28 - this for that

In the earliest hours of morning, Eiselle stole through her house and quietly prepared for what she hoped would be a most productive day. She showered and did her makeup in the darkness, careful not to disturb a soul. As she fixed her jewelry into place, she directed a quiet speech at her reflection.

“Today, my only goal is to get these damn people out of my house. I have struggled too much to let strangers ruin my house and my things. I will not stand their filth for one more day.”

When she finished primping, she grabbed her little black pumps and tiptoed to the kitchen. Children lay on the floor, sometimes one atop another, huddled together just like they had been for most of the last two weeks. Eiselle hissed derisive little curse words under her breath as she crossed the vast sea of bodies strewn through her living room.

When she arrived safely in the kitchen, she placed her pumps on the counter and pulled a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator. A pale white arc of light shot through the den and Mrs. Velasco sat upright on the couch. Eiselle froze in place, unable to move. They paused for a moment until Mrs. Velasco interrupted the silence.

“You’re up awfully early.”

“Yes…I have a lot of work to do.”

“You? You have a lot of work to do? What on earth could you possibly have to do at this hour?”

Eiselle breathed deeply. Then, she wagged a finger at everyone sleeping in Arvind’s den.

“I’m finding all of you another place to live.”

Eiselle’s tone was low and plaintive. However, Mrs. Velasco knew Eiselle Lee’s many masks and her dismissive attitude to those she felt were beneath her. That, of course, included Mrs. Velasco and everyone from the lowlands.

“You shouldn’t worry your pretty little head,” said Mrs. Velasco, “I’m sure Mr. Arvind will take good care of us.”

Eiselle ignored Mrs. Velasco as she finished her tea and placed the empty glass on the counter.

Without another word, Eiselle was out the door. Before she started her trek, however, Eiselle decided to make a call.

“Hello, my dearest Lorna. What are you doing today?”

“I don’t have anything planned. What about you?”

“I’m running errands and I thought we could have a girls’ day out. What do you think?”

“I think I could get away for a few hours.”

“Perrfeck. Get yourself ready and I’ll be there in a flash.”

When Eiselle arrived, Lorna was in the backyard, knee-deep in weeds.

“What are you doing?”

“I decided to do some gardening while I waited.”

“I know you’re gardening, but why? I told you I’d be here in a flash. Put those garden tools away before you get yourself filthy. Anyways, it’s too hot out here. You’ll get a sunburn.”

Lorna squinted as she gazed at the sky, “No, I think I’ll be okay.”

“You’ll look like a terrace farmer.”

Eiselle dug through her purse until she found a small tube of whitening cream. She unscrewed the cap and applied a bead beneath each eye. Then, she handed the tube to Lorna.

“No, Eiselle, I’m fine.”

“It’s up to you,” said Eiselle with a shrug, “but you really don’t want wrinkles.”

Lorna casually waved her off, so Eiselle pocketed the tube and followed Lorna inside. Lorna dabbed her face with a dry towel and grabbed her purse.

“That’s all you’re going to do to get ready?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“At least scrub the mud out of your fingernails.”

“Oh, Eiselle, you know I’m not like that. Can you please let it go?”

“Fine.”

As Eiselle sped to City Hall, dozens of thoughts filled her mind. Mostly, she focused on Mrs. Velasco’s parting shot…

“I’m sure Mr. Arvind will take good care of us.”

Eiselle wondered what Mrs. Velasco meant by that. Originally, Eiselle hadn’t regarded it as that important, but the more she thought about it, the more it gnawed at her. The full scope of what Mrs. Velasco said sunk in as Eiselle pulled into the parking lot at City Hall.

“God, damn it!” spouted Eiselle as she pounded on the steering wheel.

“What’s the matter?”

“I think Arvind is going to build villas on the Lee Estate.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“They can’t live in the Highlands. They simply don’t belong.”

Eiselle had overheard Arvind’s plans, which he called the Utilitarian Living Complex discussed in mixed company. It had been one of his pet projects for quite some time. He wanted to bring diverse cultures together and introduce the poor to a wealthier economic state. In turn, they’d contribute to the growth of the whole community. It was Arvind’s very own vision of Utopia.

Arvind would set aside space for the people he called “foundation employees” – those who occupied the jobs nobody else wanted, but the ones Arvind thought were the backbone of his company. In the end, treating them well always paid the greatest dividends.

