The Passenger Boat

Bright lights and loud noises filled Gemma’s senses as she firmly grasped her father’s hand. There was no time like the night at Mercado Pier, especially when it was time to catch a passenger boat for a trip across the Philippine Sea.

Crowds of people unloaded from buses and wandered toward the pier. Street vendors sold chicken skewers as children climbed on the jungle gym over in Market Park. Inside the terminal, people arrived and departed from the passenger boats. Porters secured the boarding ramps and cleaned the decks. Gemma’s father went to the cashier and purchased two tickets. He led Gemma outside to a long line forming at the end of the dock. They waited with other families headed to Cebu City.

A bus stopped for people to board the bus. The bus circled to the other side of the dock where the passenger boat waited.

"Daddy, why can’t we just get on the boat instead of getting on a bus?"

"It’s to keep people from getting hurt when loading the passenger boats."

"Oh, I see."

Gemma carried her bags across the wooden ramp. As they climbed onboard, they walked between rows of small metal cots. Other families had already found their places for the long trip to Cebu.

"Which cots are ours?" asked Gemma.

Gemma’s father pointed out two cots near the middle of the boat. Gemma walked down the aisle and sat on her cot,. Her father sat his bags on the cot next to hers.

"I’ve never been to Cebu. Is it pretty?"

"It’s not as pretty as Baybay, but I’m sure you will like it."

Gemma settled down in her cot, resting her head upon her backpack. The boat rumbled loudly as it left the pier. Gemma watched the people waiting on the pier as the boat pulled away from the dock. As Baybay faded in the distance, a girl in a nearby cot leaned her arms over the railing.

"Hi! My name is Flora. What’s yours?"

"I’m Gemma."

"Don’t you love riding on boats?"

"This is my first trip."

"It’s fun, but it takes all night long."

"That gives us plenty of time for games.”

"There’s an open space near the front of the boat where we could play. I’ll get my sister. I think she’d like to play, too."

Flora fetched her sister and returned to Gemma.

"My name is Jasmine, but my friends call me Jazz."

"Hi Jazz, I’m Gemma. We’re going to play Agawang Sulok."

"We’ve never played Agawang Sulok," said Flora.

"It’s easy, I’ll show you how."

The three girls went to the outer deck, where Gemma picked up a small rock. She etched a 5x5 meter square. A boy approached.

“Hi!” he said, “I’m Jonny. Can I play, too?”

Gemma nodded, “Four makes the perfect number for Agawang Sulok.”

Gemma drew four small squares at each corner for bases.

"Agawang Sulok means ‘grab a corner.’ One person is it, who tries to tag anyone not standing on a base. Everyone else picks a corner and then people try to go from corner to corner. You get a point for each base you steal."

"That sounds easy. Can I be it, first?" asked Jazz.

"Sure."

As Jazz stood in the center of the square, the other child picked a base.

"Ready, set, go!" called Jazz.

Gemma took a lead off her base and Flora took a lead in the opposite direction. As Jazz ran towards them, Jonny stole a base behind her. Jazz reached out to tag Flora, but Flora avoided her sister’s outstretched hand. She was safe at her base, too.

The children took turns being 'it.' When it was Gemma's turn, she quickly tagged everyone except Jazz, who stole a few more bases before being caught.

“Alright,” said Gemma, “now we count up all the bases.”

The children had marked the scores whenever each of them were caught. Gemma and Jonny had stolen ten bases each, while Flora had thirteen and Jazz had twenty.

"Who else wants to play again?" asked Jazz.

"Let’s play something that doesn’t involve running," gasped Gemma.

She led everyone to her cot and sat down. When she opened her pack and poured out the contents, out spilled a bunch of rubber bands, her lunch pail, some old toys, a hair brush and her penguin, Pengoy.

"I have a stuffed animal, too,” said Jonny, He’s a monkey."

"We brought stuffed animals too. Let’s make up stuffed animal games," said Jazz.

The children retrieved their stuffed animals from their cots. Flora had a Lion named Leo and Jazz had Za-za the purple Zebra. They made up stories about the zoo. In one story, Jonny’s monkey (who was named Jonny, too) had climbed up the tree inside his cage and escaped. Then, he unlocked all the other cages and the zookeeper would have to find all of them.

Gemma’s father played zookeeper. He covered his eyes while the children hid their stuffed animals. As he walked around, he asked questions the children would answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. He quickly found all the animals except Pengoy.

“I’m going to get them all!” he stated.

"I don’t think you’ll ever find him," said Gemma.

"Is he in the trash?" asked her father.

"No! I would never put Pengoy in the trash!"

"Is he downstairs?" asked her father.

"No."

As Mr. Cruz searched the passenger deck, he saw black, white, and yellow peeking beneath the plastic trash liner.

"I thought you said he wasn’t in the trash."

"He’s not," said Gemma, “he’s under the trash.”

