. No one is more protective of me and of her housemates than is k'Ren. And Sarah, you need to know that Susan carries either your brother or your sister. We do not know which yet.

Dad, excuse me but, Susan you look very young. If you are to be my new step mother, just how old are you?

I am twenty, Ma'am but, I not be Ron's wife. No, maybe we are all his wives but, no we not married. Still, I have your family inside me.

Sarah is confused and it shows. She stands mute.

Next meet she, whose errant act precipitated your arrival. This is Elvie, my chief of the house.

Poppop, Elvie is seventeen?

Aubrey, Elvie speaks English. Ask her.

Elvie? You are really seventeen? You look so young.

Me? Really, I look young? No! It is you who look young to me! Truly. Yes, I am seventeen. I be eighteen in August.

OK, now for my official scrounger and fixer, this is Jenny.

Sarah finds a voice. Dad tells me that three of you are thirty-five. Jenny you don't look more than 25 to me.

I am thirty-five ma'am. You want to see my ID? I need to prove it?

No, no that is not needed. You just look great for thirty-five! I wish I looked so good!

You silly. You are very pretty. I am happy about that. If Ronald gives me a child, maybe it will be pretty like you!

And once again, Sarah is flummoxed.

OK, now we come to the most recent additions to the house. These two women are the good friends of Susan. It was Susan who was able to get them to join us. They are Ros and Emelyn.

And both of you are also thirty-five?

There are eyebrows but that is meaningless to Sarah. Still, she needs to understand that. Sarah, sweetheart. Did you notice that after you asked your question, both of them raised their eyebrows?

I guess.

That means 'yes' in Filipino.

Really?

Eyebrows go up on nine females!

Oh!

See, so you did get an answer. Yes, they are both thirty-five. These two identical twins who, by temperament and personality are anything but, are, pensive, respectful, and thoughtful, Jonalyn and her assertive, assured and brutally honest sister, Joriz. The last of them all but not in order of how I feel about her, is Ros's daughter Pearl. Pearl is a unique young woman of extraordinary capacity to see the needs she has, and the needs that others carry within them. She is respectful of all, while asserting her needs when she can.

Sarah looks back at Elvie, Did you quit school?

No, Ma'am. I graduate. School ends at grade ten² Ma'am.

Oh!

Yes, Ma'am, there is much you not know about our country and our culture.

I see. I hear you, Elvie, but there are things in this world that are simply wrong always.

Really, Ma'am? I not sure that it true. The Bible say, 'Thou shall not kill,' but the Mayor of Davao in the south, he kill many. Make his city safer. People like that and always elect him. Why that?

Dad, is what Elvie said true?

More true than you can imagine. Let's get you to the house.

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My girls and I are afforded the bench right behind Dad. Jenny is in the passenger seat up front, not Susan. Elvie is sitting with Susan and the two mothers; I don't remember their names. Behind them are the four young girls, all on a bench, and behind them are our bags. I have never seen a van like this in the US. Dad was right that it was designed for fifteen but can carry twenty Filipinos. If you just put four on each bench you get sixteen plus the driver and front passenger. And at four abreast, as small as they are, they aren't really squeezing.

We are driving out of town into countryside. It is clear we are on a tropical island. The coconut trees attest to that. The roads are impossibly narrow, and the behavior of the drivers is appalling. How Dad is driving here is beyond me.

Back at the wharf, I think the women laid down the battle line. They are all wives and I have no business telling them how to live in their own country. Maybe if it were just all but the fourteen-year-olds, I would accept that and take a pass on the matter. After all, if Dad wants to be an idiot in his later years, it isn't hurting me. I don't think it would really hurt my girls. But the four young children? How can he justify raping them? I don't care what he says, it is just wrong.

I have to do something about it. I will call the embassy tomorrow and ask how it should be handled. After all, he is an American citizen!

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I have no idea how this is going. She is being too nice, and yet I know my daughter. She is royally pissed. I am in uncharted waters. That damned author never mentions connections with any in the States who care or give a shit.

