To Marinduque

Monday, July 20, 2014

Up by the alarm at 4:00 AM. It rained in Cubao some time before that, and I was briefly semi-conscious of Typhoon Henry, which, by the previous night's news, was northwest of Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

Instant coffee and cereal for a quick breakfast. I feel the way I do on the dawn of a flight. I decide to pack a few small items in my luggage--I also decide to not take a few things I'd packed over the weekend. While brushing my teeth in the ground-floor bathroom my daughter-in-law and granddaughters also rise from their beds upstairs to get ready for the day. I think of my son and my two other grandchildren in Bulacan.

I text-message Zebra. He is still at the office motor pool; that is why I have time to go online this dark dawn. I wish I could remember the dream I had before the alarm rang. But, as it always happens, it is difficult for me to recall a dream after the sound of an alarm.

It's going to be a two-hour drive to Talao-Talao, in Lucena, Quezon. We are to take the 10:00 AM ferry and arrive at Marinduque approximately 1:00 PM. I've never done Ro-Ro (car rolling onto a ferry/car rolling off a ferry) before and I am quite excited. I have, of course, my TinTin notebook to jot down in. Hopefully I gain a story or two, if not a novel.