Binangunan

Tish was always scared of blood. The sight of it would make her nauseous.

Ironically though, she had no problems giving it away.

It was during her teen years that she realized she could help people.

AB Negative.

The rarest blood type.

As long as she didn’t see the blood, she’d be ok.

Looking back at the eligibility requirements she gave a soft chuckle.

She was only 15 when she started donating blood, with parental consent of course.

Tish begged her parents, saying what kind of child did they raise if not one that wants to help people.

They relented eventually. She was a sharp, healthy girl with no health problems, willingly giving up her time to a good cause.

She donated often enough the Redcross personnel knew her personally.

Tish would say hi to Ruby and Pio and all the rest during their donation drives.

But it was strange they weren’t there this time.

She knew that they were also instructors, so maybe they had a class to teach?

Anyway, she was next in line.

She usually didn’t need to go through the preliminary interview, heading straight to the doctor’s area.

The doctors were all volunteers so they would always be new to her, but once she showed her donation card they knew not to ask so many questions.

The volunteer today was a guy named Cheriz, a weird name but she was never one to judge.

She sat across him and they had time to talk.

First thing he did was to thank her profusely, there had been incidents where their blood went missing.

Who would steal blood, they didn’t know.

Tish joked that the blood was free anyway.

The doctor was less than amused.

He said it was serious.

Both knew that the blood was technically without cost. It was the testing that needed to be paid for.

Tish and Cheriz were about to wrap up and another volunteer nurse led her to the collection station.

She closed her eyes tight and asked the nurse to tell her when it was over.

And under no circumstance should she see the blood.

Tish finished, grabbed her cookie and headed home.

She asked herself, what kind of person steals blood?

Maybe it was for dinuguan and she let out another soft chuckle.

It would take another two months before she could donate again and she passed them without incident.

She went through the protocol and was surprised to find Cheriz there. Once again he thanked her. Whoever was in charge of securing the blood was in trouble.

Tish asked what kind of blood was missing. Cheriz was confused and Tish clarified what blood type.

He said the rarer ones were the first to go. AB was sorely needed and Cheriz thanked her again for her selflessness.

Tish said she didn’t do it for the praise and she just wanted to help.

She went through the whole process again (especially the cookie) and managed to pass by Ruby.

They talked for a bit about how they were doing and the topic of the missing blood came up.

Ruby said that they were tightening security in the blood bank. Tish was incredibly curious and ask her to message if there was any development.

About two weeks after, Tish got a message.

Apparently it was Cheriz that was stealing the blood.

(She never liked him anyway he always asked weird questions.)
They caught him on the CCTV but he still managed to escape with 10 bags of blood.

Most think he sold it somewhere.

It sent a chill down Tish’s spine.

Did he take some of mine? She wondered.

Nevermind, it wasn’t enough to make her stop donating.

She thanked Ruby for the message and went about with her day.

Written by Karl Gaverza

Inspired by descriptions of Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 that can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family.

Illustration by Gilbert