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I'll See You at Christmastide
A Historical Fiction by Luz Dayrit Navarro
All day that Christmas, Trini waited for her sweetheart. Now, it was evening. The hour was getting too late. Would he come? He always kept his word. How she loved him... this dashing general! Because of his military daring and natural charisma, the President promoted him to the highest rank of his twenty-fourth birthday. Could she ever forget that momentous evening? Leaving the other guests celebrating in the spacious sala, he led her out to the azotea. She sat on a cushioned Vienna chair, while he stood by, engrossed in their low-toned conversation. Lighted Chinese lanterns shone overhead, although they were half-hidden by a trellis of pink Cadena de Amor and white cattleya orchids hanging in coconut-husk planters.
It was a magical night full of love and romance. That evening, she gave him her necklace with a tress of her hair encased in its golden locket.
"There are many reversals in our fighting lately," he told her, much concern in his voice. "I may not see you as often as I want to. But I'll see you at Christmastide." It was to be the last time they were together.
Tonight, as she waited for her beloved, she sat by her bedroom window, lost in her thoughts of him. A cold December wind rustled the leaves of the ylangylang tree near her window, and blew the lace curtains of her room. She shivered, and pulled the fringe Manton de Manila shawl closer around her shoulders. It was a moonlit night and the air was suffused with the perfume of dama de noche and ylangylang blossoms.
Then she heard it. Hark! What was that? In a flash, she was on her feet, her eyes straining hard, scanning the moonflooded terrain. Horsehooves, that was what she heard!
In moment, she saw two riders emerging from the gate of the villa and coming toward the house. One of the riders went to the back part of the house toward the kitchen. The other one directly rode his stallion beneath her window. He looked up, his handsome face, crisscrossed by a filigree of shadowed leafy twigs and bright moonlight filtering through the trees.
"Goyo, my dearest!" She exclaimed breathlessly. Then, she ran down the stone stairway to the garden below. What a majestic pair greeted her eyes there--- a princely cavalier astride his white steed! She wanted to draw near, to hold his hand. But the great beast reared, his powerful forelegs pawing the air, and heaving a loud neigh! She stopped in her tracks, keeping her distance. Goyo gazed at her, his solemn face filled with unspoken grief and unshed tears. With a sad, farewell salute, he turned his horse to go. Soon rider and mount were gone among the shadows.
Dejected and disappointed, Trinidad went up the stairs. The she heard voices in the dining room! Did her parents have a visitor? Oh yes, she remembered the second rider who went to the back of the house!
In an anteroom adjoining the dining room, she listened, and sometimes peeped at the speakers. Around the dining table where they sat, her parents were asking many questions from Cabo Luis, a townmate and katipunan soldier.
"It happened on the second of this month," Cabo Luis was saying, between huge mouthfuls of cold rice and chicken pochero. "I escaped and rode all the way home, avoiding main roads used by the enemy with their covered wagons."
"I travelled the back roads," Cabo Luis continued, "mostly at night to avoid detection, used the carabao trails and even fields of corn and sugar cane. Barrio folks, taking pity on me, gave me food, water, and temporary shelter.
Trini's parents asked about the fatal encounter. Trini had to go to the dining room to listen very well.
"We fought to the last man and it was only luck that I was able to escape unnoticed at the height of the fighting. From my hiding place among the rocks and bushes of that steep mountain pass, I chanced to see the traitor Jose Galut who revealed to the Americans the secret passage. He was crouching among the bushes too and did not see me, so I used my poisoned sumpit to paralyze him and finished him off with my trusty tabak."
"From my hiding place, I saw those souvenir-hungry enemy soldiers swarm all over Goyo. They took everything--- his diary, his boots, silver spurs, many more. But even the enemy respected his valor, for they quickly dug a grave and wrote a sign: 'An Officer and a Gentleman.' How happy was the enemy soldier who showed to the others his treasured loot! It was a lady's necklace with a gold pendant, and opening it, the soldiers found a lock of hair..." Trinidad heard no more, for she fainted in her mother's arms.
Thoughts from the Writer: Have you stopped to wonder how the girlfriend of this boy-general felt when she learned of his untimely death? History records a girlfriend, Dolores Jose. Do you believe that there was only one girl who loved him? Remember, he was a handsome, educated young man. It cannot be denied that such a brave, young man like Goyo Del Pilar must have many young women who admired him. And since he was a bachelor, he could have also responded to the sweet affections of these women of his time.
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