mayhem and comedy

Saturday, 26 september 2009,12 noon.

i woke up to the sound of an alarm clock i don't remember setting.

"eeeee!!!"

my mom, ladies and gentlemen.

i was still groggy due to lack of sleep and fatigue from 5 days worth of work so naturally, i took no notice of her. but she was unrelenting.

"eeeee!!!"
"joey! get up! the water is inside the house"

being a movie junkie, i felt like i was in a suspense/thriller movie. i was tempted to mock her and hiss "the call is coming from inside the house.." but i held back.

mother, 1. joey, 0.

against the stronger urge to cover my face with my blanky and turn to the other side, i got up. i was wearing short boxers and my favorite body hugging sando. it took my brain exactly 10 seconds to process what's happening.

the flood is inside our house.

"eeeee!!!"

that brought me back to reality. immediately scanned the area, which was the whole house because i slept in the sala, to see if anything electrical (or otherwise important) thing is in the path of destruction. then i switched off the main power source.

"eeeee!!!"

that's the third, if you're counting, and by this time, i felt like the slasher is already behind me.

"mother, no matter how many times you scream at the top of your lungs, the water will never recede." i said.

"joey, grab the fridge! put it somewhere high!" she shot back.

dead ma.
police siren disguised as my mother, 2.
caffeine hungry, half naked joey, still 0.

luckily, the fridge isn't as heavy as i thought it would be. maybe it was the adrenaline, but i was able to carry it myself. the next thing i did was to stuff the space between the door and the floor with lots of clothes (that were supposed to go to charity) to try and suppress the water flow. it helped. a lot.

crazy woman dressed as my mom, 2.
adrenaline pumped, super joey, 1.

fortunately, it stopped raining after a while. aside from the water damage, everything else was safe. our only casualty was a pile of old magazines stacked beside the sala (presumably for light reading, but i use it a trash bin... don't tell mom).

my mom finally started to calm down. at last, my palace is at peace. i hate "Ondoy".

"eeeee!!!" mom.
"what?!" me.
"ipis! (cockroach!)"
"eeeee!!!!!!!!!!"

********************
don't get me wrong, i love the rain.

it inspires me, and so many others before me to write, do some self-reflection and the most obvious reason: it's the best time to sleep.

but this... this was something else.

i've never seen rain and flood like that since... "rosing" from the 90s. our place doesn't normally flood. but there it was inside our house.

********************
i wondered how everyone else was doing.

unfortunately, i was low bat and i didn't have any credits on my mobile.

it was only the next day when the full impact of the strom came to my attention. people died and whole houses were submerged in water. landslides, people stranded on the streets, flashfloods. all of these were happening while i was making fun of my mom.

i felt sorry for those who were heavily affected and i felt so fortunate at the same time because we weren't hit that bad. i guess i'm still lucky.

********************
we remember the people who died in this catastrophe and say a little prayer for their souls and for those who still need help.

charity is a good virtue to have.