The Reason Being

Since moving to the night shift last summer, it has become a habit to call home to check on my mother at 3 in the morning. I always fear that since she goes to the toilet when everyone's asleep, she might slip and broke a part of her body. Last night however, was different. What answered me was a woman with a croaked voice.

"Ano nangyari sa iyo?" I asked her.

"Nag chills ako kanina. Tinawagan ko nga si Aine (our maid) para ilayo sa akin yung electric fan eh."

"Nag toilet ka na ba?"

"Hindi pa."

"Gamit ka na lang ng bed pan Mama." I said. "Baka ma-off balance ka pa kapag pinilit mong maglakad-lakad."

"Baka ganun na nga. Hindi talaga maganda ang pakiramdam ko eh.

Last week, I had to take away some of her money to buy medicines, which I withdrew from her bank account. I learned that she used the cash I gave her last month for such purpose to supplement the funds for house upkeep. Stubborn as she is, my mom will always give in to her nephews' needs. Sometimes, even at the cost of neglecting herself. So I bought a tube of cream for her skin problems, a bottle of Calcium supplement, and an extra cash for another cream for her face. This is on top of my sister's request to buy vitamins for her sons also last week.

Realizing how these unplanned spending will wipe away all my earnings had it not for the raket ship, prudence dictate that I have to stick to what I'm doing as a side job for the time being.

Even when in truth, I was only given a month extension to improve my performance, or else, I'd be axed from the roster of blurb writers hired by my other company.

Mangosteen Capsules I bought at 512 pesos for 30 pieces this morning.