Chapter 1 (2/2)
”Pagbeeelan ngaaa!” the head of the young girl pops up once again on the wooden sill, which she loudly knocks on with her change
”Pagbilan ngaaa…pagbeeelaaaan ngaaaaaa……!”
”What is iiIIiit?” Rogelio decides to go along with the brat
”Do you have any ice candy?”
”What flavor?”
”Coconut”
”None”
”Pineapple?”
”None”
”Melon?”
”None”
”How about o?”
”Big o?”
”Mmm…small please”
”None”
”Big?”
”None”
”What do you have available then?”
”None,” Rogelio felt ainto playing with the girl ”Didn't I already tell you we don't sell any? No more I already showed you the shop, do you want to look inside as well? We don't have any more wares”
”But kuya, !”
”I know, but I'll start calling you Ging-Ging fro brats Or would you prefer the naelio's joking and took off again, both ar bird
He looks at the clock 9:54 He looked out to the road Aling Precious is still outside, glaring at the people passing by, holding a broo After a bit, the meticulous wo her nose, and then proceeds to look at her finger; no catch She once again dug deep inside her nose Rogelio had a sour expression on his face when suddenly Aling Precious turned to his direction Their eyes elio ducks down and hits a pile of screws off the table, causing them to fall and for so his left hand, he picks up the screws one by one, while his right hand carries the two AC's on top of one another, with a broken 21” black-&-white TV on top where a cat is laying down and sleeping
Translation Notes:
1 – Literally !” or “I’m a buyer!” It’s used to catch the attention of the shop attendant when no one’sthe store front
2 – Used to address an olderlike “Nii-san”
3 – Literally “variety store” they are hborhood You could read /wiki/Sari-sari_store
4 – A ter like “Mister”
5 – Benigno Aquino Jr, or “Ninoy” was a for Martial Law in the Philippines It’s a fascinating subject of Philippine history, but also very touchy Feel free to look it up yourself, lots of results will co “Martial Law in the Philippines”
Ninoy Aquino was assasinated in the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983
6 – A ter like “Mrs”
7 – The smallest administrative division in the Philippines The Filipino tere or district (from Wikipedia)
8 – Corazon “Cory” Aquino was the wife of Ninoy Aquino who ran in his past husband’s stead for presidency She became the 11th President of the Philippines after the successful People Power Revolution, which alsoabout this in er than the chapter itself
Cory Aquino was elected Febuary 25, 1986 “Malacañang” here refers to the Malacañang Palace, the Philippine equivalent to the White House
9 – Affectionate Filipino slang for “pal” or “friend” (from Urban Dictionary)
The stuff like StarKist, Rinbee, Cheezums, etc are all types of snacks in that period I think it’s quite obvious taken the context, so I won’t bother going in depth