*Note this story is in Ilocano
Rinabii nga makangkangngeg isuna ti kanta idiay kaabayna nga apartment. Agsasabali a kanta. No dadduma, nalinaay a samiweng kas ti kundiman. Ket no dadduma met, naariwawa nga aria. Ngem kanayon nga isu ti boses. Bosesna.
5E. Namnamaenna unay a maituredna a katuken dayti ruangan tapno makitana mismo. Pinadasna a panunoten no ania ti langa ti babai, ngem awan met nagbanagan dagiti imbagbaga dagiti karrubana.
Ti umuna-a-nagnaed-iti-buildi
Dinamagna ni Jaime nga agigyan idiay ngato no adda maibagana panggep iti babai. “Bay-amon. Pinadasko idin.” Isu la ti naibagana ken ni Dax.
Ad-adu nasao ni Nadine. Agigyan isuna idiay batog a yunit ni Dax. Kaay-ayona ti tsismis. “Diak ammo no baknang isuna wenno pagarupna laeng. Sagpaminsanko la makita isuna ngem kanayon nga adu ti sagngingina nga alahas iti tengngedna, balitok ken diamante amin. Ti panagkunak ket gangandiong. Kuna ni Angkel Deng dita 3rd floor ket imbagana kano nga agguardia isuna. Asino ngata ti loklokuenna. Patiek no ibagana a sumsumrek isuna nga eskort.”
Ni Alfonso ti naudi a kinatungtong ni Dax. Manipud idi napukaw ni Manongna, saan pulos rumrumuar iti building ni Alfonso. “Napintas isuna.” Awan ngayangay iti bosesna. “Isu ti imbaga ni Manong. Kanayon a mapanna koma ikkan ti sabsabong, ngem uray minsan dina nilukatan ti ruanganna. Ay-ayaten sa ni Manong isuna ngem saan met pumansin.”
Pinadas na nga idrowing ti babai. Inkidemna dagiti matana ken inarapaapna ti kinapintasna. Kasla dissuor ti buokna a nagayus agingga iti abagana. No sagaysayen ti ramramayna ti buokna, kaslada la laylayap iti tangatang iti rabii. Pinanunotna ti pannagna ti babai no agpuyupoy ti angin a tumarabay kenkuana. Awan ti pagkunaam ti isem, bibig, ken agongna, kas koma naaramidda tapno la pagsardingen iti apagbiit ti pusona. Nalpas ni Dax nga agdrowingen. Indissona ti lapisna. Dina ammo no apay dagidiay mata ket napagbalinna a nakakusilap, kumitkita kenkuana a kasla adda apapalanna.
Iti kinarabyanna, timmakder isuna idiay batog ti ruangan ti Apartment 5E. Adda iti panunotna nga itay iti panawen a panangpadasnan. Nagkatok ni Dax ken natalna a nagur-uray.
Kasta, agingga iti naglukat ti ruangan.
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English Version
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.
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*Ilocano is the third most-spoken local language of the Philippines.An Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan and Malagasy. It is closely related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the Bontoc language.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Ilocano Translation by Jenina Danielle L. Melchor
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Jenina Danielle L. Melchor
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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