ALONE AGAIN....NATURALLY!

.I was polishing some manuscript for submission when the phone rang. It was the extension from the office so it must be important. It was Lolo asking that his hot bath be prepared. He was coming home and needed to change. He's going out with his business buddies for a night out. He needed to look fresh. I did as fast as I could. He came home a quarter of an hour later. He moved as fast as he could and off he went to some IZAKAYA [BAR/RESTAURANT] two towns away. I am sure he's gonna enjoy drinking again! I have grown used to this "business functions" as he put it. My father did that, too, during his lifetime. Tatay worked with a Japanese firm a long time ago, and had to do business talk, the way Japanese traders do. They go out and drink! And GOLF, too! Today, he's scheduled to treat last night's business buddies from YOKOHAMA to a full round of Golf. "It's part of business," he says.... Oh well.... "This is what makes the Japanese great in business deals," he'd always insist. Okay! okay! Lolo is no longer young. But he still manages to do all these things. He has no one to do business for him.He has waited for my brother to settle here.. .I guess he has to wait forever. KUYA has a full career from where he is, now.He isn't the type who likes to be uprooted from where he is planted. Besides, he has made good business in his own right.....that one he got from my Father. That leaves me here. For how long, I wouldn't know.... In my heart, I'd rather go back to INANG BAYAN and settle there, for good. I have longed to live provincial...back in Nanay's old place by the sea. Yeah, I'd like that. But I'd like to be able to drop by Manila from time to time. I do not know what tomorrow brings.... I do not like to mull on what could have been....[NO REGRETS here....I did what I must do]. I'd rather look forward to the days to come. Shall I settle here......as long as Lolo is here?... or shall I go back to that place I call my home? ...What if I won't ..... How about ....???? Questions keep rushing into my head... I do not have any idea... no idea at all. Anyway, I have all the time to think, because today, a Sunday, I AM ALONE AGAIN.......... .......NATURALLY!.... `*.¸.*´ 20Nov05