Thud

As a follow up to the accident prone thing,

Did you know I fell from the roof?

Twice?

I did.

Remember the playhouse that Tita Nini made for Rachel? The one that looked like a nipa hut? The walls were made of plywood. The door was a solid wood door, the roof lined with actual tiled roofing, and the height of which was level with the roof of our house. It was a really cool playhouse.

Anyway, during one summer many years ago, maybe when I was eight or nine, I decided to climb up onto the top the roof.

I don’t remember why now but as the playhouse was right beside a guava trees, I decided to climb up the tree to reach the top of the house. (The other side of the playhouse was a star apple tree…this is relevant only later in the story)

So up I went.

The house has been there for a long time now, being used as a storage area as Rachel did not play in it anymore .It really was very old.

So I climbed up the tree as best I could and when I was just at the point where I could reach the playhouse roof, I lifted myself up to step on the edge of it, hoping to get more leverage for myself.

Finally, I reached it… put my foot on the very edge of the roof tiling and pushed down on it.

It broke off.

The roof tile I had stepped on snapped off from the weight of me and I and fell straight down to the ground below.

At some point on my way down, somewhere in the split second I was airborne, I must have tried to right myself up by reaching or grabbing at whatever was available. I don’t know how I managed but when I came down,

I not only hit my head on the only rock there was on the ground, but the inner part of my left arm was bleeding.

And so I did the only thing a kid could do.

I hid it.

He he….The only thing that revolves around a kids head when they do something stupid is to not get into trouble.

You don’t want to get yelled at.

No way, no how.

So after I got rid of the dizziness from hitting my head on a rock, I got out my first aid kit

(Being in a “club” means every corner in the compound has an unofficial club house, and each one has a secret hiding place. In each, I had a first aid kit. Actually, if I root around here…I’m sure I could still find a really old one somewhere.)

I patched myself up, and for days and days, I clamped my left arm to my side. I walked kind of like Igor. One side elevated and moving as one, while limping all the while.

I almost got caught. Mama started looking at me funny and asked Mom what the heck is wrong with me. Mom didn’t know of course so she said “nothing…just acting weird” she supposed.

He he.

And after all that…did I learn my lesson?

No I didn’t.

Maybe a month or so later, when the wound had healed, I totally forgot about it.

So one sunny day, when everyone was lazing around enjoying summer, I spotted the star apple tree with star apples dangling from its branches.

I remembered that Jo Ann liked star apples so I decided to go and get some for her.

I had a teeny flashing danger signal flashing at me at the very bottom of my subconscious but I couldn’t remember why and what for so I ignored it.

I climbed the guava tree, and got safely on the playhouse roof.

I asked Mely to get me the ‘panungkit” (fruit picker).

I settled myself steadily on the roof, sighted just the perfect star apple, hooked the sungkit on the stem and gave it a pull.

Something fell.

Me.

The fruit stayed up on the branch,

I fell right into the roof...

Not off the roof…into.

My right leg went completely through the rickety old tiles and I was stuck.

I remember only that as I was going down, I had thought to myself

“Ay!! Oo nga pala…”

I knew I was in trouble, all the maids were shocked one minute I was standing, then the next, only half of me was visible.

Somehow, they got me out.

There wasn’t any pain, I guess the shock to having the roof eat your leg overrode all kinds of sensations.

Mama brought me to the FEU emergency room where I got a couple of shots and my leg got all taken cared of.

Today I have two scars to commemorate each falling. One near my left armpit, the other in my right inner thigh.

A reminder that I couldn’t ever say “I never make the same mistake twice.”

The playhouse got dismantled soon after that.

And turns out…

Jo Ann isn’t even partial to star apples.

Oh Well.