The conversations which my gals normally try to do in English when I am around are now all in Ilonggo. I feel isolated and in the damned dark.

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How could Dad have afforded this place? It's a mansion! He says he owns it and has the deed to prove it. I ask him about how he got a mortgage here and he says there is no mortgage. It is his, free and clear.

As we get out of the van his household is scattering. One of the young girls is asking my two to come with them. I don't like it but, I say OK but only until supper. Dad is walking towards me but Elvie stops him, seems to ask a question, kisses Dad on the cheek and runs off. Our bags have been removed from the van and, I gather, must be in the house although, for the life of me, I don't see how that got done without my notice.

Dad comes over and offers a 'cook's tour' of the place. If it looked big from the outside, it is huge when you are in it. I suspect my girls are jealous at the size of the bedrooms here. But I note half of them are empty. When I ask him, Dad shrugs. He says Filipinos are like sardines in the can. They like small places and want to be close to one another. No one is making them use the arrangements they have chosen. It has been entirely their choices.

I guess, to a real extent, I do not know them. But I do know what they are doing is wrong.

Dad's floor, and he says it is his alone, is incredible. When he says he lives like a king, well he sort of does. I look at his closet. There are no women's things in there at all. Nothing in his bathroom. Only his things. It is not clear how all this works and I really don't think I want to know.

Dad gets a text and then announces, we are requested to come to dinner. OK, so that's weird. Using text between floors.

The table is huge. It seats twelve and a thirteenth has been added to one end. I am asked to sit next to Dad and am surrounded by the older women. The young ones are at the other end. It's pretty equally divided. Elvie and Pearl are taking orders for drinks from my girls and me. All others are already accommodated. I am offered Sprite, Coke, water, beer or wine. My girls are offered the soft drinks or water. I take a glass of wine. I note Dad is drinking water.

Is the choice of water because I am here?

But Dad does not answer. Jenny does that. He not drink except maybe once a week he have a beer. He drink water with his meals. This is normal.

Dad doesn't take Jenny's response to be a problem. He just smiles and continues eating.

One of the young girls, I think is the one who he said is 'brutally honest' asks, as if it is a normal part of life, Who tonight?

Dad puts his spoon down (why is he eating with a spoon?) thinks a bit and answers, Ros, will you join me?

And Ros, I guess that's her, answers, Yes. Thank you. This is good.

I think I just witnessed the nightly selection process of who the King gets in his bed. Tonight it is one of the older ones. One that is legal, even if it is morally reprehensible. On other nights, I am sure it also includes the younger ones. This just has to stop. It has to stop now! I have the 800 number for the embassy. I leave the table, retrieve my phone and dial the number.

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What did you do to my phone? It won't go through.

I look at Sarah and something is clearly wrong. Why is she shouting that I messed with her phone? I haven't done anything. Who are you trying to dial?

I don't have to tell you who I want to talk with!

Susan, what's the problem? What number is it?

It is an 800 number.

Oh, well US 800 numbers do not work in the Philippines.

But this one must.

Why do you say that? No US 800 numbers work here.

But this is the Embassy. The US Embassy! It is their 800 number.

OK, I guess I need to know why you need the call the embassy tonight but, the short answer is that you can only use that number for the Embassy from the USA. There are other numbers for the Embassy if you are calling from here.

What are they?

Why do you want to call them?

This! This has to stop!

And you think calling the Embassy is the way to get that done?

Yes! I have to. They have to get you back home!

First, I am home. I have no home in the USA. Second, they would not send me back, they would called the PNP, the Philippine National Police, and have me arrested. The PNP would probably also arrest Ros and Emelyn and Susan. The other girls would be out on the street. There is no real program for girls their age here. So, is that what you want to happen?

I don't believe you. You may be my father but, this must stop! ... Aubrey, look up the number for the local police on your phone!

