The day is here and I wait. I wait and wait but the call never comes. I grow agitated every hour as I stare at my phone but even a text doesn't flash on my screen. My stomach rolls at the thought of something happening to my mama. Surely Marino isn't too evil to harm her when all these years he has spent a lot on her medical bills, right?
"Mama, is Lala calling today?" Gianna sits next to me on the sofa, peeking over my shoulder to stare at my phone with me where I clutch it in my hand. "Lola" in Filipino is grandmother, but when Gianna was younger, she could only pronounce "Lala" and that stuck.
She knows her grandmother calls now and then and when she asked why we're not together or that she never visits, the easiest I could tell her was that she lives far away to get better help from a doctor. And sometimes, I can't help myself but say hopeful things like: "We'll see her when she gets better."
