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jasonjupiterg · 4 years ago

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For College

By: Jason Gucilatar

The story revolves around a gay man who has a pretty odd disability called harelipped. He is known by his real name John Mark Renato Reyes and “Moy Mingot” as his nickname. Although disabled but still full of dreams, his heart is close to the plants due to his miserable way of living. Moy Mingot lives in a small house for rent where every morning you find him seemingly busy with looking at certificates, sash, and other awards posted on the wooden wall. Nothing else Moy Mingot is busy with but manicuring and pedicuring on neighbors who are just tenants as well, and if there was enough time, he would not hesitate to join in beauty pageant contests.

Moy Mingot will be seen going out from his little quarter singing a song “Pearly Shell” while plowing and watering the plants. He continuously stays being preoccupied with digging the ground while watching the gossips of his neighbors who are doing their laundry. Moy Mingot is always mistakenly being pictured as a lunatic person because of his habit and that is talking to his plants to ease the stress. He won’t pay much attention to gossips until he hears the painful mockery of a woman behind him. He calmly approaches the clusters of women talking and making fun about him. Their conversation won’t take too long because they will properly be reprimanded by Moy Mingot however, the situation still won’t go well because such gossips of the ladies will only get worse. After he finishes lecturing the ladies, the protagonist will talk again to the plants, in this way he will be able to calm himself from the annoying incident. While he holds the defective mirror, looking at himself through the reflection, he will see the old woman whom almost every tenant in that area is most scared of dealing with. Aling Myrna, owner of the tenements in which Moy Mingot lives as well as his neighbors. Just hearing the annoying shrill of the old woman’s voice will instantly make you want to follow what the old woman would say. Aling Myrna isn’t the type of person who always beats around the bush. She, then, will yell at Moy Mingot to charge him early to the house rent which will shock the protagonist. Moy Mingot is great in good communication so he will be able to make Aling Myrna agree with what he will say, and that is to pay her the house rent on 15th of June. In a narrow kitchen, Moy Mingot will be seen mumbling, holding his favorite rose plant plonked in a small pot. He again speaks alone while having his deep thoughts, and is being disturbed by the awful predicament he is in. He thinks that his savings from his small business won’t suffice the amount of the house rent because there’s a lack of customers which he doesn’t want to happen. He will ask the rose plant as if the flower knows how to answer. Moy Mingot will also pretend to hear a question which he just actually makes himself “Where do I find another job?”.

Even before the sun rises, the protagonist gets up from the dirty and old mat which seems not to have been cleaned for months. Moy Mingot runs quickly entering the bathroom that is often lined up by nearly five families tenant of Aling Myrna. If you don't wake up early you will be preceded by some children who are also in a hurry to not get caught up in their schools. Moy Mingot thinks of waking up early in order for him to find himself more customers who want to get their manicure or pedicure done at a cheap price. Moy Mingot bumps into Irene, one of her neighbors who has just jumped into their area. Irene becomes the “buena mano” (first customer) of the protagonist and while Moy Mingot cleans her toenails, they will talk about various things pertaining Aling Myrna’s rental houses’ history because Irene isn’t yet familiar with the things going around her neighborhood. When Moy Mingot is almost finished with the first customer, Irene will eagerly ask for a discount but Moy Mingot won’t bother to consider it and will just proceed to asking Irene for her payment. But not long after, the first customer will hand Moy Mingot her payment in the amount of one hundred pesos, including both manicure and pedicure fee. Moy Mingot will be in a such hurry to clean his belongings, but here goes Aling Myrna's deafening voice being heard again by the tenants. At that particular moment, it happens that as if a man is being bullied and seems to be being charged again of his house rent even if it is not yet due. Moy Mingot will appear to be the life savior of that man by offering Aling Myrna a free manicure and pedicure which will deduct the amount of his house bills. After coming up with his plan, he deals with mixed emotions filled with nervousness and fear but because Moy Mingot is known as nice and wise when it comes to sales talk, he will be able to persuade Aling Myrna to accept his offer. Even though his plan works out the protagonist will still be forced to pay the old woman is the regarding the rent. Moy Mingot almost knelt down to remind the old woman again that it's not time to pay but Aling Myrna still chooses to stand firm with her mission. The old woman seems even more disappointed with Moy Mingot's service to him.

