in sickness

One realizes how delicate and frail the mortal body is.

I told myself as I happened upon the scene at the rotunda. A rally of students coming in from across the street, home bound, fearlessly gallivanting, bare and unprotected against the heavy Friday night downpour.

It was raining hard, and the wind, she was cold and relentless. I could feel her seeping through three layers of thick cotton. I could just imagine how it was like for them.

They who stood under the rain without a care. Hair messed up. Every bit of their thin, inexpensive nylon clung to their bodies like second skin. But they frolicked, still. Laughed, still. Making the most out of the situation, the way only kids can.

Maybe I'm just too old to see the fun in what they're doing. Or maybe, it's because I just came out of a sickness partly caused by the depressing weather. It saddened me. Sooner or later though, they would understand. They need to understand that mahirap magkasakit. Magastos magkasakit.

I learned it the hard way. I just woke up Monday morning with my joints aching. I dismissed it thinking that it was just a post-Baguio thing, like a car lag or something. Then came the migraine that wouldn't quit. By Wednesday evening, high fever joined in. My skin was clammy. I felt queasy and weak and disoriented. Body parts were throbbing like hell. Chills-fest. My temperature even reached new heights. I was so sick. I should know as I rarely get ill. When I do though, I usually get it in full blast.

I thought I was going to die. Worse, I thought I was going to die, from dengue. That bit scared the shit out of me. I can't die from dengue! It's unacceptable! It's so, tabloid! As soon as I was able to get up, my mom and I visited our doctor. He gave me some meds, and seven hours after knowing that I was never a dengue victim and sa Biogesic, here I am on my way to a dinner date, despite the heavy Friday night downpour, despite my mom's heavy promptings not to. (I told her I brought an umbrella.)

Well, there goes my authority to preach.