Novie

      It was past seven in the evening when the rain started to downpour. With the music player on, I was carefully driving my car along the boulevard to the mall. The melodic tune of the Christmas songs filled my heart with great happiness and excitement. Having lit with different neon lights, I was totally mesmerized with the colorful lanterns successively hanged in the posts from the two sides of the highway. What even captivated me was the billboard erected few meters from the mall which texts read, “The birth of the contemporary novelist has just begun.” Just below the caption was the photo of the said novelist with her name written in full caps. The dazzling light projected on it made the billboard even more noticeable.

     As I entered the mall, the security personnel greeted me with warm smile as if he knew me personally. To reciprocate it, I greeted him Merry Christmas though it’s 30 days away from the actual holiday.

     My first stop: the Bookstore. I directly proceeded to the novels section and there, most of the shopaholics, most probably were bookworms, were handling the book of Leila Amor Rosales- a renowned novelist to whom the billboard is talking about.

     I am Ella and I am a bookworm. I really had this obsessive behavior towards books. Since the day I learned to read, books have been my companion. In the counting years of my life, I have read several books, most of them were novels, which enhanced my vocabulary and ultimately honed my writing prowess. I became a writer in our school paper way back high school and eventually took the post of chief editorship. The authors of the books I read inspired me even more.

     Really, reading and writing were my hobby and a passion so to speak, not until I met Mama Tina, my adoptive mother.

     Mama Tina is a philanthropist and a peripatetic teacher as well. She was travelling from place to place just to teach people whose education is not prioritized and deprived. She also lived alone. Her husband died three months after they got married. Instead of getting depressed, she made herself busy with charity works and outreach activities in remote areas. Mama Tina became a full- fledged teacher while trying to help others alleviate their lives. Perhaps alone, she found real happiness and contentment with what she did.

     I met Mama Tina during her visit at the orphanage where I was housed and catered. I was then eight years old. At first, I was not that vocal to anybody else but when I met her, it changed. Before I met Mama Tina, I was an extrovert kid. I never played with my fellow children nor join the class discussion in the orphanage. I would just spend my whole time lying in my bed looking at nothing. According to the psychiatrist, maybe I was traumatized with what happened to me in the past years.

     I was six years old when a fire burned our rundown house. Because the houses in our place were built with flammable materials, the fire easily spread through the slum area which made the residents unable to save their properties and even their lives. Many residents died. Many parents lost their children and vice versa. Fate must be kidding me. My whole family members- Tatay, Nanay and my older sister, died. The only thing I had saved was the book I picked from the dumping site nearby our area.

     The book became my best friend. It became my source of smile when I was crying. It reminded me my family and how happy we were though we lacked with material things. I named it Novie.

     Unable to read due to being uneducated, Novie remained unread. I would just skim through its pages and just focused on the illustrations. Everything on the book was unclear not until Mama Tina adopted me. She taught me the value of education and how important it was in a person’s life. She told that education is the most valuable possession in life and that no one can take it away from you. Mama Tina also imparted me life lessons which all the more helped me to regain myself from the traumatic events of my life. She sent me to an exclusive school from where I gained several recognitions in different areas of education.

     Novie which remained unread for few years was finally and completely read. I learned that it was a novel entitled “A Christmas Carol” written by Charles Dickens. I became so mush engrossed with it for the storyline was incredibly amazing. It was a story of a bitter businessman, who had lost his interest in Christmas sentiments and behaved in a hostile and cruel way toward his employees, not until the Three Ghost of Christmas showed up and taught him the true way of life that in the end, Ebenezer had changed for the better and begun to restore his faith in Christmas. I even narrated it to my Mama and she was so captivated with the way I detailed it. She told me I was good storyteller and I believed in her.

     Mama Tina did not just serve as a mother to me. She was also a friend, a best friend. I would tell her my secrets as what most teenagers have. I would also mention my crushes in school which in the end, she would tease and tickle my funny bone. She would also burst into laugh when I started cracking jokes and showing off my antics. I felt so comfortable everytime she cuddles me in her arms. Indeed, she loved me so much.

     Time swiftly passed. We didn’t both notice that I had grown. I became more obsessive with books. I also even put up a mini library in our house where most of the books were novels. It also became as a study room where I and Mama Tina did our scholastic activities. This mini library had become a witness how she valued education and how she passed on this principle to me. This room saw how much Mama Tina whole- heartedly dedicated herself into teaching. I also had finished my bachelor’s degree and fortunately obtained my license. Mama Tina inspired me very much. I followed her steps and I’m currently employed in an academy where children were physically and mentally challenged.

     Yes, I worked as a teacher in a school that provided special education for children who needs special attention. Many were asking me why I had chosen such career considering the fact that I am brilliant and can acquire even better and easier post. But I didn’t care. My Mama told me to follow what my heart desires and I believed this was really it. Teaching these children is my calling, a calling that really made me happy and contented. Through these children, I found a light and I felt so blessed.

     As the days went out of the calendar, Mama Tina became older and older. She even stopped from teaching and just remained in our house.  As old as she was, she didn’t even remember that she was a former teacher. Later on, she was diagnosed to have an Alzheimer’s disease. The doctor’s prognosis that my Mama’s life was getting shorter made me even more depressed. Sooner, Mama Tina was written out of the script. It was hard for me to move on but later, I did. I just hold on to her ideals and principles and then everything turned out to be fine.

     Her demise caught the attention of many people and then later on, she was awarded several commendations and recognitions because of the many things she had done especially in the field of education. She may have lost her mind that caused her death but her ideals lived on. I’m proud of her and she was my inspiration in fulfilling my dreams.

     Now, I’m trying my best to continue Mama Tina’s legacy in my own way. I’m on the purpose of carrying out what she had begun. Somehow, it helped me made my own name. Her teachings and visions will guide me. She will live in me forever.

     After I finished shopping, I immediately went home. I directly proceeded to the mini library where I and Mama Tina used to stay. Everything was still in its original arrangement. The books were still there in the shelves. Novie was no more in there but Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” was revived. I also put in there the plaques of recognition of Mama Tina. At the topmost center of the wall hanged the portraits of women, one for me and the other for Mama.

     I sat down on the chair having faced across the two portraits. I was cheered up as I glanced on Mama Tina’s picture. Her face was very fair. Her smile reminded me how her life became worthy by maximizing her time. I also remembered my real family- Tatay, Nanay and my older sister, and I know that they were now very happy in heaven. I believe that the four of them were very proud of what I had become. For sure, they are very glad because I had fulfilled a part of my dreams. The fulfillment of it was inspired by and dedicated to them together with the children I am teaching who totally touched my life.

     Afterwards, I brought out from a paper bag the things I bought from the mall. I bought some Christmas decorations like Christmas lights and lanterns, a Mistletoe and the like. I also bought a book. It was an awe- inspiring novel written by Leila Amor Rosales and was a certified sold- out book. Being in euphoric state, I held it in my arms and caress it on my face. Then I fix my eyes on the book and gently read the author’s name. Leila Amor Rosales. Again. Leila Amor Rosales. I just can’t absorb that she authored it. I thought she would just end up as a reader and a teacher who follows what her heart desires. And by following her heart’s desires, Novie was born.

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This piece is dedicated to all teachers especially my mentors who had played a very important role in my life that helped me become into who I am now.