Imagine you are on a bus heading to Zambales and you just passed by Dau, Pampanga. You are talking to your seatmate and then suddenly you stopped speaking. The temperature from the aircon was just right but cold sweat is still coming out of your pores. Everytime someone touches you, you easily get irritated. You don’t want to talk. You don’t want to smile.
Yes. Nature is calling.
Then suddenly you see this
The feeling of ease crept down from your head to your feet.
Wrong move. The muscles that were stopping nature from fulfilling its duty was now relaxed. Nature is fast coming.
As soon as the bus stopped, you quickly went down and quickly searched for a sign.
This sign
Then someone stopped you from fulfilling nature’s duty. She was asking for a peso for you to do mother nature’s will.
You quickly took your coin purse and got a 5 peso coin. You gave it to her and quickly ran inside not caring about the other 4 pesos.
After much concentration you felt relieved and you just experienced the first happiness that you’ve encountered in Pampanga.
With all that food that came out you suddenly felt empty. You looked for something that could fill the space.
You were thinking too much. Sometimes what you are looking for is just around you.
You then bought a bowl of arrozcaldo, puto pack and ice tea to fill the gap. It was satisfying. It was fulfilling. It was the second happiness.
“Calling the passengers of bus number 1537, bound for Iba, Zambales. Your bus will now be leaving.”
It was your bus number.
You boarded the bus looking forward to your coming adventure. Slowly forgetting about this place. The 15 minutes of excitement and fulfillment. The Double Happiness.
Yet, for sure you will be coming back. It may not be tomorrow or the next day, but for sure you will.