(conclusion)
It has been five years since Gracie and I broke up and my mother hadn’t seen any other girl with me since then. I had just celebrated my twenty-fifth birthday and apart from my female college friends, all my well-wishers were men. “I don’t know how to answer your question, Mother,” I said. “If you [...]
(part 3 of 4)
After that, it seemed that the scales of ignorance were removed from my eyes. Everywhere I would go, I would meet and catch the gazes of men who’d look me over like I was some piece of meat for their taking. Inside the jeepney on my way to class, in the review [...]
(part 2 of 4)
I never pursued my feelings for Emily, or the next girl after. Perhaps, to lash out for his apparent possessiveness, I started having sex with others. With the school bus driver, with the janitor and groundskeeper, with a brick layer at work in a building a block from our house, with this [...]
(Part 1 of 4)
I don’t remember the exact point in time when I became Mike. I had always preferred to be addressed by my real name. No nickname, no pet name. This was because my whole name was simple as it was: Michael. When I was a boy, my late father liked to call me [...]
Jay looks at me, biting his lips. That look tells me to be quiet. That I let him handle the situation. I broke Ma’s favorite vase and she told Pa. Jay admits to Pa that he was the one who broke it. Pa doesn’t say anything. He leads Jay to our room and shuts the [...]
Since Jay died, Pa always came home drunk. He and Ma would fight. I could hear them in their room, shouting. Throwing things. Later they also fought outside their room. In the living room, while eating, while getting ready for bed. Soon Ma stopped sleeping in their room altogether. She’s lay out the mat by [...]