Al Mendoza
All write
I don’t see any reason why San Mig Coffee can’t win it on Sunday.
Its 3-1 lead over Rain or Shine going to Game 5 is enough to yank the starch out of the Painters and capture the PBA Philippine Cup.
Never on Sunday, as in a song?
Oh, well, just like me.
I can’t play golf on a Sunday—when I am in Manila, that is. Only when I am out-of-town will I be able to play my favorite sport on a Sunday.
When I am in Manila, my friends do not invite me to play golf on a Sunday. They very well know that Sunday in Manila for me is Washington Day. Observed religiously.
And what is Washington Day to those not in the know? A day for washing clothes.
But no, I don’t really wash clothes on a Sunday.
And I don’t wash clothes anymore. Retired. When I was younger, yes.
Today, Aleng Glo comes to the house once a week to do the laundry.
Equality has been, still is, the rule in the house. Writer-columnist Sol F. Juvida and I follow the dictum, “Women carry half of the sky.” I carry the rest. Up to now. That’s why when Aleng Glo isn’t around, I do the dishes. Just right. Sol does the cooking.
One time, Mang Jose the carpenter, who was hired for a week to remodel the kitchen cabinet, took notice of my doing the dishes all the time.
He said to Sol, “Mam, bakit si Sir ang naghuhugas ng pinggan? Ngayon lang ako nakakita ng kolumnistang naghuhugas ng pinggan (My first time to see a columnist wash the dishes.)”
Sol told me about it. I went to Mang Jose and told him, “Naghuhugas ako ng pinggan para makapagsulat ako ng kolum. Pag di ako nag-kolum, wala akong pambayad sa inyo. (I do it so that I can have the money to pay you).”
He smiled. I love it when he smiles. It would show his two front teeth missing.
Mang Jose loves basketball. San Mig Coffee being his favorite, I am sure he bet two bottles of beer again for a Mixers victory Sunday.
In a Game 5, it is nothing to lose for the team holding a 3-1 edge like SMC and it is all pressure to the foe fighting for dear life like Rain or Shine.
But if Mang Jose won’t have his free beer on a Monday night, he’ll just grin and bear it.
r(alsol47@yahoo.com)