Halfway through the year! It’s a sure thing that time flies by so fast.
The month of June should have been the month of celebrations especially for the graduates. Congratulations to Caese Calaro and Ava Castillo! Warmest congratulations to all the graduates on your well-deserved success! I wish success keeps following you in everything you do and everywhere you go! Hats off!
Let’s not forget in June we celebrate Father’s Day! We thank all the fathers for being able to celebrate last month’s Mother’s Day. This month, we thank all the mothers for being able to celebrate Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and the father figures in the lives of the children. Thank you for your unconditional love and support you give to the children.
Shout out to those who are celebrating their birthday this month. Extra shout out to Deziree Brianna Butay, Chona Laureta, Mary Jane Domion, Raymond Marko Tamayo, Linda Bea Rasos and Ailyn Rafael. Happy, Happy birthday to you! (Tagalog) Maligayang bati sa inyong kaarawan! (Ilokano) Naimbag nga panagkasangay mo! (Ibanag) Makapagayaya nga aggaw na nikeyana mu! (Kapampangan) Masayang kebaitan queca! (Ilonggo) Masadya gid nga adlaw sa imo pagkatawo!
Let’s see what’s going on with our story this month and where Michael and Angel will be going next, shall we?
Ray stands and messes Michael’s buok (hair), saying “You are really something, my nephew.”
Michael pushes his Uncle Ray’s kamot (hand) and stands. “Stop messing with my buhok (hair), Uncle Ray. I’m not a kid anymore. I’m turning to be a fine young man just like you.”
Ray and Katherine stand and walk towards the front puwerta (door) and Michael says, “Please lock the pasbul (door) on your way out, Uncle Ray.”
Ray stops where Angel is sitting and he messes her buhok (hair) and says, “Get some sleep, kiddo. You need some. We have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”
Michael and Angel look at each other. The silence is demeaning as they both sit there refusing to end the night.
Ray closes the front pintuan (door) and stands there for a minute.
“Come on let’s go, it’s been a long night,” says Katherine and holds his gamat (hand) and walks towards the patrol sasakyan (car).
They walk to the sakyanan (car) hand in hand in silence.
Ray drives to Katherine’s place in silence. They don’t talk at all while they are traveling. Ray is concentrating on driving while Katherine is focused on the road too. When they reach her balay (house), he turns off the engine and says to Katherine, “Pasensya ha lang ako (I’m sorry), it’s late at night. You are probably tired.”
Katherine smiles at him and says, “It’s ok.” … She is about to go down when she turns to him and asks, “Would you like to come inside for a cup of coffee?”
Ray hesitates at first but when he sees her ngiti (smile), he says, “Oh sure. I will not be able to sleep anyway.”
He gets out of the lugan (car) and follows Katherine to her balay (house).
She unlocks the lukob (door) and turns on the lights and goes to the kitchen to brew some coffee.
He closes the ridaw (door) behind him and goes to the living room and starts scanning the pictures on the shelves and on the wall.
Ray pahiyum (smiles) when he sees some pictures of him with Katherine on the wall. He stares at one particular picture that takes him to the past.
It was a hot summer afternoon when Ray was waiting for the school bus under the tree, twirling his pencil on his fingers. Suddenly he was struck pretty hard and someone fell on top of him. As he ate a bit of sand and opened his eyes, he naturally pushed the boy off of him, proceeded to get up and rant. But to his dismay, the boy was actually a girl. She scrambled to control the ball and corralled it into her braso (arms). She held the football in both gamat (arms) and jumped up in the air and spiked it in the ground. “Yah! Let’s go!” Katherine screamed as in the distance you could hear a small crowd cheering. Laughing, she looked down at Ray and smirked. She gave a thumbs up and said “Ey, thumb-wrestle. You think you can beat one girl?”
Ray jumped up and dusted himself. He opened his ima (hand) and said, “Yeah, right! You have no chance.” They locked gamat (hands) and began the thumb-dance. … “One two three four, I declare a thumb-war,” the two sang in sync. Instantly, Ray could feel the force and strength of Katherine. She instantly powered her way to a clean thumb pin on Ray. In complete shock and eyes wide opened. He demanded a rematch. She obliged. “One two three four, I declare a thumb-war.” This time Ray put up a heroic effort. But the result was the same. A clean pin. She even kept the pin and looked into his eyes, which were filled with despair. Despite the fact that a girl not only knocked him down but beat him, no, she dominated him in thumb wrestling. As she let go of the hold, she walked past him and shoulder-bumped him, turned around and gave a thumbs up and walked away.
Everything happened so quickly. He stared into his kamay (hand). This was the first time a girl touched his kamot (hand). As he turned his head he saw this tomboy running with the football pretending to be a running back. He smirked back at her and got on the bus.
The next day Ray was sitting in his usual spot near the bus stop under the tree. Looking around, he was looking for this mysterious girl. Constantly looking around but to his disappointment, she never came. Playing with a blade of grass and bending it into oblivion, he flicked it over his right shoe. Grabbing his bag and tossing it over his shoulder, he started heading to the waiting line for the bus. All of a sudden someone bumped into him and it was Katherine. A gleaming tamisni (sweet) ngiti (smile) in her nawong (face), pearly white teeth, her buok (hair) was a mess and sweating. Hunched over, she gripped his forearm and caught her breath. “Hey, Ray,” she said while lifting her gamat (hand) with a thumbs up. “Wrestlemania time. Let’s see if you got any stronger from yesterday,” she jabbed at him. Katamis (Sweet) isem (smile) from ear to ear, he is so naragsak (happy) to see her, you could see it in his rupa (face). He dropped his bag and fake spit into his ima (hand). And extended his lima (hand), “Hell yeah, rematch! I can’t lose again.”
“One two three four, I declare a thumb war,” they giggly sang. And the match was on. Katherine on the offense, as she always is the aggressor, she tried quickly to clamp on, but misfire after misfire, she started to get sloppy. Ray, on the other kamay (hand) playing defense, never got into motion of attempting a pin since he was always running. She pulled him in close to her and he panicked. She pinned him and counted. “Seven, eight, nine …” Ray squirmed and pulled and jerked but just couldn’t move. “You have vice grip gamat (hands)!” he shouted as they both laughed. “Ten,” she finished the pin and released him. They both laughed as they stared at each other.
Her mayumu (sweet) timan (smile) on her nawom (face) was so addicting. This was the moment Ray fell in love with Katherine.
“Ray … Ray…back … to earth Ray,” Katherine calls but he just yuhum (smiles).
Anyways, that’s all I have. Keep an eye out for my column in every issue. I’m Dulce, helping you to master your Filipino Languages. Like always, let’s laugh, let’s makinig (listen) and Let’s Talk Pinoy! Hanggang sa muli! (Until next time!) Ingat! (Take care!)
Dulce Karen Butay was graduated from Maui High School and received her Associate in Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Maui Community College. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, specializing in Accounting, from the University of Hawai‘i – West O‘ahu. She is currently the Administrative Officer at the County of Maui, Department of Finance. Butay is a licensed Resident Producer of Life Insurance with World Financial Group and an Independent Consultant of Saladmaster. She is now part of Saladmaster’s Travel Club and won an all-expenses paid trip to Cancún, Mexico. Butay has traveled to Texas, the Philippines and Thailand as one of the delegates from Island Healthy Solutions, a Saladmaster dealer here on Maui.