When Catherine woke up the next morning, one piece of bread and one cup of coffee was already prepared in the table by her mother, she can see it from where she was sitting because her room has no door and the table was just right there in line of her vision.
Before she gets up from the bed, she hides the box of money into the deepest section of her cabinet. If there's one person who could steal the money, it will be her sister Caroline.
She stretched the whole length of her body above the tattered mattress made of palm dried leaves before she rose to her feet and exited from the room.
Catherine sauntered towards the table and picked up the bread and sank her teeth into it and began eating. She brought the cup of coffee with her and walked towards the entrance of the house heading into the backyard. Under the mango tree, her mother was sweeping dried leaves scattered in the ground.
It's a breezy Sunday morning, the sun rays already bathed the whole village with a warm glow. Birds were chirping on the branches of the mango tree and other neighboring trees.
"Mother, where is Caroline?" she asked.
Thelma, the middle-aged woman in her late 50's stopped sweeping and faced her daughter.
"She was here the other night informing me that you can't come home for several days because you have gone to our cousin's house in the city to find money. She wasn't here last night either. I guess she was staying with her boyfriend again for the night," she sighed.
Catherine knew her mother doesn't approve of her sister's love affair with the notorious # 1 illegal drug dealer in their village that supplies drugs to other neighboring municipalities as well. The guy supplies illegal narcotics drugs of all kinds to anyone or anywhere that patronizes his illegal stuff. He was a bad influence on her sister. But they can't do anything about it. Her sister was already of legal age and free to do anything with her life. Besides, no matter how hard they tried to persuade her they cannot stop her wild lifestyle and worse they cannot prevent her from choosing the wrong man to love.
She and her identical twin sister Caroline just turn 20 years old last month, adult enough to know what is right and wrong.
"How are your cousins doing in the city?" Thelma was referring to her brother's family who lives in the city.
"They are fine...Mom," she replied.
Her mother resumed sweeping the dried leaves.
So, the alibi Caroline had given to their mother was that she was gone to the city. Good enough, she told herself. She walked away and paused at the door of the nipa hut. "Mother where is Jacob and Lily?" she was referring to her younger siblings.
"They were on our neighbor's house watching TV and playing with their friends," Thelma replied.
Catherine went back inside the house and washed the cup in the wooden sink.
She sauntered back towards the door and found her mother still sweeping fallen leaves in their backyard.
"Mother we need to talk," she grabbed her mother's arms and they sat on the wooden bench under the mango tree.
"What is it that you wanted to talk with me, Catherine?" Thelma asked her daughter.
"Mother, we both know that we need a specialist physician for Jacob's illness. We can find one in the city."
Thelma was frowning. "What do you mean by that---Catherine?"
"It's about time we migrate into the city. There's a lot of high paying jobs there that I can find. Then we're much closer to big hospitals that can cater to Jacob's illness. We just can't stay here in our village forever and wait for him to die."
Thelma's face starts registering worry. "We don't have money with us, Catherine. It will be hard to survive in the city if we don't have money."
She understood well her mother's biggest worries. It's all about money. She was already tired and so sick of being poor, if they will stay much longer in the village they will die poor for sure. She also knew that 90% of the whole population of the world was lacking money, it's a big circus of impoverish people surviving hard, every fucking day!
She hated being poor all the time!
Damn the money!
But she needs money, her whole family needs money!
Or else they will die starving. She let out a deep sigh. Being the breadwinner of the family, the heavy burden was too much for her to bear. The village can not even offer her any worthwhile jobs to hold on to. Selling vegetables, fish and other stuff in the village's tiny market doesn't give her high profits returns. The whole village was dirt poor and it's suffocating to stay in the village where your neighbors were as poor as you.
Although she loves her village because of its natural beauty, the beauty of nature cannot give her money. If Jacob doesn't have leukemia she might be content to stay forever in this beautiful town, however, if she won't do anything or something, his brother might die soon due to his illness. She wants to prolong his life as much as possible. She loves his brother so much.
"Mother, don't worry about money. Cousin Grace will lend us some money. There's a vacant room for rent beside their house, we can rent it for our stay there. Grace promised to help me find jobs in the city. She said that with my looks I can easily find jobs. Mother, we need to move to the city to save Jacob. I am afraid his illness will get worse if we can't find a good doctor soon. Don't worry if the situation there get worse we can always go back here. We just have to try it for Jacob!"
