“Mom, is everything all right? Is something’s going on between you and Dad?” Sammy asked, watching the door close behind her father.
“It’s just a minor thing that your Dad and I need to work on. Don’t worry about it. Things will be back to normal by the time you’re home from your trip,” Yvonne said, looking at the closed door of the study.
“Ok,” Sammy said, but an uneasy feeling came over her.
“C’mon, let’s get busy. We’ll go to Fillmore and browse around, and then we’ll shop for pasalubongs and supplies,” Yvonne said, nudging her daughter out of the kitchen. “Go get ready while I clean up here.”
Sammy walked to her room, turned around and saw her mother’s bent head leaning on the kitchen counter, as if concentrating her next move. The expression on Yvonne’s face was a look her daughter only saw once — a year ago when the duwende and cousin Jenny wreaked revenge on the family.
It was a look of worry, uncertainty and fear of the unknown.
Sammy closed her bedroom door and sat on her bed crossed-legged with hands on her knees. She cleared her mind, inhaled, held her breath and slowly let the air out, just like Tita Patti had taught her.
“It’s like Yoga, you breathe in slowly through the nose, and exhale the same way. Do it several times. Your body begins to calm down, and clarity and peace of mind take over,” her aunt instructed her.
Tita Patti, where are you? I need to talk with you, Sammy reached out to her aunt.
Mind talk, the gift handed down to her and her aunt from their ancestors. Sammy had discovered her ability to mind talk during her first trip to the Philippines.
Patti had the gift since she was a child, but refused to accept it until she was an adult. It frightened her and it was only when the family was threatened that she was able to finally come to terms with it.
Under the guidance of Solo, their special friend from Hawaii and Lolo Ciano, their spirit ancestor, Sammy and Patti learned to use the gift.
Lolo Ciano said the mind talk was most likely inherited from the family’s Chinese ancestor, Cue Yi-Lam, a merchant from the Fujian province in the south of China who emigrated to the Philippines before it became a colony of Spain.
Sammy and Patti discovered that along with mind talk, they possessed other abilities: they could see and converse with spirits, send messages to people in their dreams, dream of things to come, and transport themselves back in time, but only as observers. No interaction was allowed. Touching someone from the past would bring the visitor back to the present time. Lolo Ciano, on the other hand, could materialize and touch someone in the present.
Tita Patti, are you there?
What’s up, Sam? Sorry, I was in the middle of throwing. I have to concentrate or else clay will splatter all over Ugu’s studio. Not bad for a first attempt at pottery. What’s on your mind, sweetie?
Have you talked with my Mom lately? Is there something going on with her and my Dad?
Why do you say that? Are things not right with the world in the Plum household? Sorry, your question is serious, and I’m making light of it. What do you mean?
I’m not sure, but I get the feeling they’re having problems and hiding it from me.
I haven’t spoken with your Mom. Did you ask Tita Mari? She usually knows what’s going on in the family. We don’t call her Radio Mari for nothing. Oops, sorry Sweetie. I must be in a good mood today. I haven’t been lately . . . I’ve got the dreaded writer’s block. I seem to be all tapped out and my concentration is gone and missing.
Patti had the first book of her young adult trilogy published the year before. She was working on the second book. Her main character was a 10-year-old girl based on her favorite niece Samantha.
You’ll get it back, Tita Patti. You must be stressing out over something you don’t know about. What is your new book about?
That’s just it. I don’t have a clue. I can’t get a plot going. Writing for young adults is not an easy thing.
I have all these words running around in my brain, but I cannot seem to formulate the nasty things into sentences and paragraphs. Ugh! But forget about me . . . let’s get back to what’s eating you. Is this the first time you’ve noticed a problem between your parents?
“Sammy?” Her mother’s gentle whisper broke into her mind conversation with her aunt.
Gotta go, Tita Patti. My mom just came in.
OK. Don’t forget to ask Tita Mari, and let me know. I’m in the dark here. I can’t get a signal on my cell phone here at Ugu’s. I’m way out in the country and you'll need a special visa to get here. Get it? Ha, ha, just kidding. Give my love to your mom.
Where is Ugu’s place?
In a place called Tiaong. It’s not far from San Pablo. You’ll love it here. I consider it my refuge. If you come for a visit, I’ll give you a tour of the place. Tchuss, mein schatz. That means goodbye, my treasure in German.
OK. Talk to you later.
“Who are you talking to up there?” Yvonne asked, patting Sammy on the head.
“I was just chatting with Tita Patti. She sends her love. Oops, I forgot to tell her I’m going to be there soon.”
“I’m sure she’ll find out soon enough. Are you ready to go?”
“Sure.”
Sammy thought it strange that her mother didn’t even ask how her sister was doing. Come to think of it, Yvonne hardly mentioned her family these days.
Another important part of her mother’s ritual was missing as well. Tita Mari’s daily calls and their long conversations hadn’t been happening lately. Sammy creased her forehead. A lot of serious adult things were going on that a 10-year old girl could barely grasp.
“Don’t worry, honey,” Yvonne said, gently rubbing the crease from her daughter’s forehead. “Things will work out. Your Dad and I are in a funk, and we need to sort things out. That’s all.”
“OK, Mom.”
“Let’s get away from this gloom and doom talk, and do some fun things for a change. What do you say?” Yvonne said, leading her daughter out into the hallway.
Shopping bags later, mother and daughter were crossing the busy street of Fillmore, carrying on like they didn’t have a care in the world. They stopped at Marie-Jeanne's bakery, and for once, her mother allowed Sammy to eat the delectable cream puffs twice in a day. Whatever was troubling Yvonne and nagging at Sammy was temporarily forgotten.
The two of them together, they could face whatever trouble came their way.
2
Not Good
Dinner was an awkward affair at the Plum household. Sammy tried in vain to start a conversation.
She said anything and everything just to listen to herself talk in the uneasy and silent atmosphere; anything to break the icy quiet between her parents.
“Victoria and I are really excited to see what changes have been made on the farm. I wonder if they started cleaning the dirty creek in town?”
Sammy finally gave in to the silence.
Silverware scraping plates was the only sound in the kitchen. A loud sigh of relief from Jack finally broke the silence when dinner ended. It seemed the longest meal Sammy ever sat through. She helped her mother do the dishes and watched her father retreat to the study.
“This can’t go on,” Yvonne muttered, throwing down the dishtowel.
She