SONGS OF FATE

1. The Poet

Olivia is there with a very light chocolate colored dog. The dog is old ,Olivia knows that instinctively. The dog has followed her for more than a mile. "Jupi," she called him not knowing how did she know the dog's name.The dog came closer to her, too close. She could feel its snout at the back of her hands. She sat on the rock and motioned Jupi to sit beside her, which it did in a second.It was afternoon in that rocky seaside, Olivia and Jupi watched the seain silence.And then she looked at the dog sitting at her left.It looked so peaceful. It was not her dog,no, she never had a dog. But she seems to feel very close with Jupi just exactly how it was willing to follow her. The dog shows up to her every now and then. And when they are together, it feels like fate. A destiny. As though they had been together forever..There is something inside her that knows Jupi for thousands of years.

She woke up from that weird dream . She had dreamed several times about that dog she feels so attached with in her dreams. And whenever she wakes up, she feels nothing but ecstatic. That much she is sure. But from where the dog was and why was it with her was quite vague to think about. She just closed her eyes again trying to reacquaint herself with that vivid feeling she had in her dream.

"Only you can read your dreams, Olivia."Her daddy said, to her disappointment, when she consulted him about it many years ago.

"I thought you are gonna solve the mystery for me?"She voiced what she had in her mind. She traded a silly look with her father. She made it sound like a joke but in truth, she was dying to learn about what the dream was all about.

"Trust me, Olivia. One day, you will realize it by yourself. Dreams reveal themselves to you when the time is right.." Her dad tussled her hair and continued playing with the ball.

SO she begun to write about the dog and made a song telling about what the dog makes her feel. Albeit her thought and feeling about the dog Jupi always leave her wondering . The song tells about a love so unexplained but also leaves a great mystery in her heart.

The song was just recently been played on the radio, to Olivia's excitement. In fact, she celebrated this one step success drinking alone in her flat while talking on the phone with her Dad.

"How does it make you feel, Olivia?"He asked.

"For the first time my song is being played on the local radio? Huh! I feel successful already, Daddy!" She laughed.

"I knew you can do it. That is a nice start, Olivia. Making it to the radio on your first song..."

Although her Dad has not yet personally heard the song played over the radio , he is undoubtedly very happy . Her dad has been her number one admirer. He had been always proud of her which explains her formidable self confidence. She doesn't do things half-heartedly which maybe is the reason why there are only few things she did in her life. When she decides to put her hand on anything, she makes sure she does it well otherwise not at all.

She is twenty eight but never had a serious relationship. Not that she is still a virgin, she is not, because she once slept with a guy she met in a pub. His name was Danny, so he told. They just started talking while having a drink. The next time she knew was the following morning in that hotel room. She was single and twenty five so she thought of giving it a try with Dan. Then after a month they probably got weary being in that lackluster relationship. Even after they agreed to become friends, they seldom asked to hang out. How funny, she thought. There was , first of all, nothing common in between them to begin with. That was her unlucky attempt for a relationship.

If there is something she loves the most doing, it is writing something. She has had countless poems published on newspapers and magazines already to support that. That having mixed with her inclination to music is the thing that made her to make songs. Nothing really much to do in addition but just to integrate a melody with her poems.

That is another thing from writing stories which she has been already been proven successful already. Among her eight published novels, three of them are best sellers and two are on their way. Olivia has made good money that she is comfortable even if she won't be working for a while. Right now she intuitively feels directed to making songs after "Old Jupi".

Her concern right now is whether the band who sang Old Jupi will be able to sing a song of another genre.

Olivia rose from her bed to feel the coldness of February. From having been covered under the blankets , her bare shoulders felt the fifteen degrees temperature this morning. Notwithstanding the cold, she hopped near the glass wall looking outside. Her mind is full of something but she forgot all of that when she laid her eyes on the view of yellowish green color of that distant mountain. Her apartment is built on a small rocky hill overlooking a panoramic view of the mountain. There is a small village at the foot of the mountain like a mini valley. The picturesque landscape appears even captivating in the morning when it is spotted with clouds.

In the Western part of Sagada lies the most attractive view in town. That is because it is the only part with a plain. When one stands at an elevated end , he can see wide plantation of varied crops like coffee, sugarcane, and different vegetables. At the other hilly side is a rice terraces that changes in color depending on what season it is. During December, yellow flowering bushes bloom everywhere thus making the whole area colorful. But if you look somewhere else, the surroundings mostly appear dark green.

