It was almost midnight and for some reasons, everyone at home was still up. I even remember asking the maid to get me Tortillos at a nearby store.
Checking my watch, the time was 11:45. Suddenly, like a snap of a finger, like blood rushing towards the head, I knew I had to buy something - a cake for my mom. All this time we followed tradition and here I am forgetting it.
Feeling the sense of urgency, I changed my clothes while letting my memory access its vaults to find the nearest Starbucks still open. I'm absolutely sure that all Red Ribbon bakeries were already closed. We were in Santa Mesa, in our old house, and I was thinking maybe there's a branch near UST. There was no time to think of other locations.
I was on the verge of panic.
I was on the verge of panic.
The maid returned not with a Tortillos but with a plate of pretzels. The pretzels, thick in brown syrup and sprinkled with croutons was something I didn't expect. I hesitated to get a piece.
"Masarap yan!!" The maid insisted, She was right. The croutons turned out to be bits of cheese.
I left the house to start walking. I was about to make a turn to a narrow passage that leads to the main road when I saw a table at the middle of the alley in front of me. On the table were gifts stacked on top each other while party food were laid out around it.
"Someone's having a birthday party," I said to myself. What's surreal is that the table, and all those gifts were there but the celebrant and the guests were nowhere to be found. But there was no time to take a closer look. My surroundings began to dissipate and by then I knew the reason why.
I woke up in my bed with the sun high outside the windows. Feeling relieved that I still have fifteen hours to buy the cake, I got up, opened my laptop and started writing this entry.