I Am Issa

Well-built, genial, and hardworking, Mandie immediately got Lisa’s attention. He came in one morning at the bakery to ease her uncle’s heavy load. Lisa grew fonder of Mandie when he taught her how to pedal. Even her father didn’t find time to do that. Yet this man whom she hardly knew volunteered to teach her.  How nice of

With the pristine sights of green fields, refreshing whizz of winds, chantings of rushing waters,  and everything around shaded by sunset, Lisa never felt a slight weariness walking home. “Heavenly”, she sighed in awe. Noiselessly, a grotesque figure with a broad head and a very round face came up and blocked her way. Though horrified, instinct drove Lisa’s feet

As big, wide eyes focused on Lisa, she marveled at those tiny creatures glued to branches of trees in the wooded spot where their jeepney passed by. She hoped to stop the driver, yet it was not the time to go nuts. She was competing for a Spelling Bee – in Filipino. She laughed at

At the crack of each dawn, Lisa hurriedly gets out of bed and goes to her aunt’s bakery shop tagging along two of her younger siblings to help out. Filing the biscuits on silver trays before they’re put inside the oven is as easy as a pie so even Lisa’s younger sisters could do the

“What happened to your face?” her Aunt Carol asked. “It’s nothing. I just bumped into something,” Lisa nonchalantly answered. Her bluish-black left cheek was due to Ritch’s punch when she pissed him off while they were swimming. She really had a hard time pleasing her arrogant, bratty, and powerful cousin. Owning a bike is power.

“Is she your only daughter? Ms. Vargas asked. Why would she think I’m an only child? Lisa thought. Now, she had regrets seeing how distressed her mom was having to tell her previous classmates that she already has six kids. “No.” “I think she’s smart enough to meet this school’s high standards,” Lisa felt a lump in her throat upon hearing ‘smart’. “She’s

“Wow, Ever (Gotesco Mall)!” a four-year old girl gushed as her eyes sparkled widely (wildly). They were about to board Princess Paradise, a ship mistaken for a shopping mall by Lisa’s fifth sister. Her other sisters rolled in laughter and began a new round of banters. It’s Lisa’s third visit to her mom’s hometown- an