LITERATURE: Perks of Being a Filipino
4:00 PM
by Jamiellie Brianne S. Chua
3SLP
3SLP
Lots of people
tell me that once you say the words, there’s no taking them back.
“Excuse me. Is
this elevator going up?”
“H-h-hi-ndi!” Sigh.
Hindi po.
Screw that.
Awkward vowels and consonants pa lang, di mo na mababawi forever. Every phoneme
counts.
“Hindi po.
Pababa po.”
I smiled
gratefully at the person behind me as I proceed with holding the elevator
button. The girl gave me a weird look before she stepped inside the elevator. I
noticed she stood by the corner, the farthest distance from me.
Sh*t.
Woops. Pardon
that. But chances are it won’t slip out of my mouth. It’s one of the perks of
being me. But man, I sound so hopeless. Just by the look on her face, I already
know that she’s weirded out. There goes my social life. I can string the words
easily in my head but it just won’t come out right. I can even think of “Peter
Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers, where the heck is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” Without
inhaling at all! Haha (Okay, bad joke. Phew. But I try). It’s just that every
time, it’s as if my mouth is constantly constipated. My mind is practically
pregnant with words already. The labor of getting them out is just so annoying.
Man, I appreciate every mother out there.
After a few
moments, we were about to reach the ground floor when the elevator stopped. As
if fate decided to poke fun of my stutter, the doors revealed yet another girl
with an inquiry. Lord God, help me.
“Bababa ba?”
Hallelujah.
“B-Ba-ba.”
She smiled and
stood next to me.
Nailed it.
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