Loily's Novella - Out At Last

Look at the picture on the left. How many of these pretty ladies have you seen lately? From left to right, they're Tet Alba, Wilma Villareal, Louie Abad Santos, Betchay la'O, Ella Alcid, Sylvia Penalosa, Louella Pena, Monsie Chuidian, Carmela Carlos, Kathy Barcia, Suki Salvacion, and Marilyn Shaw. They all got together last December 2 and 3 for the GREAT CORALBELLE LA REUNION OF 2005. We had been impatiently waiting to hear about it.

Louie wrote saying, "Just be patient. You'll eventually hear about it. Loily has been assigned to write the account."

She finally sent us her novella, ten chapters in all - no, may pahabol . Eleven chapters pala.

And so starting today, we shall serialize this novella. And just us soon as you read the prologue below, you'll wish you were in the egroup so you can read the next one.

L. A. HULLABALLOO

PROLOGUE

Also known as: CHAPTER 1

by: Louella Pena Rosete

Promises are meant to be kept so I'm telling while my short term memory cells are still working. BUT before I get to the nitty gritty...let me tell you about my flight of horror from Virginia to Arizona to LA and to Burbank.

Nooooo pala. Let me go back to my stay in VA.

I guess all of you by now know that I take a yearly sojourn to VA to be with my brother Edwin and his wife cause my brother is a quadriplegic. Don't ask me why cause that's another lonnnng story and if I tell it right now, we'll never get to LA.

I spent Thanksgiving there with his in-laws, my sister Glenda and her family, my brother Dino and his wife Digna who flew from Manila for the occasion and my daughter Squeaky aka Teza. For twelve days, I didn't do anything but entertain guests and cook from 7AM till 11PM. Talagang walang tigil sa kakaluto cause I promised Edwin that every time I visit them in VA, I'll fill up his two fridges with all his favorites. Besides cooking for him. I also baked a suitcase of fruitcakes to take back with me and hosted two dinners for family and a longtime volunteer couple. When it comes to backbreaking work of this kind, I never complain. It's all for love and gratitude.

Now about my daughter, Squeaky. She really amazes me.

I'll never understand what an account manager does but her company seems to be treating her exceptionally well that they booked her in a luxury furnished condo in an upscale neighborhood in NJ at a cost of $4,000./mo with a cleaning lady. On the day she left for Manila (same as my departure date to LA), she took a chauffered limo to JFK which is more than an hour away, while I took the Super Shuttle. I just don't know if her chauffer looked better than my shuttle driver.

Obviously, I'm not envious of my daughter's success. I'm actually beaming with pride.

The only reason why she has to go back to the Philippines is because another client wants to see her. She has to come back to the US four times a year (quarterly) and stay a minimum of two months each time. I hope to see her in LA when she comes back...if she gets to fly PAL.

Now, that's blessing number one. Blessing number two is.....before I left for VA, I bought a suitcase of gifts for everyone who has been helping Edwin ever since he got sick in 1996. I spent quite an amount even if I knew that I was on a NO PAY NO WORK arrangement with the Bergers from 22Nov to 4Dec.

What blessings do I get in return? A free round trip plane ticket, cash , four watches, and other gifts. My brother paid for my plane fare and gave me money to add to my savings which he invests. Then Squeaky gifted me with two watches....an inexpensive red one to match my red boots and a beautiful Citizen Eco-Drive that runs on solar power and artificial light. Dino and his wife gave me a holiday snowman watch and Edwin's burgis na sis-in-law gave me one from Chiccos. I also received gifts from his volunteers, therapist and nurse. When it pours, I truly feel blessed but not deserving.

So...that was the heavenly part of my trip.

Then......it was time to go back to LA via Reagan National Airport in DC.

I treat all my flights like an international flight..so I'm always at the airport two hours before boarding time.

I check in my two red suitcases (they match my top and boots), while I carry my laptop case (with more fruitcakes inside), my purse (with bottled water, emergency make-up kit, two small bags of potato chips, turkey ham sandwich and two Milky Ways) and ten pound winter coat.

The woman at the counter then tells me to proceed to Gate 16B. Sa bigaaaaaat ng dala ko, I had to walk s..l..o..w...l...y cause I still had a lot of time and seductively cause ang daaaaaaaming gwapo sa airport that morning. I don't know how sexy I projected myself because with all the weight I was balancing on my shoulders and arms, I felt like a carabao hauling excess baggage while sloshing in a muddy ricefield.

When I got to Gate 16 (Alleluia!), which was like one mile and a half away....I wondered why it was empty. So I asked this AfroAmerican woman in uniform if I was at the right gate. She looked at my Boarding Pass and asked,Who wrote down this gate number? Was it placed at the curb or at the airline desk? Siempre, with my best American English, I answered,"Wha zat?"

Sabi niya ulit, "This is wrong!!! AmericaWest hasn't used this gate for almost six months!!! Who the heck wrote this down??#$#@" So, I'm now confused and feeling flustered I finally find my voice and bearing and say, "I doesn't know Mam cause I already got here with printed ticket from the computer you know and I just show to the desk and she get it and make pukpok to it and say...Happeee treeep...heb very nice day to enjoyyy, OK?"

After I say this, she realizes that I'm an ignorant Asian pineapple, takes pity on me and then stands up to her full height. O my Lord of the rings!!! She's seven feet tall!!! She offers to walk me back to the counter so I could get the right gate number and also to reprimand the woman who erred. With her height...it only takes her ten giant steps to get to the counter which is a mile and a half away. For every giant step she takes, I take one hundred and twenty two. Every three steps she takes, she looks back at me and waits for me cause besides being only half her height, I'm still carrying almost 65 lbs. of baggage.

