Dodong and His new-year Smile

"I will never smile for a girl again."

A day earlier...

 Dodong licks his palm with his tongue and wiped it on his head to secure the stubborn standing hairs in his newly polished head. Forget the stinky smell of his saliva; what matters is that he is a fine man in front of Aurora. 

Today marked the end of the year and still he is in love with Auring. 

He looked down his body and adjusted his ties.

 ‘Damn this tie doesn’t suit my long-sleeved shirt but it was what only Tatay has!’ he thought. 

He looked down his slacks before eyeing on his shoes. Aside from the few runs of the leather of his Louis Vuitton, there was nothing to worry about, thank goodness to his Aunt Ria, whose name now was XingLi is an OFW of Japan, she gave it to him yesterday.

 ‘How about my face, is it okay?’ He asks himself.

 He took the five peso worth mini-mirror, he brought on a tiange that he shove earlier in his pants and looked at himself. The whitening cream really did well in his face…the dark spots he got from the sun for planting rice in the field all day, looks subtle now. But he forgot to apply some on his neck; nevertheless he’s fine with his look. His eyes are bright and cheerful; his brows are fine aside from the usual messy strands that scatter almost near his lids.

 His stature was almost perfect, almost! Well, it isn’t really that bad except when he smiles!

He would wrestle with mud in the rice field all day…

He would carry two sacks of milled rice…

He would not eat for three days…

But he would never smile. 

 He got two consecutive teeth missing at the centre of his upper gum, but that is okay as long as he doesn’t smile.

He still remembers when his teacher announced a quiz and told all of them to sit one seat apart from each other; the charming boy who was very famous in their school because of athletic abilities shouted: ‘Like Dodong’s teeth ma’am, only that it is two’ all of them laughed with the charming boy’s statement while he hid on the window’s curtain of embarrassment. From that day on he was nicknamed ‘two-teeth apart’ which wasn’t bad as ‘monkey’ or an ‘ugly bullfrog’ his neighbours call him. So he must be thankful.

He slipped his right hand on his underwear trying to reach something…”Viola, surely Aurora will love this” he declares happily and goes on walking on the narrow road of the rice field. It was his very own masterpiece: a flower necklace that he made yesterday, he handles it very very carefully. He climbs Mt. Diwata to get that purple little flowers that causes the bruise on his buttocks when he slides off the hill on the dirty earth. Agh, the memory still pains him!

He took a piece of paper on the pockets of his white long-sleeve and read it once again; he thinks it was the tenth-time. He needs to be sure that Auring will love his letter. He cleared his throat and settles his deep vocal: “Dear Auring…” he stopped noticing that he cannot quite enunciate the word properly because his missing teeth cannot hold the air. Never mind it, he continued his reading. “I love the dimple that shows when you smile. You are such a flower that doesn’t wither and blooms every day. I’m forever yours. Love, Dodong.” He smiled again, he cannot laugh: he cannot show his teeth. “Ah I’m sure she’ll love it”.

 His heart begins to beat fast as soon as he saw the familiar hut of Auring and her family. He continued walking even when his knees are shaking in nervousness. It is okay it’s 6pm he is sure it is not obvious that he was nervous in front of the girl. 

“Hel-lo” he called out evident the quivering in his voice. There was no reply but he is quite sure that everybody is in the house because they are loud with the sound of plates and spoon clanking on the kitchen. “Hello” he called out again, this time louder.

An almost rumbling sound sounded and a half-naked man appears on sight. “Dodong, what are you doing here?” asks the man, his hands few grains of a freshly steamed milled rice. “I-I want to visit Aurora, Sir” he answered after swallowing the lump on his throat. “She’s fine Dodong, there’s no need to visit her” the man said that made him more nervous. On his head was to walk away because he still remembers one night in Manay Guring’s sari-sari store when Manong Mario shouted drankly and a sharp samurai in his hand, challenging every by passers. He cannot compromise his life for his love, no! He was ready to go when Manong Mario says… “just joking kid” it made him let out a breath of relief.

“Come in” he says. Dodong walks up the three-step stairs of Auring’s house with his knees continuously shaking. “I will call her” he left him behind. Dodong decided to sit on the wooden chair of the balcony in the hut, putting away the dried underwears hanging from the string just below the nipa roof. 

