SNAKE IN THE GRASS (Story) ..... Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana

Snake in the Grass

by Daisy H ontiveros-A vellana

HALFWAY between the city of Iloilo and the province of Capiz lies the town of Tapas. Sleepy, utterly ene-hanting Tapas, nestling close

to mountains majestic in their grandeur.

Mention the name Tapas to any young buck from the Visayas, and watch the look of rapture on his glowing face. For the town is known far and wide for the beauty of its dalagas.

And fairest of the fair was Imelda,

she of the limpid eyes and raven tresses,

Imelda who played the piano and sang like an angel, and who had a slight edge over all angels, because she could cook besides. Marvelously. Truly a para. gon among women, was this shy inday. Reason enough, then, for the stalwart young swains of the town to enshrine her beautiful image in their hearts, and to follow her adoringly with their gaze

when on Sunday mornings she entered

the church, eyes downcast and a faint blush tingeing her lovely cheeks.

And when on moonlit nights, the local young Lochinvars sallied forth with their trusty guitars to serenade the damsels of Tapas, many a wistful look was cast towards the closed shutters of

Imelda's window, and many a sigh wrenched a manly breast, as with break-

ing hearts the brave Bolt.".OS went reluctantly past the fair one's home.

Eighteen years old was Imelda, and no man had once told her he loved her.

No man dared, unless he wished to ree ..

kon with Imelda's father, Tay Ponso. Short, thin, and sallow-faced was Tay Ponso. Many years ago, he had been known to a respectful Tapas as D on Alfonso. That VIas when he was newly married, and was tacitly acknowledged the richest man in town. The girl he

wed, Pilar, consented to marry him in

the vain hope that she could reform him. For Don Alfonso was not only the rich.

.est man in Tapas, he was also a con-

firmed gambler and a great imbiber, and though he was truly devoted to his wife, he was certainly not blind to other pretty faces.

He further neglected to tell Pilar until after the wedding ceremony that in the course of his eventful life he had acquired unto himself a son, now aged two, whom he had quietly installed with its mother in a little nipa house at the outskirts of Tapas. Tears, condemnation and more tears from Dona Pilar. Don Alfonso solemnly swore never again to stray from the straight and narrow, and further swore nevermore to drink, and 'not to go with the boys that did.'

He kept his promise religiously for

over a year. Then, some time after the

advent of Imelda into the world, lighthearted Don Alfonso threw away all

promises to the winds and, making up for lost time, merrily resumed his stray-

ing. Small wonder, then, that in spite of his wife's frantic efforts, by the time Imelda was sixteen the family fortune

was reduced to nil, Dona Pilar was Nay

Pilar, and Don Alfonso was Tay Ponso, or (many times) referred to variously as That Sot, or That Man, or-among the young blades-the Tapas Tenorio.

In a town where the soil is as lush and productive as is in Tapas, even the lazy do not starve. Tay Ponso, his wife and daughter lived comfortably enough. It was his oft-repeated theory that no man ever had honorable intentions where women were concerned, and therefore no man would come up to his house to court Imelda, or-and here Tay

Ponso would bring out his balisong, a wicked-looking affair, and stood whetting it with sure, decisive strokes. So then Nay Pilar would ask, derisively,

HAnd why did you get married, pray?"

To which Tay Ponso would answer, with

brilliant inconsist.ency, H Aba! That's

different. I fell in love with you."

Even the coming of the J'apanese produced no perceptible dent on Tapas affairs. When news came from .a neighboring town that a small detachment of the Imperial Army was marching towards Tapas, the townspeople simply packed whatever belongings and foodstuff they could carry and resignedly moved to

nearby J amindan, a recognized guerrilla

stronghold. Tay Ponso, resourceful as ever, speedily made friends with the mayor of J amindan and thus secured for his family a most comfortable house, one belonging to His Honor. The

feeling in J amindan was so unanimous-

ly anti-Japanese thai; the guerrillas had their headquarters in town, they walked about with guns prominently displayed, and their top-ranking officers lived with the mayor.

The arrival of a breath-taking beauty like Imelda naturally excited much adverse comment from the J amindan dala-

gas, and much preening and strutting

from the guerrilla officers, among whom was Captain Mario Enriquez, a college-bred, Iloilo-born, dashing young man who speedily laid siege, and successfully, to Imelda's heart. The captain made so bold as to do his courting right under Tay Ponso's indiguant nose, literally.

For despite dire threats and significant whettings of the balisong on the part of the irate father, Mario calmly went on paying court to his inamorata. . He had found favor, not only with Imelda, but with Nay Pilar, and in the hands of this lady Tay Ponso, for all his rant-

ings, was as putty.

