Kotse-kotsehan

My very first memory involving a vehicle was playing on this old green jeep with ran like a bike...on chains and a pedal. I distinctly remember being in Mama's yard in her Buencamino house and the jeep was broken. I remember turning it over to "see" what was under the "hood." I guess this was imitated behavior from seeing Mang Pilo and other men fixing cars by peering under its hood.

So there I was looking under the "hood" of the jeep to find that the chain had been disconnected from the gears. I remember trying to pull on the back into its proper place and my hands becoming all dirty and black from grease. I somehow managed it though and I remember being sooo proud of myself.

Even now, I'm proud of myself for that. I was only three or four years old then you know.

Other memories involve Mom and Dad who used to take us on long night drives. Every so often they would just bundle me up, along with Jo Ann and Eric, and off we would go. A lot of times, we wouldn't even know where we were going. On Christmas Eve we would go from house to house delivering presents. Sometimes we would go very far and wide only to end up in this hole in the wall nipa styled restaurant in Cavite just to eat inihaw na baboy and kandule. One time, when Dad's new maroon Nissan Stanza was delivered, he got all excited and decided that we should all take it out for it's first run.We went to UP Village and drove around and around the Quezon City Memorial Circle before going back home again.

Dad would also sing as he drove. Just a lot of really silly songs. Abba dabba Honeymoon, Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, There's a Log in the Hole in the bottom of the Sea. and Down by the Old Mill Stream. As we got older we added Kookaburra and Down by the sea (where the watermelons grow) to the repertoire.

When we got older still, he started to sing the various songs of Frank Sinatra. He had bought this 5 cassette box set and played it over and over again. He sang along as it played. Later, he gravitated to Linda Ronstandt, some operatic singers and a lot of Broadway tunes. These days, it's usually Diana Krall.

Sometimes the kiddies at the backseat, us ,would just start chatting away (or occasionally, start fighting). Mostly we would just start talking with each other ...that is, until Dad yells "SPEAK IN ENGLISH" which would instantly result in shutting everyone up.

It's really hard to speak a foreign language fluently on demand. Try it. Speak in Spanish...right now.

We also would go to Mandaluyong to visit Nanay and my aunts and uncles. Tatay would then put us in his jeep and we, along with a gazillion other cousins who could squeeze in with us, would ride with Tatay to a gas station to fill up the jeep ...and then ride back home. My favorite seat was at the back, sitting on the tin seat that ran on both sides of the jeep. I liked sitting right near the bars so I could feel the wind blowing at me as we cruised along.

Tito Junior had once decided to fix up Mama and Papa's old Mercedes Benz which was parked in the area beside the bodega for a number of years. It used to be the car we drove to Baguio in...usually driven by Mang Pilo. I don't remember when he left but I guess he retired about the same time that Old Mercedes did.

Anyway, Tito Junior decided it had been sitting in "retirement" long enough and got it fixed. The first day it really started running, he decided to bring us to school in it. Carlos was in the front seat and everyone else seated at the back of the car. Somewhere between the house and the four blocks to JASMS, he had to press the horn on someone. The problem was, the horn got stuck and it started making periodic honks every other second. He couldn't fix it. It was funny in that we got a whole lot of dirty looks from people who felt unjustifiably "honked." at. We spent the rest of what seemed to be a long long trip miming apologies to people as Tito Jun takes his hands off the steering wheel to show he wasn't pressing on the horn. I think that car got re-retired again after that. Tito Jun got the beige Toyota Corolla instead.

I remember going on a trip with Tita Nini. We all were in a van with Rachel, me Jo Ann, Eric and Juliet. Somehow or other, Tita Nini got something spilled on the seat and it got her butt all wet. I remember she decided that the best way to dry the seat of her pants was to stick her butt out the window.

I recall it now in disbelief... She mooned everyone along the North Luzon Highway. I'm surprised we weren't arrested.

Then there was our suddenly transformed econovan which was embarrassingly painted yellow cab yellow. Every afternoon, as the van was used to pick us up from school, I could hear the whispered giggling of students who would point at our very brightly colored van. On the plus side, I could always tell right away if my ride was there. There was no need to go hunt for it from parking space to parking space. I could see the highlighted van from right outside my fourth floor classroom window.

I remember Tito Nonoy's old Rusty Red car, which was his first car and he didn't want to part with it. It was very old, and so rusty that it seemed to rain down bits of shrapnel when it passed you by. Juliet could not control herself and a little ditty would pop into her head each and every time she saw him and it together. She seemed unable to stop herself and she would start to sing....

" Ang kawawang cowboy....."

One day a few years back, when I was in med school, I was soo tired. It had been a long long 36 hour duty and I just wanted to be home. The next day was Sunday and was another duty day so I just really wanted some sleep. I managed to lug myself to my car, open the trunk. I was so happy to be finally free that in a great symbolic gesture of release, I threw all my stuff in.

I slammed the trunk shut and then....

"Where are my Keys?"

I had thrown them in with the rest of my stuff.

Grrr. I had to lug myself down to someone who could lend me the use of their phone. I called home and fortunately I caught a driver there as he was leaving. I had him get my spare key and 30 minutes later, I was finally driving myself back home.

Finally, I have a permanent remembrance of a car incident. There's this bluish bruise on my right cheek. This was because one day, I was standing between the car and the opened passenger door. We were in CCP Extension where we always stayed in wait for Mama to be ready to come home. One day, we waited a long time, only to find out Mama had a meeting and forgot to tell us that she was going home another way. We were told to go on along home and I was already getting impatient to leave but Lynette was buying something from the canteen. I started to hurry her up...yelling for her to get a move on.

I guess she got all flustered and she started running for the car. She had to get into the back seat, she saw the front passenger door, open barring her way, and slammed it shut.

WHAM!!

I got her so panicked she "forgot" that I was still standing right there.

The door hit my face and there a teeny blue bruise started to appear.

I have it still.

Oh well...Mea Culpa.