The events in this work took place during demonstrations by young people who became aware

of the reality of their humble condition that was fed up with "prosperity" brought by a country of
tyranny.

IN HIS restless night, hundreds of men and women appeared in that room one by one, young
people holding posters and books and with a white bag slung over their shoulders while walking
and singing folk songs, the traffic stopped, the driver's head poked through the windows, gaping
or grinning or scowling, but they didn't waver, they kept on marching, towards that building
between the big acacia trees.

You are a brave cradle

To the conqueror

You will not be oppressed

The tune of their song is high, there is no holding back in pouring out their feelings, emphasizing
their goal and as they approach that building, their step is hurried, as if they are in a hurry to get
something they need.

...It is our happiness when there is an oppressor

To die because of you...

He tried to open his eyes, but the weight of his eyelids was like steel and the environment did
not change in his mind. The young men and women are still marching, the torches held by the
leading and trailing ones are burning and the chanting continues, over and over, until the
besieged front of the building is surrounded and with a shout from the leader everyone is silent.
Suddenly, the flames of the torch were blown in front of the building, what shone was the white
light.

Brothers, why are you here? Why do we sing? Why are we holding the placards?

The answer seemed to be a giant mouth. Humming. It's like a beach tossed by crashing waves.

Overthrow imperialism! Their interests are mine! From a distance, the sweet hum of sirens was
gradually heard. Drawing, hurrying. On the building's stooped facade, the young men and
women stopped shouting, and felt and

after a while, the man who joined them like water, in uniform, with hooded heads, holding long
batons, had menacing looks.

Again, he forced his eyes open. He seemed to smell something. Fishy. In the darkness of his
mind, he groped - he had to hold on to something, he had to get up, go to the boys and girls in
front of that building and warn them: There is danger! There is danger! But everything seemed
to be an infinite space, all the air, all things that could not be touched but felt and he was also
floating, floating and he could not stop his drifting. Realizing the danger of being swept away, he
just shouted: Don't! Don't! but it seems that it was too late because before his mouth was
closed, a humming wave burst into his ears, like violent waves crashing on a sandy beach. He
spun, spun and spun, as his two arms flailed, searching for something to hold. Until the light
shines on his face. He raised his hands, even with his wide-open eyes in full shock, he saw that
there was blood on his fingers, viscous blood, garnet-colored blood! He stammered. Why are
there blood on my hands? Why? He closed his eyes again. He tried to get back to where the
young men and women were at the rickety front of the building and find his form and see what
had happened and find out why his hands were bloody. But the front of the building, which had
been flattened, was peaceful and there were some fallen leaves trampled by men with white
skin and golden hair.

He was not only anxious about his night. Now, he was shocked by his darkness. He snores with
his eyes closed and doesn't know why every time he snores he feels light on his eyelids. It's like
the steel is melting, it's like it's turning into paper, thin paper. He was happy. He knows
everything. He would know if it was all just a dream.

He opened his eyes. The light of the room shone on his face. He stands in the middle, hands
folded and at his feet, there is a body tilted in the middle and the heads are

tilted and a slightly open eye glanced at him.

Who is this? who?

Slowly, one of his legs, the right one, folded and his knee touched the prostrate body and in the
clearing of his vision he was startled by the face of you that he had known, from childhood, from
the moment of his mind, the face of you that was not he will forget, oh, that look of his Uncle
Samuel.

Why is his Uncle Samuel dead? Why are there blood on his hands? What's the matter? Why are
there blood on his hands? What's the matter?

He stood up, retreated and from his mouth wanted to escape the cry of terror. Why are there
blood on his hands? Is he the one who killed his Uncle Samuel? He retreated, was going to run
away, away, but staring at the bloody hands, at the itchy fingers, his feet got tangled where he
fell and even though he pulled his body back, he also hit the ground and hit the his head on
something hard and again, the darkness embraced him.

There were many young men and women. Screaming. Far away from the building's battered
facade sirens blare and on the building's steps are white men shouting, fists and swearing,
meanwhile, joining big, burly men in uniforms, hooded head and holding long batons, is holding
dozens of posters and eyes are bulging with intense hatred. And in that one instant vision he
caught his form, pushed by two big and strong men and he was fighting, screaming and after a
while he saw the long baton of a uniformed man rise up and he crossed it and he yanked the
handles and she kicked him and I don't know why his hand suddenly had a knife and he
stabbed, stabbed without hesitation until his fingers were sticky with garnet colored blood.
The right back of his head ached. He touched it, there was blood. His eyelids were heavy, but
he tried to open them. Strength fled his arms but he was still able to stutter. But not long after,
some hands grabbed him, lifted him upside down and a strange look appeared as he gradually
opened his eyes.

