"Ariel, ito na ba ang sinasabi nilang siyam-siyam?"
I didn't hear of that concept often, but my mother and I were talking about it earlier that day. "Ito 'yung sinasabi ni Lola O na siyam-siyam," she said, finding another opportunity to fondly remember her grandmother. Funny how this seemingly mystical concept got carried over to 2026, although there's nothing really mystical in the idea of nine days of non-stop rain. We were surrounded by typhoons. Only a couple were definitely inside our territory, but they were broken up anyway by the sheer strength of another typhoon further north.
"Wala pong bagyo, ngunit nararanasan natin ang epekto ng enhanced monsoon."
It has been raining for so long, I'm not really sure anymore how long it has been. We were counting nine days - siyam-siyam, nine days of straight rains - but in any case, it may have been two straight weeks. Who knows anymore? Who's counting when we can't look away from the lives lost, the families buried under shifting soil, the boys drowned in the torrents of the river?
Or maybe just the inconvenience. I've been doing a lot of driving this week. A childhood stomping ground. A concert I didn't buy tickets for. A sandwich shop I had never heard of before. In between I must have spent an extra couple of hours more on the road than I should've, and I count the fact that I was driving during rush hour for most of it. Traffic is something you get used to, but when you find yourself stuck in EDSA at half past ten in the evening, you just know things aren't going well. And I would know. I'm now at a point when I've done that drive often enough to know.
But you just accept it. What else can you do? How far can your anger bring you? It happens every year. It gets worse every year, or we're just getting more weary. What else can you do? Amuse yourself, I guess. Try driving with one hand. It's difficult. It's not safe. But it can be fun. And also, the stakes are incredibly low when you're in the middle of a traffic jam anyway.
"Ako ba ang may dala nung ulan? Kasi ba ghost month?"
I don't think so, dear. Look, the sun is actually out today. Kids are playing. The sporty types are jogging. And I forgot that I should gas up. I got thrown off by the weather. It feels so unnatural, after two weeks straight of dark skies and low clouds and wet concrete and almost-zero visibility from my flat's window.
Now, shall we go out tomorrow?
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