[Shout out to Drake and Junior!]
Chapter 51
After making the posts for the barrier, Santiago and I returned to where Alberto and the others were.
This time we're going to build the chicken and duck houses.
When Penelope heard that Alberto and Corazon were going to raise chickens and ducks, she said it would be good to sell eggs. After all, eggs are an everyday food. Many families ate eggs every day.
Eggs were an essential ingredient for baking. Besides, eggs were easy to harvest, the chickens would do their work, and all they had to do was get the eggs.
So building a henhouse was the right thing to do, this was the place where the hens would lay eggs. It was better than laying eggs in different places.
The chicken and duck coops were made of wooden material. In fact, there were thousands of bamboo poles in the river, and we were free to take them.
To help the family, I carried the bamboo wood. Obviously, we have to dig more ground to make a foundation.
Fortunately, most of the men helped build the huts. Only a few men didn't participate, like the Señorita's husband. Her husband went to the sea to fish. After all, Dagupan, Pangasinan was near the sea. Most of the people near the sea obviously have a job related to fishing.
When the afternoon came, we had already finished building the chicken coop. We would build the duck house tomorrow.
On December 28, I spent most of my days helping my in-laws. No problem, I treated it as a relaxing vacation. It was better than wasting my time in a taxi car all day.
As a taxi driver, I spent most of my time in the car. It was a tiring and boring job. Of course, I met a lot of interesting people. I even met a couple of criminals who almost killed me. Probably the main reason why I didn't want to be a taxi driver again.
I came back to the room and found my kids eating two slices of cake...
"Where did the cake come from?"
"My sister went to town. I asked her if she could buy a cake for us. Here's your share."
"Thank you, honey."
Except for Señorita, who has a loose screw in her head, Penelope had a good relationship with her siblings.
"What about you, honey? Let's eat the cake together."
"No, I already ate mine." She smiled and set the plate down on the table.
"Are you sure you don't want to eat with me?"
"... One, no, two bites. I only want two bites."
I chuckled and left her alone. Women like sweets.
We have been together for almost six years and I know my wife very well. She likes to eat delicious, sweet, fluffy cakes and things like that. But she always puts our children first.
As long as our kids are eating, we're fine.
There was a point where we didn't eat just to make sure the kids had a full stomach.
My wife and I started to eat the cake. I realized that my wife ate most of it, but who cares? She could eat more.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize that..."
"It's okay. We still have fresh celery, I'll eat that instead."
"Y- Yes. I'll make you some fried eggs later."
Perhaps guilty of her crime, Penelope felt bad and promised me fried eggs.
......
...
...
"Hehe! Mommy, look! I can swim now!" Sophia kicked the water. And no, she was not swimming. She was just paddling.
"Sophia, don't go into the deep water. Just stay close to us, do you understand?"
"Yes, Mommy!"
Sophia and Penelope swam in the river. We promise to take the children to the river. This might be Sophia's first time swimming in the river.
The rivers in Manila are really bad. I saw some kids swimming in the river and I don't know how they can bear to swim in that polluted river.
Unhealthy industrialization was killing the city. With no respect for the environment, factories threw their waste into the river. Even ordinary citizens treat the river like a dumpster.
Maybe the government was part of the reason. No one enforced a "real" law that it was illegal to throw waste into the river. Even if there was a law, no one took it seriously.
Why not? Because no one was sent to jail for throwing garbage into the river. In a way, the government was too lenient with its citizens.
Fortunately, the river near the village was clean. It was beautiful blue, almost like the ocean.
Roman was playing with his cousins, having a competition to see who could swim the fastest. Of course, Roman lost because he was not a good swimmer.
As for me, I'm a good swimmer. We had a swimming pool at my parents' house. I could swim whenever I wanted until I got tired of swimming.
As for Penelope, she was swimming near the land, watching Sophia. Thr Mother and daughter were having a good time.
Hm? A carp?
When I saw the fish swimming next to me, my hunter instinct manifested and I grabbed it with my hands.
"Yosh!"
The fish splashed and tried to escape my grasp. I quickly threw it to the land to make sure it would not get away.
The carp was big, almost as big as my arm. It jumped and fought for its life.
"Looks like we will be eating a carp tonight."
I grinned. Eating the food you hunted was the best.
"Wow! Dajjy, you're amazing! I wuv you!"
Sophia was shocked to see my performance.
"That's right, sweetie, praise me more! Muwahaha!"