Why did you kill him? Why?

He was stunned. Who did he kill? Why did he kill? Why?

He didn't answer. He looked stupidly at the grim face and his mouth opened and closed and he
only heard his questions and he bent down and while bending down he caught sight of the body
lying on the floor and bathed in dried garnet blood . His Uncle Samuel? And raised his hands in
shock and saw that his fingers were bloodied and he was terrified and screamed and those who
were holding him shook him and asked him again and again: Why did you kill him? Why?

And when he opened his eyes and closed his eyes, he saw that a blade was parked in his face,
the silvery part of it was cut in the place where the blade was full, because it was stained with
blood.

He and Ligaya were at the mall, behind the attached university building. He was lying on the
grass and Ligaya was crouching next to him and looking out into the distance.

Look at it! There, look!

He did not act. What he looked at were things about Ligaya that he liked to look at, such as the
ear, the nape with a black mole, and her hair that was long, but now being cut, and the shoulder
blade that was as yet unwashed that rejection is golden.

Get up, Felipe. Look!

And one of his arms was pulled and he was forced to get up and look away.

Or?

Come on! Do you see that smoke?

What smoke are you talking about? Nothing, ah!

Felipe, are you kidding me?

Ligaya turned to him and he was mesmerized by those eyes and for a moment, he wanted to
kiss them and drink the water that made the blackness there sparkle.

Isn't that your uncle's factory?

Or?
Your uncle's wealth. My Dad said, only your Dad is rich… not your uncle. But when your Papa
died, your uncle became very rich.

Ligaya could see the buildings with smoke vents that seemed to defy the sky. A vast land stood,
surrounded by high walls. The roofs glistened in the sunlight.

Maybe one day, your uncle will be rich!

The buildings dissolved in his vision, the vast land surrounded by high walls. They were in a
mountain-mountains where their Uncle Samuel took them and they looked at many mountains
of coconut trees, the leaves were falling, but when the strong wind blew, the leafy leaves would
bow down, as if giving up their position. on the ground! His Uncle Samuel was wearing boots,
holding a pistol, holding a cane and was showing him the extent of his father's property.

From here to … that's all!

What was there seemed to be endless … a stretch of greenery beyond the reach of his vision.

When you get to twenty-two ... that's you

and you need to prepare. So I want you to take up agriculture... because your Papa is earthy.

He tried to look at the far away land of his late father and softly, like a little prayer, he said I'm
rich!.rich-rich! And after that comes the joy.

The mountains disappeared from his sight and now, he and his Uncle Samuel are in the air,
aboard a helicopter and they can see them in the thick green of the avocado tree.

Look... that's all of them!

Thousands of avocado trees, broad leaves to be layered, seem to be looking at the red soil
planted and when he turned to his uncle, there was the light of someone who looked confident
in his power.

Bless this abacad, as your Pope blesses. From that land, infinite grace will be yours. But he
looked back at his Uncle Samuel. That look disappeared and the one who took his place was a
putty-white-looking man with a pointed nose, golden hair and wearing a cigarette, and he
laughed and seemed to be hiding something from him. Into that look merged the towering
buildings, the giant machines, the thousands of human parts of those machines and the fabrics,
and the nails and the paper and the shoes and the plastic utensils, flowing those, towards the
location of the many brown people who were waiting with their hands raised in joy, meeting so
that in an instant, the current of these devices swelled and they were laughing, screaming,
hugging, elbowing each other and they' y

like animals that have suddenly turned back to scrambling over broken bones!
He shouted. Stop! Don't! But not everyone is happy. Shout threats. Laugh out loud. Groan of the
weak. The darkness was thin and he covered Ligaya. A brown body after being undressed was
highlighted by the thin darkness and he touched it and felt it warm and, slowly, he closed it in his
arms and felt the body and after their bodies fell on the soft bed he hummed, a the manner of a
farmer who is about to sow rice in a newly plowed field: what will happen, take care of what I
leave to you. Ligaya did not answer him. He moaned as if wounded and his hand reached his
head and pulled and pressed a kiss to his mouth.

In that darkness, in the peace of their bodies, his Uncle Samuel appeared like a white shadow
and pulled him in his arms and looked at him and then turned to Ligaya and dragged them both
in front of the mirror and in an instant, in a burst of light, their naked bodies were presented.

Look at your color! Look at her! His Uncle Samuel gritted his teeth. The hatred is there. To him;
disgust; to Ligaya, hatred.

you see

you see

That cry was answered by Ligaya's sobs. Covering the private part of the body with two hands,
shaking its arms, opening its mouth as if it wanted to rebel. He felt his Uncle Samuel pulling him.
Keeping him away from Ligaya, keeping him away.

He was struggling. Leave me alone! Let go of me! Ligaya moved away, moved away and soon,
suddenly it disappeared. He was struggling. He bit and bent and screamed and he was able to
fall down and in his nakedness he looked for Ligaya.

Happy! Happy!

He found himself in an ugly place: in tattered yards, in alleys full of gunfire, on bridges thickened
with mud. He ran, chasing the shadow he had cast from afar, running fast without caring about
the destination – the important thing was to catch the shadow he had cast and hold it and
embrace it and again, bring it to his room and caress it and again, fill it with pleasure it will take
care of whatever happens to him.

ONE day a ship arrived from Europe. A giant ship displaying heavy European equipment and he
took Ligaya there. His gaze focused on those machines. Shiny that stopped and did not move
seemed to bring him a hum. Can you hear Ligaya? Ligaya was staring at him and it seemed like
she would cry when she understood what he was thinking.

Humming, Ligaya. Humming!

And he stroked the machine and the cold ran through his veins and he told Ligaya that one day,
he wanted to create such a machine, and be seen by thousands of machines humming in his
environment, humming without stopping, like a magical song of Adarna bird, will raise the fleshy
bodies in the place of Ligaya, and make the blood flow in the fat bodies and make the muscles
swell in the helpless arms. He could see thousands of those faces, going in and out of the giant
factories, not bowing their heads, not tired, their jaws not set in anger, but laughing, joking and
hurrying, as if someone was waiting for them, in their respective destinations. Again, he
caressed those machines, and he turned a spinning wheel and the machine turned a little and it
did not stop and began to hum, eating the bodies of the newly felled hemp and rubbing the flesh
of the coconuts split in the middle, humming like the song of the Adarna Bird, soared in the air
and in the homes that are no longer thatched, but concrete and looked up at those who seemed
to have no pain, those who seemed to meet the sweetness of that song.

Do you understand me, Ligaya?

But again, Ligaya didn't answer him, but he stared at her deeply, he understood her and it was
as if his body was absorbed in an instant and the light thinned and he saw Ligaya naked again,
her entire womanhood was a dark brown ground and he hugged that body and said what he
used to say and Ligaya came and in his mind a happiness was formed that one day Ligaya will
take care of him no matter what happens to him.

Felipe! Felipe!

His Uncle Samuel chased him. He went away. He fumbled around among the obstructed
cardboard containers of powders being spat out by little mouths in his Uncle Samuel's factory.
He didn't turn around. He was afraid that when he turned around, he would stop walking and he
would not be able to go far.

Felipe!

Felipe!

He sped up walking, almost running, but the footsteps behind him grew louder and louder and
before he could avoid it, he was grabbed by the firm hand of his Uncle Samuel.

You owe nothing!

It was as if he had been slapped. He faced his Uncle Samuel. His eyes searched her like two
fingers poking her face.

After he was raised. How old were you when your Dad died?

He heard a loud scream. Rebellious scream. I do not want! I do not want!

Still getting stronger. Ruling on his hearing.

I'm not asking you to pay me. Can I get your payment? Don't embarrass me in front of my
friends. Those are philanthropists who will do business in the Philippines to help our intelligent
people who have no money to use for education. They need to invest their money, so that they
can continue to help our smart ones. Why object to mortgaging half of your property? You can
help their cause. And there is no risk of wasting your money. Why? When I used your money in
my businesses, did your livelihood decrease even one bit? Nope. My factories are attached, and
not a single lot has been spared from your land.

The scream grew louder. Squeezing his ear. And again, he turned his back on his Uncle
Samuel. He ran away. Run at full speed. But the scream continued to grow louder, chasing. I do
not want! I do not want! and as he ran it seemed to him that there was a boy of twelve years old
whom he saw in the distance, a man was putting him on a tall horse and the boy would not ride
and was kicking and stomping, but the man was beating him. He's getting closer. The scream is
already heard. He wanted to go back, but his Uncle Samuel was chasing him. He will also fight
the scream. He will just cover his ears. And he was getting closer and the form of the boy and
the man became clearer until when he was facing them he was amazed: he was based! the
man is his Uncle Samuel! He stopped suddenly, like a stump stuck in the ground and seeing
that the boy had already been mounted on the horse and the man's whip was attached to the
animal's body, he screamed, a loud scream and the horse suddenly dodged and started running
and the the crying boy raised his hand in extreme fear. After a few moments, the shriek became
only a whisper of passing moments.