They were the ones who lived in shantytowns like Baluntay. Eiselle always fingered them out in the crowd, whether it was for their ragged clothing, their time-worn faces, wrinkled and gray, or their brown-black skin, that signified the hard working life of terrace farmers, plantation workers, and Jeep operators. Of course, Eiselle had been raised in the passenger seat of her brother’s Jeepney. However, as far as she was concerned, that was a speck in her rear view mirror.

Eiselle strode defiantly into the Auditor’s Office, where a clerk named Laiza greeted her. Laiza had known Eiselle since the two were children.

“Hello, Miss Eiselle,” said Laiza. Her Ss poured out in a long hiss.

“It’s Ms. Lee, you know.”

“Yes, yes, what do you need?”

“I’m inquiring to see if my husband has filed any papers recently.”

“He has not, but he was here yesterday.”

“He was?”

“Yes, ma’am, He was attempting to file building permits for the Estate.”

“That’s what I thought…”

Eiselle drummed her fingernails on the desk for a few moments as she contemplated her next move.

“Is there anything else I can do?”

“No, I think that’s enough for now.”

Eiselle returned to her car and immediately drove to the highlands. She circled past her house and stopped at a neighbor’s house, only two doors and half a mountain away.

“What are we doing here?” asked Lorna.

“I thought we’d pay a visit to Ysabella Monroe.”

“You know how I feel about Ysa. She’s a horrible person. I think I’ll stay right here.”

“Suit yourself,” replied Eiselle. She checked her war paint and fixed her gold necklace into place before heading up the driveway. She stopped on the porch to compose herself. Before she’d even had a chance to ring the doorbell, a woman opened the door.

“Well, if it isn’t Eiselle Santiago-Lee,” spouted the woman.

“Ysabella, you know it’s just Eiselle Lee now.”

“Right, right, just Eiselle Lee now. What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you today?”

“I need a little favor.”

“Mm-hmm…go on…”

Ysabella Marquez-Monroe was another rural girl-made good off the riches of a wealthy expat. Her catch was Billy Monroe, a bright-eyed, blonde-haired surfing champion from Perth, Australia. Ysabella and Billy first met at an after-party in Surigao and she lured him in with her comely looks and enchanted him with delicious bits of small talk. The two were married in mere months. Just like Eiselle, she had become one of the social elite ensconced in the Sarangani Hills.

“Arvind is going to build villas on the Estate to house families from the barrio.”

“I don’t think he’s going to build anything on the Estate.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You know the Province Auditor wouldn’t stand for it.”

“I know, but Arvind has his ways. He’s got Mary Kirkpatrick working for him and she’s one of those lawyer types, you know.”

“But she’s not Filipino.”

“He’s also got that damn Jaki Gomez and her family is from Alabel.”

“That’s right, that’s right. Well, I know people at City Hall. I’ll make sure they don’t move their shantytown into the hills.”

“What about your husband? Can’t he help?”

No, I’m pretty sure he won’t be any help at all.”

Ysabella knew there was no reason to ask for Billy’s help. He didn’t have the slightest care for Ysabella’s socialite friends. He still spent most of his time down at the surf bars with the other expats.

“Come with me,” ordered Ysabella, “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Ysabella circulated through the house, looking in all the familiar places where Billy deposited his things. She searched coffee tables and kitchen drawers before heading into the bedroom. She yanked on the handle to an end table drawer. When it came open, a hungry smile spread across her face.

“There you are!”

One of Billy’s cellphones sat in the drawer. This was the one with the carrying case for all of Billy’s surplus credit cards. She flicked her thumb over the case and out popped a gold card.

“Voila!” exclaimed Ysabella as she twirled the card between her fingers as if it were as precious as gold itself. She tucked it into the folds of her purse before nodding to the girls.

“Eiselle, could we get away to a cash machine? I need to make a little withdrawal.”

“Sure, sure,” Eiselle obliged, “whatever you want...”

Ysabella made a phone call while Eiselle scouted out the nearest cash machine.

“Hello, dearie, what are you doing for lunch?”

There was a pause as the call recipient gave her a reply.

“Okay, well, I’m headed out to lunch with Eiselle Lee and one of her friends…”

There was another pause.

“Yes, Eiselle Santiago-Lee. Is there more than one?”

“Well, no, I didn’t know that. So, you’ll get to see her again for lunch. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

Ysabella leaned forward in the gap between Eiselle and Lorna’s seats and nodded her head affirmatively.