A girl holding a lamp appears on sight approaching him. His heart beats faster than how fast it is already that he feels it rummaging in his ears. He needs it to stop or he will be deaf in the morning, he inhaled to fill out his lungs with air and exhaled the nervousness. Is he looking alright? Is his hair on a perfect place? This thoughts rain down his head as the girl is nearing him: he is sure it is Aurora!

“What are you doing here this time?” she uttered the word softly and gracefully like it was an angel’s hum. 

Instead of answering the girl’s query he just look at her in a dreamy face memorizing her curly hair that flows like series of waves in the shore, the brightness in her eyes that makes the stars get shy, her nose as narrow as the road he just took, and his face carved by the most talented sculptor. 

“Dodong!” he came back at his consciousness with the exclamation. “Ah Good eve-ning Aurora” he stuttered the phrase with his nervousness. Aurora put down the lamp made with recycled glass, cloth and gas beside Dodong and sits beside it. 

“What is it you came here for?” Auring eyed Dodong strictly.

 “I want to visit you” he said shyly.

 “What for? Am I sick?” she mimicked her father’s statement a while ago.

 “Just want to greet you a happy new year” he said it with a disappointed tone.

 Auring looked strict in front of him but it was better than what he experienced before like being spat with saliva in the face.

 “Auring can I court you…I really like you” Dodong use his last ounce of confidence to utter the words. 

Auring’s eyes radiate with disgust but she manages to smile after few minutes. 

Dodong who was hopeless with Auring’s behaviour knew she wouldn’t agree with what he wants. 

“Alright” the girl’s statement almost makes Dodong’s eyes popped out of their sockets when she says this. She was sick of getting rid of him that she formulated an effective idea on her head.

Faster than a bullet, Dodong inquired excitedly “really?” 

“Yes, but in one condition” Auring replied.

 “What?” Dodong will do everything she says. 

“Meet me at school tomorrow at 8” Auring said. 

It was quite easy for a condition Dodong thought.

 He cannot believe Auring will give him a chance this time! 

Before he left, he gave the flower necklace and the letter to Auring and danced the road for home. He was very happy that finally he has the chance to be Auring’s boyfriend. He is overjoyed that he hugs every person that he passes with. Other thinks he has gone crazy but the happiness that he felt is overflowing and he cannot stop smiling and act crazy about it.

Boy tapang sounded his usual tiktilaok, Tatay’s favourite fighting cock, declaring that the sun is already reigning. Dodong wakes up from this and stretches his body. “Auring and I will meet today!” he shouts with excitement. He brushed his teeth last night but he still decides to brush them now. It’s a miracle what love can do to people.

Dodong, with his brown satchel on his shoulder, walks towards school. Everything he sees includes butterflies and all sound seems like lullaby to his ears. “Happy New Year” he greets everyone on the road. 

This year will bring him fortune; this year will bring him Aurora.

The time has come Aurora and Dodong stand face to face. The feeling was like that when Dodong was only at sixth grade when the class is praying before dismissal; he placed his hand in his anus eager to stop the rummaging poops while he prays that the prayer would end. Dodong is turning into purple as he waits the golden words Aurora would utter.

He is going to be her boyfriend…

He will fetch her in the morning and smell her fragrant perfume…

He will be the one she would cling her hand to…

“I agree to be your girlfriend…” Dodong did not breathe and his knees feel like collapsing.

“If you stand up on the stage and smile for me”

Smile for me…

‘I can wrestle with mud in the rice field all day’

‘I can carry two sacks of milled rice’

‘I can starve for three days’

Smile for me…

Dodong walks up the stage. In his first step he imagined Auring’s wavy hair, second step her bright twinkling eyes and third step her rosy kissable lips.

Like how the stage curtain opens and reveals the play, Dodong stands and gives the world his new-year smile.

It made everybody bursts in laughter.

“Hi baby” the charming boy kisses Aurora on the forehead before bursting into laughter too.

Like a cry-baby, Dodong vulnerably breaks into tears.

With the bruises on his buttocks, the saliva he wiped in his hair, the ties that did not match with his long-sleeved shirt and the tears flowing in his eyes he said:

“I will never smile for a girl again.”