From the cave, George transferred her things going to Baldur and Albrecht"s room while they moved upstairs. As usual, when they"re in that room, George had to sleep on the wooden floor with his mat while Magee would stay on the bamboo bed or "katre" or "kama", that"s still their expectation. At 4 o"clock in the afternoon George called for a meeting with the people and after it, there"s a separate meeting with the soldiers and guerillas.The weather was good so everyone just squat on the ground in front of the house.
" I"m glad you responded and everyone"s perfectly here. Though, your recent experience at the j.a.panese camp was quite unforgettable yet we"ll pray little by little to have a peaceful heart here. The owners of this one hectare place are just with us as they inherited this from their parents and surrogate father. Thus we have to stay here with grat.i.tude and take care this abundant land. We all know that this is the only place left safe so I hope no one will go out and betray. Remember that the small amount of favor you get from betrayal bounces doubly. As a village, we have installed guards/ soldiers on post. Suppose the soldiers will go out for some mission, any civilian interested as long as capable can help. As agreed, you have to maintain silence and if possoble don"t cook anything that can be smelled outside. Strong smell of onions, garlic and anything goes are forbiddden. We have received a report that there are couples here, your relationships are not forbidden but Amado and I are your automatic a.s.sistats when you labor or give birth in the right time. Due to limited resources, in cases of breech birth, chances are not a.s.sured but we"ll try our best. With fit and balance, everyone can live in a normal life inside and just be patient until this j.a.panese occupation and war would end. Sadly, we do not have rice so please let"s help one another in planting more carb-root crops. I encourage the women to help their partners in improving the quality of life inside their "bahay kubo"s." Be productive. Instead of recalling sad experiences and present ordeal, try to think ahead and plan out. In setting some plans, be a.s.sertive, talk to us to possibly help you. Moreover, this house at my back is currently handled by its owners so let"s respect their privacy. However, there is one part here, on the left side was converted into an office. Baldur, one of the owners of this place will serve as "puno" or "kapitan" of this place. He is by blood, a Filipino-German.