*Note this story is in Bicol Tabaco
Burubanggi niyang nadadangong ang kanta sa kataning na istaran (apartment). Bako pirming pararehas ang kanta. Minsan mamundo, pero kanta kang pagkamoot. Minsan man, makusog, makaskas. Pero sarong boses man sana ang nagkakanta. Boses kan babayi.
5E, purupirmi niyang naiisip n asana makusog ang buot niyang magkatok sa pintuan nganing mahiling mismo kan saiyang mata.Tigisip pirmi ni Dax kung anong itsura niya. ‘Pag naghahapot man siya sa kataraning, dai man na konkretong simbag, dai man nakakatabang.
Si Lola Anding ang pinakahaloy na nakaistar duman sa building. Sabi niya, ang babayi daang pirmi kong nadadangog, halaba daa ang buhok pero nahiling niya daa nakatalikod. “Habo man kaitong makipaghuron sa mga tawo na nakaistar man digdi. Pero dai ko man siya mabasol.” Nag-ulok si Lola Anding, “Rumdom ko kang pagbalyo niya, gabos na sultero minasakat buda minakaratok sa pinto niya maghapon antos banggi. Minsan minarahali na sana ta dai man tigluluwas buda tigkakahuron.”
Hinapot naman niya si Jaime, nakaistar sa taas kang kwarto niya, kung anong puwede niyang maistorya tungkol duman sa babayi. “Dai na kaan. Binalo ko na man.” Iyo man sana ang sinabi saiya.
Si Nadine ang medyo dakol na inistorya. Nakaistar siya sa hampang kang kwarto ni Dax buda may pagka-chismosa man. “Mayaman siya o kung bako man, baka nagaastang mayaman. Mga pirang beses ko man an nahiling puro alahas ang liog, puro bulawan buda diamante. Baka peke, sabi baga ni Tito Deng sa 3rd floor sako ang sabi daa saiya nagtatrabaho daang guwardiya! Inda ko man kung sisay man ang tigbua niya. Baka ang trabaho kaan ‘escort’.”
Ang hudyan na hinapot ni Dax si Alfonso. Dai man nagpaparaluwas kang istaran si Alfonso, lalo na kang nawara ang saiyang tugang. “Magayon siya.” Sabi kang malipot na boses ni Alfonso, “Iyo an ang sabi kang Kuya ko. Pirmi niya iyan tigdadarhang burak, pero dai man tigbubuksan ang pinto. Sa pagkarumdum ko, mooton diyan si Kuya, pero dai man niya minsan napansin si Kuya.”
Pinirit ni Dax na iguhit siya. Piniyong niya ang saiyang mga mata buda inisip kung gano siya kagayon. Ang buhok niya garo busay na nagbubulos sa saiyang abaga. Ang saiyang kamot tighimas ini na garo bitoon na nagagi sa langit. Inisip niya man pano ini maglakaw, garo baga pati paros tigakay ang saiyang paglakaw. Ang saiyang ulok, saiyang ngabil, saiyang dungo gabos perpekto, garo ginibo ini gabos para papunduhon an saiyang puso. Tinapos ni Dax ang saiyang tigibo asin binaba ang saiyang lapis. Dai niya masabutan nata niya ginuhit ang saiyang mata na garo maisog, buda nakahiling saiya na garu nauuri.
Kang banging ito, naghalat siya sa may pintuan kang 5E buda sinabi niya sa sadiri niya na baka kaipuhan niyang baluon na ngunyang banggi. Nagkatok siya sa pinto buda nag-preparar na siya na mahalat siya sa wara.
Iyo ang nasa isip niya, hanggang sa nagbukas ang pintuan.
English Translation
Every night he hears the songs from the apartment beside him. They’re not all the same, some nights it’s a quiet melody, almost like a love song. Other nights it’s a loud aria. But it’s always the same voice. Her voice.
5E, he always wished he was brave enough to knock that door and see for himself. Dax tried to imagine what she looked like, though the only descriptions he could ever get from his neighbors weren’t helpful.
Lola Anding who lived in the building the longest said the woman had long hair, though she only ever saw it from the back. “She never liked to small talk with the rest of us, though I don’t blame her.” Lola Anding smiled “I remember when she moved in, all the young men would go to her door and bother her all day and night. Most of them left the building after she wouldn’t answer them. “
He asked Jaime, who lived a floor above if there was anything he could tell him about the woman. “Don’t bother. I tried too.” Was all he told Dax.
Nadine had more to say. She lived in the unit across Dax and liked to gossip. “She’s rich or feeling rich. The few times I saw her she would have really expensive jewelry around her neck, gold and diamonds. It’s probably fake, Tito Deng on the 3rd floor said she told him that she worked as a guard! I don’t know who she’s trying to fool. She probably works as an escort.”
The last person Dax talked to was Alfonso. He only spent his time in the building, especially after his brother went missing. “She’s beautiful.” Alfonso’s voice was cold “That’s what Kuya told me. He always tried to bring her flowers, but she never opened the door for him. I think he was in love with her, but she never even noticed him.”
Dax tried to draw her. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine her beauty. Her hair flowed like a waterfall gently falling over her shoulders. Her hands moved through it, like shooting stars across the night sky. He thought of her walk, when the wind would move to guide her way. Her smile, her lips, her nose were perfect, almost as if they were made to make his heart pause. Dax finished his sketch and dropped his pencil. He didn’t know why he drew her eyes with such cruelty, she stared at him with a look that reminded him of envy.
That night he stood across the door to apartment 5E and told himself it was time to try. Dax knocked on the door and was prepared to wait in silence.
That is, until the door opened.
*The Bikol languages or Bicolano languages are a group of Central Philippine languages spoken mostly in the Bicol Peninsula in the island of Luzon, the neighboring island province of Catanduanes and the island of Burias in Masbate. There is a dialect continuum between the Visayan languages and the Bikol languages; the two together are called the Bisakol languages.
The Tabaco-Legazpi-Sorsogon (TLS) dialect is spoken in the eastern coast of Albay and the northeastern part of Sorsogon. TLS is the dialect that has been most influenced by the Inland Bikol languages.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Bicol Tabaco Translation by Denisse Arao
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Denisse Arao
Based on the Boringkantada description in Bikol Beliefs and Folkways: A Showcase of Tradition. Nasayao 2010.
Boringkantada Illustration by emirajuju
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Watercolor by Catherine Chiu
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