Halfway to the counter, I look up at her and ask,"Hey Latisha Ming Yao...Yao..ao..ao. ..(echo dahil matangkad)...did you ever consider playing basketball...ball...ball..all..all?"

Sagot naman siya with a big smile on her face." I was a varsity player in highschool!" So we continued walking towards the %$#@#$ counter. To make the story short, she had the oversight corrected and the err-er apologized to me. And guess what my right gate number was?? Gate 38.

Counter to Gate16B and back, then on to 38A. By the time I reached my Gate, they were already boarding. When I got to my seat, I noticed that the flight was fully booked. That's when I realized that they purposely wrote down the wrong gate number. Because, airline people know that when a passenger comes in early, she/he usually takes her time having a meal or browsing in the shops or even taking a nap before going to their designated gate. Now if I did this and went to the wrong gate at boarding time...I'd certainly miss my flight and they'll happily sell my seat to someone desparate for a higher price cause it's peaky peak season.

Akala ko, tapos na ang kalbaryo ko. With my seatbelt on, I prop my pillows so I can take a nap. Nakatulog nga ako and just when I'm about to make passionate love with Viggo Mortensen, I'm jolted wide awake by this male voice on the sound system. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We're sorry for keeping you waiting cause apparently, security has been breached on this flight and since we're departing from DC itself, we have been advised to wait till they have thoroughy checked the problem. (Akala ko, ako ang problema. I thought they found my fruitcakes suspicious looking. Mukha kasing blocks of cocaine sa xray.) So the pilot went on to explain.."blah blah blah...a suspicious looking man was spotted near the RAT. The RAT is a hydraulic back-up system and is very sensitive in nature and therefore a security concern for the White House. Security men have asked maintenance to take the system apart and check it. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and estimated time for the procedure is two hours." As soon as he says this, pandemonium breaks loose with everyone asking about their connections, vouchers for meals, etc. Ako, walang pakialam. I just want to go back to Viggo. Malas ko that my seatmate is a crazy old woman who keeps on putting her trash on the sly on my tray and keeps on talking loudly to her daughter who is seated behind her. So I can't sleep....Viggo has blueballs by now..and I proceed to call everyone I know on this planet. All I get are answering machines. Even Bush doesn't answer his phone. All I get from him is this Texan accented message that says,"Well ah...ah..ah deeply appreciate youh call but can't git to it rah now cause I heb impohtant matters to take care of ...the King of Denmark is in town and ah guess ah heb to host a lot of Denmarkanish people. Your call is really ap-preciated. God bless America. Laura and the girls wish you tha best."

Finally, we do take off. Half an hour into our flight, all the flight attendants start to rush to the front of the plane and take out an oxygen tank. I thought the RAT had disintegrated and the plane was going to crash and explode in a ball of fire. What about my watches??!! What will happen to them??? And my fruitcakes??? One was meant for Steve!!! My whole life just flashed infront of me and I could actually see Tet still doing her hair. Ayun pala......a man collapsed. Agitated na naman ang mga pasahero. They start asking for medical assistance on board. Ababa??? Who stands up but my crazy seatmate!!! I'm both mortified and impressed!! I feel guilty for pre-judging her. Doktora pala si Lola. But because she walks so slow, two other doctors get to the man first. She just looks on. Then she turns around and walks back to her seat.

The man seated beside her looks up at her admiringly and tells her,"Thank you, doctor." Sagot ng gurang," Naaaaah, I'm not a doctor, I couldn't see what was happening from my seat." Dios ko 'day, gusto ko siyang sabunutan at i-flush sa toilet. Welllllll, the man's condition turned out to be stable so we proceeded to fly on. At our final approach they started to give out a list of the connections that we could still take.

As soon as we landed they opened the emergency exit for the sick man but everyone including me rushed ahead of him so we could get to our designated gate(s) on time.

I asked the man at the desk how much time I had and he said 10 minutes. "Can I make it?" He replied."Yes, if you hurry."

So I ran and ran and ran and kept on running and couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel cause my f$#@ing gate was at the end of another terminal which was about three miles away.

Gasp! Hingal! Mura!! Hingal!!

When I got to my Gate, the door was closed, I was sweating, my heart was pounding wildly, my stomach was churning and I could feel the turkey sandwich inching up my

throat. Everyone was on board except me!!!!! But thank God, the door opened and when the woman came out, all she said was "Enjoy your flight."

I did. I really tried to enjoy my flight. The seat next to me was empty and a Middle Eastern looking man asked if he could take it. I couldn't care at that point. But when he was seated, another Middle Eastern looking man with a terrorist sounding accent told him to sit in the back with him. Medyo paranoid na ako dito. Then the two men seated infront of me turned to each other...mukhang Middle Eastern din and started conversing with terrorist sounding accents. Oh my Goddddddd!! Ano ba ini????

Bakit kasama ko on board ang mga brothers and uncles ni Bin Laden??!!! That flight took thirty minutes only but it felt like two hours of high anxiety. I was always waiting for any of them to rush to the front of the plane with dynamites strapped to their chest. Ka-boom!!! There go my watches and fruitcakes.

Nothing happens. Nothing unpleasant.

I'm finally home. I'm blissfully happy. I want to kiss the pilot, but the flight attendant blocks my path. I can't believe it! I got to LA on time.

I retrieve my red suitcases and look for the Super Shuttle stand. I still have to go to another airport...the Burbank airport which is forty minutes from LAX but five minutes away from Betchay's place. She's picking me up cause we're going to the party of the year.....The Great Annual LA Xmas Gathering.

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata