Inspired by one of the X-men, Pyro, but not quite…

this post was originally a part of an inactive blog by the moonlighter written and posted sept 22, 2005

This morning, just before, daybreak, the gods of fire stumbled upon our neighborhood. One of the houses in our otherwise uneventful area went into flames. The casualty-house was two corners away from the block where our tiny apartment stood—and if you’re familiar with the area, ours is not your lengthy, stretching block, so you’re speaking of a little over ten houses separating our house and the fire.

More than the specters of the approaching misfortune itself, I was quite concerned with how I handled what was then an imminent brush with disaster. How I acted this morning certainly brought me to the land of strange ponderings…

I was roused from sleep by papa. Without looking at the time, I thought it was not really strange: papa rousing me from sleep. After all my futile attempts of getting back my typical early waking-up habit, I thought it was rather helpful. Still drowsy, I heard him say, may nasusunog anak bumangon kayo… Huh? I asked where exactly was the fire and they weren’t certain then. On-lookers must have started out of their homes around that time. I told mama and papa, it was okay. I actually wanted to finish the remainder of my dream (about? Haha!). Quite unlike me, at that very moment, I wanted to keep on with sleep. Even as I was starting to snuffle the smell of burning wood, I kept myself in bed, even snuggling my favorite worn-out pillow, and kept saying it’ll be okay…the firemen would come and soon douse the fire. I wasn’t sure if you would call that indifference but I thought, everything would be fine, there was nothing to worry about (it was nothing like me… I was starting to think, mamamatay na ba ko?)

Anak, wag ka matulog ano ka?

I got up, went to their room and took a look at the window. Mama, di tayo maano. The distress sirens were already closing in. Mama took hold of the attaché-case with important documents, preparing to get out of the house. I watched them, I was even smiling, and I was still not a meter near a state of panic. Why are you in panic? I wonder how Ate would have reacted had she been here (Ate, we no longer have the mahjong set, hehe…are you even reading this? Hehe). Ma and Papa were worried about the winds spreading fire. The winds moved towards the direction of our place.

Anak, ilabas mo na yung mga importanteng gamit mo.

That was strike one.

At that point, so early in the morning, I got a weird feeling that I actually had nothing to lose.

What gives? I thought, I could bring my CPU down (all my important research files are there, but I have backup copies, so perhaps I should have grabbed the CD copies on impulse), but I did not. Instead, I took my bag, the one I bring along every time I leave the house. That was it. In it were my wallet, cell phone, planner, rosary, brush and toothpaste, and the medical clearance I was due to submit tomorrow. Cousin Pao thought it was funny seeing me clutching my bag as though it was my life. Of course it wasn’t. But I never got of the house or even attempted. I only grabbed my bag to show my parents I was doing what I was told (Hehe…).

When it was over, we were obviously spared from the tragedy of a burned down house. Unfortunately an old lady died and his son was reported to be in serious condition, and the apparent cause of fire was a candle left burning inside the house.

Then Pao reminded me, you should have thought about your books Me. She was right. My precioussss! Why did I not care enough to salvage my books from the fangs of an approaching monster fire? Until now I wonder. Was it because, I never really thought we were in serious danger of having fire eat up our house? Or is it a matter of sorting out what really matters.

That was strike two.

What really matters?

We could continue with strike three, four, etc. Even if they tell you to strike whilst the iron is hot, let us end this entry with one last point: probably, the reason why I didn’t know which stuff to duck out incase of fire, is because I have an enormous affinity with anything outside a clutter-free life. Lesson learned, be more organized next time. (Hem!Hem!) Calling all OCOCs… teach me, I am not a hopeless case (U2).