I live in a boarding house. Not really much. But it does the
trick. I wanna save as much money as possible (never mind if I make more money
than an MTC judge -yeah, they're still around; government's still there but not
as noisy and even less efficient than it used to be [and it was already
inefficient when I was a kid.]) I'm still single, girls!
So here I am; Anselmo Sanchez, Jr., 21 years old from South
Cotabato. I'm working here in Cagayan de Oro as a railroad worker. Yeah,
railroad worker. And no, I don't haul sand and stones to keep the tracks level.
I'm the guy who walks along the tracks and keeps them clean. Messy job? Well,
maybe, but SS160 a month -not including allowance- sure beats holding a
government clerk's job and making Php50,000 as your total monthly income
(allowances included.) SS? That's the EOGC's currency. A single SS is worth
Php500. Railroads have been here ever since after the Takeover. There's the
Trans-Mindanao Express that connects Cagayan to Davao City, the Northern
Mindanao Express that stretches from Surigao City to Zamboanga City and the
Cagayan Mass Transit System that links all of Cagayan together. Well, those are
only some of the railroads in Mindanao -the most important ones.
Bringing the railroad was one of the Taipan's ideas to bring in
the money. His original plan was to connect the port cities with the important
inland ones so that goods from all the corporations of the EOGC could be
shipped from different points of Mindanao efficiently. But everybody wanted to
join in because trains are safer than trucks.
So I wake up and get out of bed. Just wearing a black tank top and
blue shorts (and the color of my briefs are for a "girls only" basis.) I hit the showers, shave and get dressed. I check myself in the
mirror and: whoa! Who is that skinny dude in black trousers, blue shirt and
black tie? Hey, that's me!
"Hi here, bro!" I say to myself in the mirror with a
smile, a point and a wink. Oh, and the clothes are my uniform. I pin my
nameplate on my shirt pocket, dump my yellow hardhat, working gloves,
flashlight and blue jumpsuit into my bag, grab my ID and head downstairs.
Breakfast? Rice and eggs -always on the plate, coffee, oh, I got
some tapa today. I wonder what my landlady, Manang Ellie, is thinking today.
Must be in a really good mood. Oh yeah, it's the 15th! Ha, ha, okay, okay, I
get it. Everyone else in the dining room is just as excited. And everybody's
talking about what they're gonna buy or where they're gonna take their
girlfriends to tonight. I'm no exception. I got plans for tonight.It's a
saturday. Yeah, the 15th. But I don't have a girlfriend, well, not now anyway.
Okay, I'm finished. So I pick up my stuff and head for the door.
Hey wait. I forgot something! I'm searching my pockets but I can't
tell what it is. I know I missed something!
"Anselmo!" says a familiar voice. It's Manang Ellie!
"I have something for you!" she comes waving something in her right
hand. Ah, my cellphone! I throw my arms around her and kiss her on the cheek.
"Oh, Manang Ellie, thank you! (mwah!) Thank you and bless
your big fat heart! (mwah!)"
I take my phone and hop into my car (yes, I have a car!)
Where'd I get it? Hey, I bought it! And I have gasoline allowance.
And I'm not gonna tell you how much my allowance is. You already know my
salary. Heh, heh, heh. Okay, I'm off to work!
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