In The Storm's Path

We learned, two days before landfall that Manila lies directly under the storm's path. The news put a break to my procrastinating ways and swiftly, asked my mother to send me to the supermarket and buy provisions that would last us for a month. The provisions I refer are the food and toiletries. I should have done my groceries a few days back, but because of the raket ship, it was difficult to find time and make Puregold Supermarket my destination.

The trip across the aisles was uneventful, except that I was a little anal with my loot. The obsessive compulsive in me demands careful arrangement of the cans and package bags that were included in the list of items to buy. So intense was my need for symmetry that I wouldn't let the cart move. That, and the pleasant discovery that the allotted budget was enough for my groceries despite the inclusion of King Sue Chicken Nuggets and Mekeni Chicken Tocino were the highlight of this months' splurge.   

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Exactly a day before the storm hits the city, instructions were given to the household to refill the plastic jugs with distilled water. I was thinking of adding another water container, but when the delivery guy said it wasn't possible, (as we have to provide our own) I sent my mom's assistant to check how much it costs at the nearby Uni-Top Department Store.

"165 presyo," the SMS reads. I only said thank you as my reply.   

"135 sa Savemore." He sent after a few minutes. I then realized that I might be going overboard with my preparations, and that the storm isn't as strong as I thought it is.  

I left for work with some of the flower pots blocking my window moved inside my room. They found their place in the coffee table flanking the router.

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Other, less trivial preparations were made, like pleading to some of my colleagues to work in the office in anticipation for the city-wide blackout after the storm's passing. There is an electric generator in our building, and recalling the lessons learned during Typhoon Milenyo's lashing scores of years ago, home-based arrangements are not reliable when weather disturbances like these disrupt our business operations.

These feeble attempts in creating designs, so as to ease the troubles brought by the elements return me to a time when no such idea exist. Fading memories of my father arriving home just before the lights went out, (during another storm, many, many years ago) and encapsulating the relief at the sight of his presence in a nimble poem, reminds me of how things have changed now that I am the one in charge.

Unspoken and barely felt, there is this longing to return to those days when vulnerability can be afforded because there is someone who will always be watching your back.

I do not know when this gift of foresight began hijacking my consciousness, but every time there is a storm coming - imagined or otherwise - expect me to have plans in place, for I cannot stand seeing myself and my loved ones suffering, because I didn't think ahead of the horrible, regrettable scenes that have been inside my head.