Moy Mingot comes across a chaotic barangay full of noisy people, children playing bato-bato pick, and drunkards respectively boasting stuff. He is mustering his patience to look for another job to get while carrying the fertilizer he bought in the market. Moy Mingot barely feels the hunger because of his sufferings. He is even enduring his foot blisters prevailed over his right foot causing him to feel the excruciating pain but the protagonist doesn’t hesitate a second he still is in search of others more lucrative job. On his walk on the road, a colorful poster comes into his sight, it is about a gay pageant program that will be celebrated at the upcoming festival in the barangay where Moy Mingot is currently in to find a new job. He thinks of joining the pageant hoping that he wins the prize to increase his savings for his house rent. As Moy Mingot reads the poster, a person suddenly startles him, Winwin, Moy Mingot's best friend welcomes him with a biggest hug. Winwin used to be Moy Mingot’s dormate in his old rental house. The two talks happily, on the other hand, Winwin seems to be in full support of Moy's plan joining the Gay Pageant Contest. After Moy Mingot talks to his friend Winwin, He immediately rushes himself to go home because something suddenly came to his mind and that is to fertilize his new plants. He hasn’t even gotten in the door and he again is welcomed by his neighbors who are gossip mongers. They still seem to have no intention of stopping their sticky tongues. There are audible whispers being heard, perhaps they immediately found out that Moy Mingot has a plan to join the Gay Pageant in the other barangay. The protagonist lets the situation pass because for him he needs to pay more attention to the plants rather than the gossip mongers who do nothing good. Still nothing has changed, he still continues to talk to plants that are special to him.

Moy Mingot gets startled by the strong footsteps from the outside of his house, the continuous knocks are as loud as the blow of a hammer that can crash a door. He first thinks of Aling Myrna because she is the only one who has the ability to act like an aggressive tiger so he slowly opens up the door. But it turns out that the noises are coming from his friend Winwin. The scream of his friend wakes him up. Winwin is carrying a large and long green gown surrounded by colorful glitters and flowers around the waist. The protagonist’s friend looks more eager and it makes Moy Mingot feel even more anxious because of Winwin’s big smile that can almost reach his two ears even though Moy Mingot is the real one with the intention of joining the Gay Pageant. Winwin said “there is nothing for you to worry about, I already filled out a form and it won’t take them long, you will be registered in any minute now”. The Gay Pageant will be held next week. The feeling of being grateful causes Moy Mingot to treat Winwin his favorite street food called “Betamax”.

The day of the contest has finally come, Moy Mingot is getting nauseous due to the extreme nervousness. On the other hand, it's been a long time also since he last joined the Gay Pageant. The deafening rumble of the audiences’ screams who are busy cheering on their respective bets bother Moy Mingot so bad. Although he is used to it but seeing the situation where no one supports him whenever he participates in such a contest makes him worry. However, Winwin doesn’t want his friend to get swallowed by his apprehension so he immediately encourages Moy Mingot to show that he’s still in full support. A few moments later the contest has already started, Moy Mingot is called to answer the second question, his confidence goes low and his face turns pale when he hears the question written in english. He is so terrified of it his knees are even trembling so bad. Being there as a disable contestant isn’t actually what he scares the most, but it is the question that he knows he can’t answer properly due to his lack of English proficiency.

The loud laughter of the audiences almost deafened Moy Mingot to death. The situation is just the same as dragging him down of the stage and wishing him die in extreme humiliation. The protagonist cringes in embarrassment even though he already knew there’s no reason for him to win. Perhaps Moy Mingot's lack of English proficiency is the reason of his defeat. It seems to him that the "Consolation price" won’t be enough to pay for his house rent. When he finally comes home, he slowly goes to the kitchen to look for a towel to brush off the makeup on his face. Winwin immediately rushes himself to check up on his friend but Moy Mingot asks him to just leave him alone. Winwin on the the hand comes to his senses that he still needs to return the green gown at the appointed time neat and clean. Moy stares blankly at the certificates, sash, and other awards on the wall. But the person whom the awards are named after isn’t Moy Mingot. It happens that the former tenant turns out to be the owner of the awards and certificates hanging on the wall. Just like Moy Mingot, the former tenant used to participate in such Beauty Pageants. To have his own certificates and awards that have his name on them is Moy Mingot’s reason why he doesn’t want to get rid of the sash and awards on the wooden wall.

It seems that there’s a tiny trunk surrounded by a pile of filthy clothes that can be seen under the flimsy table made of wood. On the other hand, Moy Mingot is still frustrated to the point where he just crawls towards the place where the little trunk can be seen. He seems to have been weakened by the embarrassing incident as he opens the trunk. Moy Mingot is shivering over what happened so the trunk slips from his feeble hands. A-two-kilogram of coins have been scattered over the floor which turn out to be his savings or the money he has accumulated for a very long time. On the top of the trunk is a “sticky note” and written on it is the word “for college”. The amount of money inside the trunk is enough for him to be able to pay his house rent but they are reserved for the education he is been wanting to obtain. He gradually puts the coins in a plastic bag and gets a “marker” which its ink is almost drying up. With a blank face, he writes “for house rent” on the surface of the plastic bag and abruptly throws away the sticky note that has a word “for college”. Not long after He slowly picks up his favorite rose and sits down on the dirty mat. He lays down while hugging the rose leaving a very deep sigh…

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