It took a long time for the horse to return. The scream is gone; he didn't hear anymore. The child
is sprawled on top of the animal, arms hanging down. The driver approached the man and
stroked his face, as if to say: Lord, I have done what you ordered and the man patted the
whining horse as if to answer:

Well done! Well done!

At length his Uncle Samuel reached for him and took his flabby arms and led him back and
again, past the obstructed cartons of powders that were being spat out by the little mouths of
the factory machines and inside the In the room he escaped from, three foreign men were
sitting, with golden hair, red faces and pierced noses.

His Uncle Samuel smiled as he spoke and the foreign men hid and one of them walked around
with papers on the table and added a pen to it. Again he took his Uncle Samuel by the arm and
led him to the chair opposite the papers and sat him there and handed him the pen and he held
it and he signed the papers.

He closed his eyes. The thin darkness in his mind spat out a naked body, a brown body that he
knew by sight, breath and feel. His face seemed hard, he seemed to blame and bowed his head
for a long time, he was there waiting for punishment, but the brown body in front of him was like
a stone, motionless, voiceless, warmthless!

It's not my fault, Ligaya! I was forced!

And he cried.

The brown body suddenly came to life, came to him and reached out to him with the warmth of
its blood and he looked up and saw that those eyes had tears.
Ligaya sympathizes with him!

THAT is a forest of posters. Many young men and women were shouting, chanting, cursing. On
the wide staircase with many steps, several policemen were standing behind, guarding the three
tall men in jackets.

This is for our good. If the parity agreement is not extended, where will we buy our product at a
high price?

Screamed again. Booo! Boooo!

He raised both his hands. Flailing hands as if they were holding a grenade ready to detonate at
the bottom of those stairs, so that the building that protects your foreign interests collapses.

Imprison the imperialists!

The young men obeyed and cheered. Booo! Booo!

There is a disturbance on the left side of the stairs. Several young men and women carrying
placards tried to go up the stairs, were stopped by the police, pushed, until a woman jumped
when the people below came to the rescue of the police and there was an argument.

Overthrow the imperialists!

The tendons in his neck seemed to stretch. It was as if some hands were pulling his arms from
above.

He continued to scream, until he felt someone grab his back. He turned around.

Uncle Samuel!

Eagle-like hands never let go of him. He was pulled, away from the crowd, out of the forest of
billboards, toward a shiny limousine parked across the street.

He was put inside the car. His waist collided with the tee and he felt a pain. The thorn stuck
there seemed to grow out of his flesh.

At home!

The limousine sped off, leaving behind the forest of billboards, the building staring at the young
men and women like an old man deaf to the cries.

At home, he met Ligaya there.

Why are you here, Ligaya?

Ligaya just looked at his Uncle Samuel. Ligaya's eyes looked scared.
Why?

I fed him.

He turned to his Uncle Samuel. His eyes are haunting. Penetrating the perversity he sees in his
will, solving the mystery of Ligaya's chance.

You have a problem.

The problem?

She's pregnant!

He was startled, when he remembered something, and he looked at Ligaya and looked at the
big belly and when he saw that there was a bulge, he came closer to it.

True?

Again, Look! Happy with his Uncle Samuel. A momentary glance leads to stooping, to sobbing,
to shoulder shaking.

Don't be afraid… I will marry you!

His Uncle Samuel approached him. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from
Ligaya.

No? Why? I am responsible for him!

Because he is not for you.

Look at your skin... you're mestizo... look at his skin... it's brown! What would your dead Dad
say?

Am I responsible for what happened to him?

You have no responsibility, Felipe. We're going to get rid of that baby. Easy to remove

He heard shouting, shouting, running. He heard sirens whistle, he heard revolvers fire.

His eyes rolled. He's in the middle of a forest of billboards,

surrounded by two groups of men in uniform, holding long sticks and threatening to kill him.

No! No!

He no longer heard her voice. Thousands of voices of young men and women, protesting,
rebelling. It's like a window has suddenly woken up, like grievances in the chest suddenly erupt
and spread throughout the world.
Happy, go away! Happy, go away!

He screamed again and again that pulled the tendons in his neck and Ligaya faded from his
vision and everything spun and he was swept away and as he tried to stop that spinning he was
caught by his waist and he groped for the rod and tightened his grip on it until it was pulled out
and as he turned, he turned the rod, because there was a deafening laugh that followed him as
he turned and opened his eyes he could see his Uncle Samuel, the wide mouth looks like the
mouth of a giant that will soon swallow him.

The grip was tight, he raised the blade and in the blink of an eye he was out of his spinning
vision and he buried the blade in the chest of his laughing Uncle Samuel.