NANKING STORE by Macario D. Tiu (the story that moved me)

           
            It was a story of a Chinese couple named Peter and Linda who had strenuously endeavored all the odds in their life. It was narrated by one of the characters in the story that was called as Tua Poya. He was the one who jumped and romped on the pristine matrimonial bed of the couple after their wedding. It was to ensure that their first-born baby would be a boy. During their first year of marriage, Linda often brought him to their house in Bajada. It was her way of easing her loneliness since she had no family and relatives in town. She fondly called him Tua Poya which meant Fatso.  He called her Achi, and Peter, Ahiya. They were a happy couple. There was so much laughter in their house
               It was on the third year when Tua Poya sensed that something had gone wrong with their marriage. Linda left the Bajada house and moved to the upper portion of Nanking Store in Santa Ana. It was strange that Linda would choose to live in Santa Ana while Peter would stay in Bajada.
             One late afternoon, he caught Linda talking with his Mother. “I got bored at Bajada, I thought I’d help Peter at the store.” That was how she explained why she had moved to Santa Ana. But then he learned the real reason when one night, his Mother told him to fetch his Father at the New Canton Barbershop for dinner. He was playing chess when he got there. “Mama says you should get home and eat,” he said and noticed he was drunk. “I have eaten. Go home. Tell Mother I’ll follow in a short while,” he said.
           He stayed on and watched the game even he did not understand a thing. Meanwhile they were laughing very hard and loud on their communal jokes about Ah Kong, a neighbor, who had ten children, all daughters. Suddenly their laughter died down when they saw Peter coming around the corner. Their was absolute silence. It was Peter who broke the silence by greeting his Father and the other people, and they were alive again. He exchange a few words with his Father then he went away.
              "A bad stock," the man said, shaking his head. "Ah Kong has no bones but Peter is a bad stock. What a pity. After four years, still no son. Not even a daughter." "It's the woman, not Peter," said a man from a neighboring table.Everybody agreed it was Linda's problem. That was the reason why Linda had moved in to Santa Ana. But the problem was more complicated than this. Peter was the family's only hope to carry on the family name, and he still remained childless.
               He was aware that people were talking behind his back. From a very gregarious man, he became withdrawn and no longer socialized. The changes in Linda occurred over a period of time. She had her own desk and sometimes acted as a cashier. Later she began to serve costumer's directly as if she were one of the salesgirls. Her in-laws were becoming hostile towards her openly. Peter did not help her when it was a matter between his parents and herself. He learned to go to night spots and the talk began that he was dating a Bisayan bar girl. One night, Peter brought Tua Poya's First brother to a house and proudly showed him a baby boy. It turned out Peter showed his baby boy to several people.
              In no time at all the community knew he had finally produced a son. As for his parents, they acted like nothing had happened but they remained unkind to Linda. When the Bisayan woman gave Peter a second son, it no longer shocked the people. what shocked them was that late one night, Peter died in a car accident in the his way returning from where he kept his mistress when a truck rammed his car, killing him instantly. After his burial, Linda's mother-in-law wanted her out of the Nanking Store but she refused.
             One day, they had a fight caused the old woman to retreat but were shouting threats at her. Linda never showed her face in Santa Ana again. But then she came back and she transformed into a fascinating woman. Then to the utter horror of the community, Linda became pregnant. People had mixed reactions. when she could not bear a child she was a disgrace. Now that she was pregnant she was still a disgrace. But she did not care about what people thought or said about her. There was no other suspect for her condition but the driver. Unused to the attention, the driver went on leave to visit his parents in Iligan City. One night, Linda came to Tua Poya's house to say goodbye to his mother and to him, too. After that' they never heard anything from Linda again.

               This story was really heart twitching. I could never imagined how Linda suffered from all of those things. She was really a brave woman. She had rise from falling and became great again. The saddest part in the story was the harsh judgement of the people. They never thought that from what they were saying they had already made the life of the other people so miserable. Specially that time when Linda got pregnant. They still saw her as a disgrace. Could they be just happy for her? She had finally found herself back and became happy again. It was not her fault when she did not get pregnant easily. They said they already tried everything. But for me, they should had try harder.

              While I was reading this story, tears were voluntarily falling down on my cheeks. It really moved me. Images of what had happened in the story appeared in my head like a flash back. It seemed so true as if I saw it with my own two eyes, as if I was there when it happened. Then I thought, the reason why I was feeling that way maybe because I once witnessed a story closely similar with their story. It was the story of my sister.
              As I recalled my memories of her on the side of her husband when they were still together, I felt a lump in my throat. It was year 2004 when they got married. Of course they were so happy and in love. Her husband was a soldier and on the fist year of their marriage she always came along with her husband in his workplace. But it became dangerous at his work so she had no choice but to stay at home. She was still not  pregnant then. When her husband came home they decided to visit an Obegyne doctor and found out that she had an Ovarian Cyst. She took all the medication, even tried to visit a Quack doctor, still they failed to make her got pregnant.
            It was on the third year when their marriage gone bad. A friend from his husband's workplace reported to her that her husband left for Butuan, they did not know the reason why. That was the time she found out that her husband had a mistress. There was a huge fight happened between them, but her husband never said sorry. Still my sister compromised because she did not want her marriage to fail. They reconciled and she suggested to her husband about adopting a child. Her husband got furious and said he would never raise a child who did not came from him. My sister dropped the subject.
                We thought everything was at peace. But her husband was then again seen with another woman. All the time, he was keeping a woman from her. The thing that shocked us all was his mistress was pregnant. I remembered my sister face back then. She almost faint. She was so vulnerable. She looked so deprive in life. She kept asking if she had not been a good wife. If she had done something wrong. And we all answered that she did not do anything wrong, it was her husband who had been unfaithful. Then she cried, yes, really cried.
             We could not think of anything why her husband did that. She was the ideal wife of every man. Loving, caring, and faithful. She even did save the money she got from her husband and they had brought many properties. Some woman only spent their husband's money in useless things. Then we came to a conclusion that he wanted a child, that was why he looked for it from other woman. They got separated. Although she loved him so much, but what he did was unforgivable. She hardly moved on from that. In fact, until now, I still saw her crying. But she said she would make it. She would rise and stand on her feet again. And she swore, she would never let him hurt her again.