Wednesday, February 16, 2011

My Brother Is Not A Pig!

I grew up in a family where everyone was present during mealtime. I have four big brothers as in literally big and two beautiful sisters. Well, that’s according to the recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia with only two respondents, my two sisters! Also present were the King (my father) and Queen (my mother) of our family with our uncle who was like a father to us. Every meal was like a big feast because eleven people sit and share in a big rectangular table.

During mealtime, a strange phenomenon usually happens that cannot be explained by anyone and even science would have a hard time digging facts about it. My eldest sister being very responsible, would divide and distribute the viand equally among our siblings. I remember vividly that our viand then was 'pritong galunggong' (fried mackerel fish). I would love to eat it with my rice swimming in water and rock salt.

Then, the moment of truth had to come out. When my sister was giving our share of the fish, she noticed that one piece was missing. She threatened all of us that if the guilty would not confess of the crime, she would punish all of us. Because my sister was like incredible hulk the female version, when she got angry, we were afraid of the consequence that we would receive from her. Yet despite this, nobody admitted that time. Until finally, my sister noticed the rice of my brother on his plate was shaped like Mt. Everest. My sister got suspicious and she slowly dug a hole from the surface of my brother’s rice. Aha! We saw the head of the fish as if wanting to escape from Alcatraz. My brother was caught hiding the fish so that he could get another one. Instead of blaming our brother, we all laughed and teased him for his work of art. Hehehehe! The mystery was solved and just like in any other court hearing, case closed.

While we were enjoying the taste of our humble but luscious food, my eldest brother who eats with a lot of enthusiasm and gusto would get a big chunk of rice like a construction worker spading huge bulk of sand, and slowly chew and swallow the gargantuan amount of rice and fried fish from his big hand. When he chewed, his face would turn elastic as if he was blowing a bazooka bubble gum. His two cheeks would bloat like a balloon and his face would change its appearance as if he underwent a face lift. We would control our laughter because we were afraid that our eldest brother might get embarrassed and eventually scold us.

As we continued with our meal, we were telling funny stories with each other. I found an opportunity to share with them my experience about my youngest brother. My brother was begging not to continue with the story but I believed that it was worth sharing after all. Every time we were in a jeepney going to school, my youngest brother had the habit of sleeping. One time, he fell asleep while his hands were hanging on the bar of the jeep. I was seated beside him and I was appalled to see that my brother was creating his own Guinness book of world record. I saw his saliva slowly falling from his mouth like a spider weaving its web. I was taken aghast by the sight that I saw. I gently woke up my brother so that no one would notice him and handed him my handkerchief. Wow! I didn’t know if I would deny him three times or disown him at that moment. Hehehe!
When it was my turn to be fried on the hot plate, my youngest brother was so fast in taking vengeance on me. He shared the time when we both didn’t have enough money to pay for our jeepney fare; I was like a coach telling him the game plan that we would do to be freed from shame and embarrassment. I told my youngest brother that the time we needed to go down from the jeep, I would count one, two, three, and we would jump and run as fast as we could. I told him that the key word to realize our game plan was timing. My siblings were all laughing hearing the story but I knew what I did was totally wrong. Honestly, I have already confessed it and never do it again.

As I reminisce all these funny and crazy moments I had with my siblings, I was reminded of this very popular line in the movie of the great Filipino Superstar, Nora Aunor, "My brother is not a pig!" I can’t help but laugh not because I agree that my brothers are a pig. It has become a common joke for many and I would remember uttering these words to them.

Wait, my brothers are not pigs! They are human beings like us! They are the happiest people I have in my life. Every time we are together, we always share each others laughter and happiness. We eat until the last grain of rice is finished, we sing songs as if we were the next contestants in Americal Idol, we shake our bellies with all the curves and waves, we banter with each other, watch movies ,and go places especially to Tagaytay, which is our favorite spot. In fact, we had our first spiritual recollection as siblings in that heavenly place facilitated by my youngest brother who is an ex-convict. Oopps, I mean ex-seminarian. Some of my friends envy me because we text and say 'I love you!' with each other without inhibition.I am thankful to God for giving me such happy and loving brothers and sisters. We are not perfect as siblings because we also have our own share of frailties, animosity, issues and fights, but we try our best to support, care, understand, forgive, and love each other especially now that our parents are gone.
If you think that my brothers are pigs, well, I would agree to a certain extent because they are big in size like a pig but they are the most amiable toy pig that one would want to have. Hehehe!

I LOVE YOU BROS!

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