“Okay…we’ll be there in a jiffy.”

Ysabella pointed towards the market at the side of the road.

“Pull in there, I’ll use that ATM.”

Ysabella withdrew a wad of pesos and deposited it in her wallet with Billy’s credit card.

“We’re headed to Sully’s Grand Italian Resto.”

“Whew, that’s a bit pricey, isn’t it?” asked Lorna.

“Don’t worry about that. My hubby is paying for absolutely everything. Why do you think I stopped at the bank?”

Ysabella let out a wicked little laugh, as if spurred on by the devil himself.

The three girls found a bayside table, but the view was so much less than extraordinary that Eiselle demanded they be moved away from the windows. The waiter obliged and Eiselle ordered two mid-morning cocktails for herself and Ysabella. Lorna ordered a small juice.

“You’re always such a bore!” Eiselle said to her friend, “life is short. Why not live it up a little?”

“I’m fine with my papaya juice.”

“Pish tosh! We will all have a glass of Pinot Grigiot,” ordered Eiselle. Ysabella cackled slightly and that drew enough attention to make Lorna blush.

“Stop it!” she said.

“You stop it! Here comes our friend now. Don’t you dare embarrass me.”

It was Anne-Marie Kwok, Assistant Province Auditor and one of Eiselle and Ysabella’s neighbors.

“Yoo-hoo!” called Ysabella and Anne-Marie made her way through the crowded restaurant.

“It is so absolutely pleasant of you girls to take me out to lunch!”

“We wouldn’t have it any other way, dearie. Anyway, we have something very important we want to discuss with you this morning.”

“I figured as much.”

Eiselle nodded to Anne-Marie, “You probably already know about Arvind’s big plans for little people, right…the Utilitarian Living Complex?”

Anne-Marie nodded.

“And you know what having those people living in our neighborhood would do to us. I think it’s totally unfair.”

“Don’t worry, I feel exactly the same way as the two of you. I have no intention of allowing those people in. We already have laws preventing multi-unit residential in the Highlands.”

“You know, Arvind has a high-powered attorney from England.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about her in the least.”

Unlike most of the women living in Sarangani Highlands, Anne-Marie Kwok was the daughter of Vietnamese refugees and a self-made woman. She grew up in Davao, earned multiple public administration scholarships, and emerged from the University with honors. She quickly moved into the public sector and won local support from a large circle of Mindanao’s power players. She parlayed that into positions on several local steering committees. Chief among them were the positions at the Auditor’s office and membership in the Sarangani Better Business Bureau. Still, she retained higher aspirations in provincial government.

“I will call one of my friends at the City Planner’s Office. I know he’ll see to it that everything goes our way.”

Lorna remained tight-lipped as she sat with the three witchy women. She did not like their devious ways one bit. What made it worse was the excess of it all. Each of them lived in what could only be called castles perched high atop hills, like medieval dukes, lording it over their underlings in a barbaric manner.

“I am so glad we are ridding ourselves of all those filthy fucking cockroaches,” spat Eiselle.

“Maybe we can move them to Maasim,” suggested Anne-Marie.

“That would be marvelous,” cackled Ysabella, “but who will help shoo them away?”

“I vote for Jackilyn Gomez.”

“Hear! Hear!” said Ysabella as she held her wine glass aloft. Quickly, the other two girls gave it a clank as they toasted their future success.

As the conversation devolved, Lorna only grew more and more upset with the socialites. Finally, she pushed her chair away from the table and it screeched across the tiled floor.

“What is it?” asked Anne-Marie.

“It’s all of you.”

“Quit making drama and sit down,” Anne-Marie ordered her.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me. Sit down like a good little peasant.”

Lorna gazed at her unflinchingly. Anne-Marie looked away, more concerned with refilling her wine glass. Lorna looked to Eiselle, but when Eiselle ignored her outright, Lorna turned and walked away.

“You don’t have a way home,” called Eiselle.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll walk if I have to.”

Lorna went out to the roadside, where the air was hot and stale. She immediately hailed a Jeepney and rode back into town. She was disgusted at herself for thinking it would be worthwhile to go on an escapade with Eiselle. She was even more upset about the fact she let it ruin her day. She settled into her spot in the middle of the Jeepney and meditated.

“There has to be some way to cure those women,” she thought to herself. She pondered over things for the briefest of moments before thinking up a solution. A smile grew upon her face as she headed back to the Highlands.

..