Thelma hesitated a bit. "I dunno what to say, Catherine. I'm afraid to move into the city. I'd rather stay here in our village..."
Catherine understood very well her mother's worry, her mother had never ventured outside their village, so her apprehension and worries regarding the topic of migrating into the city terrifies her. Her mother grew up, got married and had children in this village all her life, it's the only life she was accustomed to.
"Don't worry mother, everything will be okay, trust me on this," she squeezes her mother's hand to comfort her.
Thelma finally nodded her head in agreement.
After giving her mother a loving hug, Catherine rose to her feet and went inside the tiny house. She paused inside their shabby house and her eyes roamed around her. The nipa hut was badly in need of repairs, several holes can now be seen on the roof above her and when the rain was pouring down in heavy torrents it also poured water inside the house soaking them all with no more dry space to sleep.
She sighed. Instead of wasting money on house repairs she'd rather want to spend the money she had now to move into the city to find her good fortune. Just thinking about it makes her heart come alive with excitement.
She proceeds to her door-less room and began counting the money John had given her. She counted a total of P150,000.00 worth of crisp peso bills inside the shoe box! Oh My God! That's a lot of money in there! She still can't believe it!
She can pay six months advance rent of the house in the city with that money. Then, she will start finding a job with a peace of mind. The next step is to find charitable hospitals that can accommodate his brother's illness. The way her mind projected her future plans, things now became easier. A smile broke into her lips. She piled back the money neatly into the shoe box, she put it inside the black bag and covered it with her old unused clothing.
She heard a girl's voice greeting her mother outside the house, it's Caroline!
She waited for her to come inside the house.
Once her sister was already inside the room, she stood abruptly and was about to slap her sister hard in the face, but she had a change of heart on the last minute.
"You almost got us killed!" she glared at her sister.
Caroline saw the fury in her twin sister's face.
"I know, I'm sorry I apologize. I didn't know there were some big guys with guns in there. They were never there when some of my friends and I inspected that area. I guessed they just arrive on the night we come there. I call it wrong timing!" she quivered.
Catherine calmed her flaming nerves for a minute. The past was behind her now, what matters at this present times was that they were both safe and already out of danger. She can't go backward, she can only go forward. There were more pressing matters that needed their attention first.
"Mother and the rest of us will migrate into the city near our cousin's house. I want you to come with us," she said with an authoritative voice. Being born minutes ahead from her sister she considered herself the eldest.
"Are you ordering me?" said Caroline.
"Why...you don't want to go with us?" she asked in a cold voice.
Caroline shook her head. "No. I can't leave my boyfriend behind."
"Okay fine. Stay with him forever! It's no use arguing with you. You take care of our house from time to time while we're gone." She dismissed her sister and start folding the blanket and the mattress and tucked it neatly in the corner.
"Where exactly you guys are staying in the city?" asked Caroline.
"Near our cousin Grace, there's a vacant room for rent beside their house. I will rent it."
"Do you have money?"
"Our cousin Grace will lend us the money, until such time I can find a job," she answered.
"Here take this," Caroline pulled a one thousand peso bill from her tattered wallet and shoved it to her sister's hands.
Catherine shoved back the money into Caroline's hands.
"I don't need it. Keep it to yourself!" she was furious of her sister's refusal to come with them into the city.
Caroline pouted and put back the money into Catherine's hands and got out of the room.
Catherine sighed. She folded the peso bill and put it in her wallet.
"When are you going to move to the city?" Caroline came back with a question.
"Next week, I have to go to the city first to secure the rented room and prepare everything for the move," explained Catherine.
"Okay good luck!" said Caroline and she exited the nipa hut. She planted a quick kiss on her mother's cheek and walked towards the highway, back to her boyfriend's arms.
Catherine watched her sister's silhouettes slowly fading away in the distance, she shook her head sadly.
"She will never change," she said to herself misty-eyed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PS. Author's Note: I'm using Philippines money currency. P150k is already a lot of money when you are poor. In US Dollars, more or less it's amounting to $3k, it fluctuates depending of the conversion of the day.