Our American Neighbors

When my aunt and my mother talked about prewar Iloilo they called it "peace time." And they spoke of it with reverence as though it was the millenium. Food was plentiful and cheap. Teachers couldd be hired even if they only had fourth grade education. There were jobs for every one -- during peace time.

Things weren't the same after liberation. The price of the cheapest rice was 70 centavos and coca cola was ten centavors. A jeepney ride was five centavos but later they moved it up to ten. Oh how expensive things had become!

Father lost no time making a hut for his growing family. My brother Delfin was born during the war, and Thelma during liberation. Our house address is officially on Jereos Street although we were closer to Gustilo. Along Jereos there were two wood frame houses, in the design of the American era. Both were two stories, one painted a dull cream color while the other was red.

A Filipino married to an American woman occupied the red house. These were the Tirols. They had two daugthers, Bootsie and Bopeep. The Tirols owned a station wagon that used a crank to start the engine. It was a pretty thing with wooden sides and a canvas top. The Tirols threw a lot more trash compared with the Ledesma family, their neighbors to the left. We rummaged their trash pile and it contained things such as boxes of paper napkins and cigarettes, the cardboard cores of toilet paper, lots of milk and saltine cans. Cigar boxes were made of wood and they were very aromatic. The paper napkin boxes were excellent for making cutouts for shadow picture shows. We cut out figures of crocodiles and hiros-hiros (rhinoceros) or airplanes and warships but often just boxers with movable arms and legs. We put up a white sheet with the audience on one side and the operators on the other. The source of light is a lamp and by moving the figures with a thin bamboo stick the lamp casts a moving shadow that entertains the audience. There has to be sound effects like snorts of crocodiles or the whine of airplanes or the thump of boxing gloves.

We didn't think of Mr Tirol as a Filipino. He wore American style clothes was quite a sportsman always carrying a bag full of golf clubs with him. The trash pile was a good source for old golf and tennis balls. They stayed far longer in our hands than in his.

One day they put up a sign, Calvert School. And they used their first floor for teaching preschoolers. Since their front yard was quite narrow all programs were held at the back yard. Just meters away, separated by a barb wire fence was the house of Tiya Enya, Tidoy's mother and it had stairs going up to the second floor with an awning. Perched on the bamboo stairs, we had a grandstand, the perfect place for watching the Calvert School programs.

The Calvert School didn't last very long. The Tirol family moved elsewhere. I heard one of the sisters was a good swimmer and she had to be near a swimming pool. I never saw Bopeep and her sister and mother again. But I would ocassionally meet Mr Tirol with his bag of golf clubs hitting golf balls at the grassy sports field of the Normal School. I never saw him talking to anybody for he went there at noon and he kept on hitting those balls all by himself.

Some time later their house was occupied by a man who made ice cream and ice drops. The ice drops came in many colors -- green and pink, purple and white. I felt sad for the house. It attracted a lot of flies and left over milk gave the place a sour odor.