“That’s awfully picky.”

As Mr. Cruz approached the basket, Gemma snatched Pengoy from under the bag and threw him towards Jazz. Now it was a game of keep away.

As Mr. Cruz tried to round up the last of his escaped animals, Jazz tossed Pengoy over to Jonny tossed Pengoy to Flora who threw him to Gemma.

"Dakup Pengoy!" shouted Gemma, which means ‘catch Pengoy’ in Filipino.

Gemma’s father stretched out his arms, blocking Gemma. She flung Pengoy into the air. Pengoy flew, head-over-heels, and bounced off the guardrail. Pengoy did a back flip and disappeared over the edge. Gemma’s father quickly reacted, catching Pengoy between his hand and the outside of the guardrail.

"No!" shouted Gemma. She ran towards Pengoy and reached through the guardrail. Her tiny hands clamped over his head.

"Let loose Gemma!"

"No! I can’t lose Pengoy!"

"I’ve got him, Gemma. Let loose."

"No, no, no!" she screamed. Her fingers clung onto the tiny penguin’s beak and one of his feet.

"Gemma, if you don’t trust me, Pengoy might fall into the water and we will never get him back."

Slowly, Gemma let loose of the death grip she had on Pengoy. Mr. Cruz grasped Pengoy with both hands and pulled Pengoy over the rail.

“I’m so glad you didn’t take a late night swim!” said Gemma as she hugged and kissed Pengoy. Then, she held Pengoy’s beak to her ear.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Gemma?"

"Pengoy wanted me to thank you for saving him."

"Tell him I would do it again."

Gemma whispered into Pengoy’s ear, then moved his beak up to her ear and listened again.

"Pengoy says he would do it for you, too. He also said he’s no longer in a flying mood."

"I think that’s a good idea," said Mr. Cruz.

Gemma tucked Pengoy into her backpack, leaving his head sticking out so he could watch the children.

"We could play The Laughing Game, Tawanan, if we had a coin," said Flora.

“I have a ten-peso coin. Heads for laughter and tails for silence,” said Gemma as she perched the coin on her thumb and flicked it.

"Heads!" she announced.

As everyone laughed, Gemma let out a tiny giggle-snort.

Jazz picked up the coin and flipped it. It landed on the ground and came up tails. Everyone stopped immediately except Gemma, who let out another giggle-snort. Gemma clamped her hands over her mouth. As she giggled, a squeak erupted through her fingers.

"Gemma’s out!" said Jazz.

Jonny picked up the coin and flipped it. It landed on tails again, which meant silence. Everyone looked at each other, trying to make the others laugh.

Flora flipped the coin and it landed on heads. Everyone began laughing. Jazz flipped the coin and it landed on heads again, everyone continued laughing. Jonny flipped the coin. Tails again, so everyone had to keep laughing.

On and off their laughter went. Adults watched and laughed as the children tried to keep straight faces. All the while, Gemma giggle-snorted uncontrollably.

"Gemma, quit it! You’re going to make me burst out in laughter."

"Noink!" snorted Gemma as she giggled at Jazz. Flora snickered, then Jonny joined in the laughter. Soon, everyone but Jazz was laughing uncontrollably.

"You guys aren’t even playing anymore. I guess I win," said Jazz.

Gemma kept snorting and laughing so much that a tiny bubble came out her nose.

"Ewww!" exclaimed Flora.

Finally the laughter spread to Jazz, too. All four children were laughing and some of the adults, too. Gemma pinched her side, trying to stop, but the harder she tried, the more she giggled and snorted. Soon, she was lying on the ground, breathless from all the laughter.

Finally, everyone settled down, as it had gotten quite late. Cold breezes blew over the sea and all the children returned to their cots.

In the darkness, there would be an occasional snort from Jonny or Flora, which made Gemma giggle-snort again.

Nighttime brought a calm to her tired little body. As silence came over the boat, each child fell into a deep sleep, only to wake as the boat pulled up to Chariot Pier at Cebu. Passengers unloaded as Gemma continued to sleep. Finally, her father put a hand on her shoulder and woke her. Jonny stood beside her cot.

"I just wanted to say goodbye before I left."

"Where are Flora and Jazz?" asked Gemma.

"They left a little while ago."

"Are you leaving now, too?" asked Gemma.

"We’re taking a bus ride to my Aunt Josie’s house, who lives far away."

"Have a good trip," said Gemma.

"You too," said Jonny.

Gemma and her father prepared for the day ahead. Faint yellow lights dotted the shoreline. Waves gently knocked at the boat while porters walked along the pier, checked towropes and cleaned the deck.

"You ready?" asked Gemma’s father.

“I think so.”

Gemma followed her father to the Jeepneys waiting on the shore. Gemma looked back at the passenger boat and smiled. She’d already had a great adventure and she hadn’t even been to the big city.

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