The whole town sat back on its heels 'and gleefully watched the progress of the romance, with bets being laid pro and can. The day Mario asked for Imelda's hand in marriage, Tay Ponso went to the nearby tiangue and drowned

his sorrows in drink. "Sooner would I

be dead," he declared solemnly, "than have that marriage take place."

CAME Christmas Day, and everything was in readiness for the traditional dance to be held at the mayor's house. Grudgingly Tay Ponso consented to esIcort his wife and his daughter to the important event. With the dance in full swing, Tay Pan so was maneuvered unobstrusively into the diniug room and there plied with drinks; while in a room beyond, behind closed doors, a civil ceremony was being quietly performed, making Mario and Imelda man and wife, with a tearful Nay Pilar in close attendance. Once the ball was over, Tay Ponso collected his wife and his daughter and, still unsuspecting, went home.

If nothing went awry, the very next day Mario was to take Imelda to his hacienda nearby, where thoughtful friends were waiting with a priest who was to marry them in the approved Catholic way. So the fateful day dawned, and Nay Pilar asked her husband to go markettiug for her since she wasn't feeling well. Tay Ponso was a dutiful soul, so, despite a loggy head, off he went with a

basket slung over one arm. Mario, who

had been lurking around the corner, allowed a few minutes to pass before he

went up the house, where a frantic Imel-

da was awaiting him.

Nay Pilar hurriedly gave them her blessing and told them to be off. A pair of swift horses was tethered at the edge of the town, ready to take them to the hacienda. Imelda had thoughtfully left a letter stuck on the traditional pin cushi-

on, informing her parent of her depar-

ture from single-blessedness. This letter, Nay Pilar was supposed to find and hand her husband, several hours later, when the fugitives would be too far away for Tay Ponso to give chase.

Quickly Mario and Imelda descended the stairs, ·reached the bottom step, and then Imelda uttered a little cry. For coming towards them, eyes diligently searching the ground, was Tay Ponso. Near the market he had discovered that his money must have dropped out along the way, and so he was retracing the l'Oute he had taken.

It was too late for the lovers to turn back into the house, so they decided to brazen it out. Mario squared his shoulders defiantly and waited. At this highly critical moment, a steam-roller made its plodding and noisy way from 'a side street and out, right across the main road, thus cutting the young people

from Tay Ponso's view.

Now with some men it's philately, with

lothers it's money. Tay Ponso was fas-

cinated by machines. So now he halted his search for the lost money, while he : gazed, entranced, at the slow-moving steam-roller. Mario acted quickly.

I"Let's go he whispered, and clutching

firmly at the maleta, he and Imelda made Itheir way unobserved, down a side street and off to where the horses waited. T AY Ponso, having gazed his fill at the steam roller, slowly went back to his house, all thoughts of marketing forgotten. Nay Pilar, who had been reduced to a frightful state of nerves at her post near the door, completely ::>st ,all her composure and flew towards her husband, waving Imelda's letter in one hand. "They're gonel" she cried. "They've eloped !," And promptly fainted at his feet.

Naturally Tay Ponso couldn't go after Mario, what with his wife to attend to. When Nay Pilar had recovered sufficiently, however, she told the whole story to an outraged Tay Ponso. Furiously he strode up and down the room, hurling epithets at the absent Mario. "Hel! fire!" said Tay Ponso. "That I should find out, after all these years, that the woman I married," he paused,

dramatically, "is a snake in the grassl"

Nay Pilar stopped crying at that. "Al-

fonso," she said, "I have stood many

things, but being called names I will not standi" She started getting her clothes together and throwing them into a maleta.

"Where do you think you're going?"

asked Tay Ponso.

"I am going," said his wife with dig-

nity, "to my daughter." Snap went the

maleta. "And my son-in-law," she fin-

ished, triumphantly.

She did, too. Once more Nay Pilar enlisted the aid of the mayor, and had herself driven in style to the hacienda. Tay Ponso went off to the tiangue and proceeded to get beautifully under the weather.

At the hacienda some few nights later, a meek voice called to Nay Pilar just outside the gate. "Who is it?" she asked, although she knew well enough. "Me. Alfonso." Diffidently.

"What do you want?" "Could you-" haltingly, "won't youcome home now?" "What's the matter," Nay Pilar asked,

"why don't you come to the door? Are

you so afraid of Mario 1"

Tay Ponso was momentarily aroused. HHell fire!" he said. "I can lick that young pup anytime." Sheepishly he continued, "It's_it's you I'm afraid of."

The darkness hid Nay Pilar's smile. "All right, Alfonso," she sighed. "You might as well come in, and meet your

son-in-law."