Friday, May 09, 2008

The Penniless Wanderer

It was one hot morning when the a few people of the block instantly had an interesting game of ‘jokingly’ stealing important stuffs of other people. The game was just to make fun of other people’s belongings and make them react in such uncomfortable situations, thus attempt to capture the culprit by personal investigation and some sort of friendly alliances. Of course, barking on the wrong tree was inevitable, but it offers a great deal of add-up to the excitement. Mobile phones are on top of the list of the bulk of stolen items. The game has no precise rule. One must be patient to get the item back in the fastest and easiest way he could think of. It may seem easy but it’s not, especially when the entire block takes part in worsening the case of missing items, therefore, making pinpointing of who’s the suspect really hard.
I was among the founders of the game. I was once the suspect in keeping January’s mobile phone under her chair and the person behind Chiwee’s missing handkerchief. I had a lot of fun… only to realize that I was victimized by the unsuspicious maneuvers of an unlikely suspect, Miguel. He stole by wallet and never had the guts to return it until lunchtime was over!
Since my wallet was gone and I was left empty-handed (financially speaking), I had no choice but to wander… basically everywhere. I went to the library and toured the entire campus! Then, since I have not seen any of my friends around, I was forced to walk half a kilometer towards the mall. There, I thought of things to gain vengeance. It was such a hurt to ever skip my most important meal of the day! My anger overshadowed me, even leading me to think of harsh things against Miguel, the missing-in-action thief! I thought of bringing red paint the day after and pouring it over his white school uniform. I thought of stealing his wallet just like what he had done, thus, following the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (well, with some modifications because I wasn’t planning on returning it thereafter). And also, I thought of making the rest of his college life harder than he could ever conceive of… crueler than the way teachers usually treat us!
The agony of killing time by wandering finally ended when the bell rang and all of us were about to attend the start of the afternoon class. It was over indeed, but my anger raging within me tells me that it isn’t, especially as it screams louder than the sound of hunger in my stomach. I entered the room silently, craving not for food but for a sharp-edged knife so I could stab the guy responsible for the uncomfortable feeling I felt deep inside. Miguel acted as if nothing happened. That scapegoat never took any form of responsibility whatsoever. Magically, the wallet appeared before my eyes, out of nowhere. No one was brave enough to comfort me. My fiery eyes somehow pushed any consoling soul to come close.
Then, I realized, that was a start of a war. Miguel and I never talked for two months. It was hard because you get to see him everyday. Miguel actually had the guts to play jokes on me because he was such a good friend of mine. He probably never knew that he just crossed my borders. That’s a lesson to learn, I’d say.