With the whole population of ten thousand plus, the town is not at all crowded. The place is still developing , of course, but is already good enough for a town located almost two hundred kilometers away from the city.

Olivia chose to stay here. She particularly likes to stay in a reasonably quiet place such as here where at the same time she can access the things online. Since her mom is originally from here, she had since known this part of Northern Philippines as a child. Aside from being a tourist destination she picked this place also because of its familiarity in spite of not having too many friends around. That is okay with her since she prefers less company. She wanted to be in a place that offers beauty and serenity

Tourists from all over the world troop to this small town especially during weekends. They make the narrow streets crowded and bit noisy two days in a week but they also make the shops busy , the inns and lodges are occupied. Local products increase in sales. Assisting and guiding tourists has also become a reliable job for many locals. Tourism industry is clearly one of the most profitable source of income of this town.

She just remembered a wedding invitation from a relative. That will be tomorrow, she automatically glanced at the calendar sitting on her desk. Yes, it is tomorrow. The church wedding will be at St. Carmelita Church within a walking distance from her apartment. It will be the first wedding party she ever has attended since she came to the place few months ago. Had her mother been still alive, she would have been here for the wedding by now, preparing for the next day's big event.

She looked at her ward robe. She thought of checking for something to wear the next day. She has not bought any clothes for quite some time now. She has nothing but t-shirts and pants. To think that until now, she has not yet seen a decent shop to buy clothes. She thought for a while ,'Where can I buy clothes for tomorrow?' she wondered. She later dropped the idea.

From what she can recall, attending wedding celebrations here doesn't require any special dress. Anyone can go with anything. Just go there and be seen, eat whatever is served and that's it. The celebration will last until the next day, traditionally, which means she can have lunch there as well as dinner. She imagined the sound of that traditional music played during happy occasions. That made her smile. She pulled the sweater on top of her pile of clothes and walked to the bathroom.

To someone who has never worked in any office or anywhere, the need for a lot of clothes in the ward robe is not there. She works inside her bedroom as she loves to always keep her work table in her bedroom. A poet and a song writer as she is needs to be by herself most of the time. She just need to sit on her computer writing what comes into her mind. If she is not doing any of those, she is still on her computer table reading something. She meets up with people very seldom. That has been her life ever since she finished from university. And now only she noticed that her ward robe is suffering.

She dressed herself and went out of her apartment planning to walk to a nearby shop to buy something to eat, snacks at least.

"What time is the wedding tomorrow?" The shop keeper asked her. The middle aged woman knew her because she only goes to her shop, not to the other shops around.

"Nine o'clock in the morning." She sat on a chair set inside the shop and opened her snacks.

"And after the church wedding, the celebration is ??"She looked at her waiting for an answer.

"At the bride's residence. " Her cousin married a guy from the city so understandably, the celebration is going to be at the bride's.

"How long have they been married?"The woman asked again.

"About two years now it seems."

"Have they kids?"She continued the interview.

"No. They had been studying so.." The couple opted to defer having kids.

"How many kids does Alfonso have?"

"Uncle Alfonso has six children. The bride is the second. "She told,

"The first one already married?"

"Yes. But her husband is abroad so they decided to wed the second child first.."

"Ah, Ok."

For the town folks, it is about getting married and having children that matters. When you meet someone, who can be a stranger, an acquaintance, or friends, the main question asked is how many children one has. And if you are a little bit aged, the question will be added with how many of your children were already married. To them, having as many children is the most valued wealth. And them getting settled in a marriage is an achievement one should be proud of. You can have all the money but nobody will ever ask you, how much money do you have now. Nobody talks about that in public. While as, the children you have is that one of the things you can openly get praised for.

"Why an only child?"She was frowned at when she told she was an only child of her mother's. "You will regret being alone, Olivia."

"Well, I hope not."She countered.

"No. Friends and all will not be there at all times with you. In times of need, it is siblings who would come together for your aid." The old woman is resolute in her prospect.

It might be true, she said silently not wanting to contradict the oldie, but life nowadays has improved. You can have the help you want even without the family's assistance.

Had she been born and raised in her mother's native town, her views would have been different. She would have become a woman fully bound with the culture including everything that goes with it. So that is one of the few good things about a child born into a mixed culture family. The influence of both parents' cultural background is far less. She is more free to choose which one to follow or she can choose to start from zero.