At this point all hell breaks loose. Elvie rips Aubrey's phone from my granddaughter's hands. Joriz does the same to Melissa and her phone. Jenny and Ros, who had slipped into the dirty kitchen³, return with four machetes. Jenny tosses one to Susan. Ros tosses one to Emelyn.

Jenny grabs Aubrey, putting the machete to my granddaughter's throat. Susan does the same to Melissa. Ros and Emelyn approach Sarah brandishing the blades.

Ros holds out the other hand. The phone. Give it me. NOW! Sarah pulls back and Ros swipes close to Sarah's face. Give it now. Next time I will not miss.

Dad?

Give her the phone, Sarah. We can talk about this but, I suggest that to avoid this ending very badly, you really need to give her the phone.

Sarah hands the phone to Ros. Ros flips it over to Emelyn. Ros is in control here. She gives me a look that says she will cut me if I interfere. I believe her.

Ros looks directly at Sarah. Now I want you to walk over to my daughter. That one, Pearl! You tell her that you want her to sell her body on the street, because you want her mother in jail and there is no way she can survive otherwise. You go and tell her that!

I won't. It is not what I want!

It is what will happen if you do what you want. So you tell her you are a stupid fool and that this is what will happen because you are stupid. Tell her what will happen. NOW!

NO! It will NOT happen!

Yes it will. You are an idiot. Ron how you give birth to a fool like this?

I have to do something. This is a fucking mess. Sarah, what do you think will happen?

The girls will be put in foster care and the mothers will lose parental rights but not go to jail. You will be deported back to the US.

Sarah, this isn't the USA. There is no severance of parental rights here. It is not possible. All there is, is jail. Hopefully they will live if sent to jail. Not all do. There is no foster care. The girls will be sent to the province where their closest relatives lived. But they were not born there and they know no one there. They will live on the street. To have money for rice, prostitution is the only real option they will have. And me? Under the law, the Embassy has no option other than to make the call to the police. There may be a trial, there may not. I will likely die in jail years before there ever is a trial. That is what you were about to do to all of us in this room. What can you expect will happen when you threaten to destroy ten lives because your moral compass is set to a different star and you don't have a fucking clue about what will happen when you do it?

Dad, this is wrong!

Killing some of us and destroying the other lives is less wrong?

No one is going to die!

Bullshit! You don't have a fucking clue. You are stupid and witless! You know nothing of the world in which I live and these others live. You act like you are the one who knows best! You may be my daughter but, Sarah, fuck you. You don't know shit. I had nothing to do with what has happened tonight. The knives are not something I have anything to do with. However, considering what you were about to do, I wish they had given me one, too.

Are you going to kill us?

I hadn't planned on it. I have no idea what they had planned. Do we need to?

Jesus, Dad. Are you really going to kill me?

You are doing your best to kill me. What's the difference?

But I am not!

You don't think you are but, that is what your actions will produce. So once again, what is the difference?

But I don't want to hurt you!

Sarah, you don't control the actions of others. Once you pull the lever you can't unpull it. And once you pull it, you set me on a lethal course. I will be dead.

So what can I do? It has to stop!

First, it doesn't have to stop. If k'Ren, Pearl, Joriz and Jonalyn want to leave at any time they can. I will do nothing to stop them. If they stay, in under four years they are eighteen. No one else is allowed to enter this house. No one. Hell, I tried to convince three of the four of those girls, and their two mothers, to stay far away from me. Ask them! I told Jenny to leave when she first came, that very thing, a dozen times. I did throw five out of here without ever touching them. Ask Elvie, who was royally pissed that I didn't allow them to stay. I don't know what you can do but, this is not going to stop. Every one of my household is a wife to me, without exception. I will never ask one of them to leave. I will never send a single one of them away. I cannot force them to stay. Elvie can attest to that too. I may not be a good man by your standards anymore but, to those in this house, I am fair, honest, and I keep my promises. ... As to what you can do, I don't have a clue. I don't know that I can trust your word anymore.

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Chapter 24