THE SHOE-SHINE BOYS

True, one can never have too-much fun flying kites, playing marbles, rubber band, singgam, pretending to be Filipino or Japanese soldier in guerra-guerra, and many more than I care to count. But what about having fun and earn bucks doing it? My father works as a security guard at a desiccated-coconut factory next town and every six months or so, truckloads of coconut shells, bagol, are dumped home. My home-maker mother taught me how to make coal, uling from it. Though labor-intensive, the money was good. At 10 centavos per ganta, 3 for 25 centavos, business was lucrative. But where is the fun? Two blocks before you get to the mercado on the main street, was a tailoring shop. The master-cutter-tailor was said to be the best in the province such that shop-owners from other towns have been trying to pirate him. As a die-hard Aloranon, he decided to stay-put, and make his fellow Aloranons look good before anyone else. Some folks told us kids that this guy was also a master shine-shoe boy in his teens. One day, we actually got the chance to have an audience with the master. He spoke like a guest speaker in a high school graduation. He mentioned about going to places as far away as Davao City, Cotabato City and Pagadian. Back in those days, going to those far-flanged places was like going overseas. This guy was already an OFW, before we even heard of places like the Middle East and the backdoor. With the money he and his buddies raked, siopao and Royal True Orange, yeah, the same Royal True Orange your mother gets you only when you are sick, were no luxury. He was quite an inspiration! I wanted to travel and have siopao and Royal True Orange too, and so do the other boys.