Poser Mom

I don't know if I put the correct title and please bear with me because I'm not good at story telling but here it goes.

I was still living in San Juan City when this incident happened. As a kid, I have this portable computer (I think it's the VTech one) that I'm so fond of playing with. One day, one of my friends borrowed it from me (by the way, we lived in an "eskinita" or I think "alley" in English) and my friend lived at the end part of the alley with big trees at the back of their house. He borrowed my computer during lunch time but since it's getting dark already, I decided to go to his house and get my computer.

When I arrived at their house, I saw that their door wasn't closed completely but still, I decided to knock and that's when I saw my friend sitting on a couch near the door.

I was talking to him about my computer when I noticed a very old woman arranging some clothes on their dining table that needed to be ironed (really old because her skin was so wrinkled, brown colored, wearing a bandana on her head and she can't stand straight because she has the posture of a hunchback. If you've seen her, her height would be below 4' 11"). I asked him who she was and he told me that she was his mother. I was quite surprised because I didn't expect that his mother would be that old. By the way, I haven't met or seen his mother personally because most of the time, his mom was at the province but my mom and his mom know each other and every time we played, he always goes to our house.

His "mom" suddenly looked at me and she didn't take her eyes off me until I went home. I usually greet everyone every time I visit a friend's house but I don't know what happened because when I saw his "mom", I didn't utter even a single "hi" to her, I just looked at her.

Days have past and at that time, blackouts are part of our daily lives so we're used to open our doors to let the air come in. At a particular day, I came downstairs and saw my mom talking to a tall lady about 5'7" or 5'8" in height with a fair complexion. My mom introduced me to her and the lady said, "ikaw pala si -----, ako yung mama ni ----, yung humiram sayo ng computer" (oh! So you're -----, I'm the mother of ----, the one who borrowed the computer from you). I was startled because my friend said that the old lady that I saw at their house was his mother. So I said, "kayo po ang mama ni ----!? Eh sino po yung matandang babae na nakita ko sa bahay nyo po ng kinuha ko yung computer" (you're the mother of ----!? Then who was the old lady that I saw when I went to your house to get my computer?)

My friend's mom said, "sinong matanda? Eh ako yung andun ng kinuha mo yung computer. Nakatingin pa nga ako sayo nun eh, pero hindi mo ko binabati, iniisip ko nahihiya ka kaya hindi mo ko binati tsaka wala naman ibang tao dun ng kinuha mo yung computer kundi kaming dalawa lang ni ----" (Old lady? I was the one with my son when you went to our house. I was also looking at you then, but you haven't greeted me I thought you're just shy and besides, there's no one there but me and ----).

My friend's mom suddenly has a weird look at her face and said that it's a lucky thing that I didn't talk to the old lady that I saw at their house because something might happen to me because there are a lot of elementals that are wandering in their place because of the big trees at the back of their house. She also told me not to go to their house for some time because she thinks that the "elemental" might do something more physical to me than just that incident.