For this exercise, I was asked to pick story elements at random from a set of index cards. On these index cards were written short descriptions of various characters, locations, objects, situations, actions, and themes, that I have compiled from my daily observations. I was given the option to work with Toting again, which I took.
Story Elements
Character 1: JOSELITO or TOTING (or BUNGAL) is a pedicab driver who plies the Vito Cruz-Taft area. He is 38 years old but looks older. He is thin and dark skinned, with unruly brown hair and almost no front teeth. He has a wife, Marina, and three kids: Josephine, Marian, and Marijo.
Character 2: ALFONSO MIGUEL, whom nobody calls by his name anymore, is a culinary arts student at Benilde. He is instead referred to as BUTCH, a childhood moniker that originated from “botchog” and “tabatchoy”—epithets for his girth. At 18 years old and in second year in college, he packs 350 pounds on his 5’7” frame. He is good at making pastries. He dislikes public transport.
Location: The story takes place on the CORNER OF ESTRADA STREET AND ARELLANO STREET in the Vito Cruz-Taft area, where pedicabs and taxicabs often line up to wait for passengers from the nearby Benilde campus and hotel. It was a sweltering lunch hour.
Object: A white COMFORTER BLANKET, soiled with a small pool of blood.
Story Outline
1. Butch is on his way to school in the AKIC campus of Benilde along Arellano Street. He is on a rush to arrive in class on time despite having woken up late—yet again. He has been feeling sluggish in the past few weeks.
2. He approached his usual street parking spot near the corner of Estrada Street and Arellano Street. Thankfully, it was still empty. But then he saw a pedicab parked at the center of the spot. He blared his car horn urgently. A man, Toting, whom he presumed to be the pedicab’s driver, ran to the driver’s side of his car. He lowered his window.
3. Before the interruption, Toting was sitting on the sidewalk, unusually quiet. As usual, he was smoking a cigarette. Just this morning, his wife Marina informed him that their baby daughter Marijo’s comforter blanket was soiled with small a pool of blood and feces. Her diarrhea, which has been recurring in the past few months, has returned. They probably had to bring her to the health center again tomorrow, and they needed money for medicine. Toting left the house early in the hopes of earning at least P300 for the day for them to get by.
4. “Sir, you can’t park here, sorry,” Toting says to Butch. “Attorney asked me to reserve this spot for him. He just dropped off his daughter at Taft then he will come back here.” “Attorney who?” Butch asked. “I don’t know his full name, Sir.” Toting answered. I saw the guards call him ‘Attorney’ so I do, too.” “But this is my spot,” Butch complained, growing impatient and worried about the class that he could no longer afford to miss. His teacher had warned him last time that one more instance of tardiness would merit a failing grade.
5. “I usually park here. How much will he pay you? I’ll pay it, too.” Toting contemplates the offer. A call from Butch’s classmate tells him that his teacher was already in the classroom. Butch interrupts Toting’s thoughts. “Look, you need money. I need this space. You don’t know if that attorney is coming back. Take my offer so we both get what we want. C’mon! I’m late for my class.”
6. Toting scratches his head. The guy was right. He had no assurance that Attorney would return. But if he did, he surely would raise hell. It wasn’t a good thing for him to pick a man of the law as an enemy. But then, he needed the money. And if he got it now, he can already resume looking for passengers.
7. “He can’t do anything to you even if he’s a lawyer, you know.” Butch checks his watch and shrugs. “I’ll fail my class for sure.” Butch wipes his face with his hand. His shoulders drop. Toting does not know what comes over him—only that the sight of that overgrown boy pleading with him in frustration, seizes him with a sense of power. The boy had an expensive watch and an expensive car. But Toting held the key to what he wanted. Of course, he also had what Toting needed, but he didn’t have to know that.
8. “Fine, Sir. I’ll move.” Damn the consequences, Toting thinks. He’ll just have to move to another pedicab line so that Attorney doesn’t see him if he comes back. Butch’s eyes light up. When he has finally parked, he alights the car, and thrusts a P500 bill into Toting’s hands. “Keep the change,” the boy says, before hurrying to the campus gate. Toting looks at the bill. When he sees its color, he immediately shakes his head. “No change, Sir,” he says. But Butch was already gone when he looked up. He looked at the bill in his palm. It was crumpled and sweaty from the boy’s tight grip.
Toting waited for the boy to get out from class. Good thing he took the risk; Attorney never arrived. He tries to hand him his change, but Butch waves him away. “That’s your bonus. But next time, know who this parking spot is for, okay?” He winks at Toting, who salutes him.
Crisis Scene
“I usually park here. How much will he pay you? I’ll pay it, too.” Toting contemplates the offer. A call from Butch’s classmate tells him that his teacher was already in the classroom. Butch interrupts Toting’s thoughts. “Look, you need money. I need this space. You don’t know if that attorney is coming back. Take my offer so we both get what we want. C’mon! I’m late for my class.”
Toting scratches his head. The guy was right. He had no assurance that Attorney would return. But if he did, he surely would raise hell. It wasn’t a good thing for him to pick a man of the law as an enemy. But then, he needed the money. And if he got it now, he can already resume looking for passengers.
“He can’t do anything to you even if he’s a lawyer, you know.” Butch checks his watch and shrugs. “I’ll fail my class for sure.” Butch wipes his face with his hand. His shoulders drop. Toting does not know what comes over him—only that the sight of that overgrown boy pleading with him in frustration, seizes him with a sense of power. The boy had an expensive watch and an expensive car. But Toting held the key to what he wanted. Of course, he also had what Toting needed, but he didn’t have to know that.
“Fine, Sir. I’ll move.” Damn the consequences, Toting thinks. He’ll just have to move to another pedicab line so that Attorney doesn’t see him if he comes back.
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