HEAVEN seems to be on a major recruitment drive, I thought, as older friends and friends’ parents were moving on to the Great Beyond in steady succession. Each news came with trepidation as it reminded me that I belong to the generation who is leading the generation next. And then, Paul...
Atty. Vincent Paul Montejo is everybody’s friend and he and I shared a slice of time when we enjoyed life in the 1980s as... Phone pals. (Yes, so 80’s).
Blame his sister Margie.
Margie was our intern at Peryodiko Dabaw when Paul came home fresh from Diliman to pursue law studies at Ateneo de Davao. He needed friends, specifically friends he can pester deep in the night when the old press was still up and running and we were still agonizing as the printshop’s stripper taped pieces of stripped negatives into place.
As a junior editor, I waited to check each title and photo and write how big or small we want it in percentages. A scribbled “120%” meant the title (pasted letter per letter using pre-printed AaBbCc’s) will be enlarged by the printshop’s giant vertical process camera to 120 percent.
A scribbled 80% meant it will be reduced 80 percent. That was how it was before, and I worked ‘til past midnight and then hung out with friends who’d willingly tagged along after midnight to drink ‘til dawn.
There was the telephone and Garfield.
Apparently, Margie can only think of one person who was still up and about at midnight for her brother to pester. When all you can do is wait for the typists and strippers and layouters to have something for you to do, you welcome a break in the monotony, and talking about the world and a lot of crazy things is a fun exercise. That person introduced himself as Garfield. Who would have known that Garfield would become one of Davao’s best lawyers?
He did earn a strong whack on his nape when we finally met and I found out that he’s Margie’s brother. We’ve been friends hence. The easy and sometimes outrageous banter over the phone and strong bond of friendship forged by that forceful whack on the nape carried on through the years.
Except that, we both were too busy to keep up the friendship outside occasional encounters at events and legal consultations that came few and far between. I never let him forget that he once introduced himself as Garfield, though. I won’t let anyone held at such high esteem by society not remember his crazy youth. Definitely not.
His leaving was like a whack in the nape -- mine. He was two years younger (I know you’re computing now!) and his sudden passing has mortality written everywhere. But the throng of friends he made and helped reminds us to aspire to touch as many lives for the better because we’ll never know when we too will have to pack up and go. Paalam, Garfield.