Juan
cannot wait to see what’s inside the box. It was a Balikbayan box from his uncle in the United States. Since the day
he knew that a huge box of gifts is coming their way, the excited boy has been
dreaming of many things that will make his childhood more enjoyable. Days
before the arrival of the gifts, he already has plans on how to share them with
his friends.
The
day came; a uniformed young man personally delivered the package. Juan cannot
wait, urging his father to start removing the tapes so he can get what’s for
him. To his delight, there were many toys for boys, mostly robots and toy cars.
The rest are dolls for his sister, some clothes for all the members of his
family and some kitchen utensils for his mother.
Juan
gathered everything that belongs to him and went to his room. He needs to play
with all his toys alone before he will show them to his friends. He took the
flashy toy car. Looked for a switch and turned it on. Nothing happened. He took
another, switched it on, but it did not move. He tried the robot and he also
failed. Nothing worked! These toys must have been broken!
He
went to his father and complained. His father went to his room and examined the
toys. Nothing’s broken; they simply don’t have batteries. The toys required two
pieces of 9-volt batteries to function. Sadly, his father doesn’t have the
money to buy those expensive energy sources. Juan was thankful for the gifts,
but he was sad, because they cannot afford the expensive batteries. In his
young mind, Juan wished that his uncle send them money next time, so he can buy
locally made toys that require no expensive batteries. However, he knows that
because he is the recipient, and he is considered young, and his opinion does
not really matter, his silent wishes will never be heard.
Juan
tried to be happy playing with the cars and the robots without their batteries.
However, after a few days, Juan went out and played Luksong-Baka[1]
with his friends under a full moon.
[1]
Luksong-Baka is a native game of jumping over a friend’s back. Lukso means “to
jump” and baka means “cow”. It literally means to jump over a cow. The jumper
must use his two hands as leverage so he can jump over the back of the “it”. It
is best played when the moon is full.
