While Grand Daddy was away for a meeting at the Local Government Provincial Hall, Beauty went to the small bas.e.m.e.nt of the house looking for other kitchen utensils, serving platters, cooking vats and others in preparation for the coming island event. Even though it was not definite yet, this event was the talk of the town. To be ready, she was making an inventory so when needed the things could be found right away.As she switched on the bas.e.m.e.nt light, she saw a lot of c.o.c.kroaches running around that made her jumped frenziedly around while avoiding them. The bas.e.m.e.nt floor was only made of clay bricks so it was a little loose when you step on them. As she jumped at which was the only empty spot she could go, which was the farthest corner on the right side of the bas.e.m.e.nt, the floor gave way. She fell straight to a two square meter wide hole with ground and walls made of limestone. At her back was a wooden ladder which got broken.
Above her, she saw a gap boring a broken rectangular wooden plank that was actually the cover of the hole and the said gap plank parts evidently fell with her with the broken bricks. Her attention s.h.i.+fted to her front and saw a small entrance of a chamber.
She got up slowly brus.h.i.+ng off the dust on her as she ma.s.saged her aching b.u.t.t which hit the wooden ladder before she reached the ground. One good thing, the height she fell was not so deep, more like six feet only. She tried adjusting her eyes with the faint light from the bas.e.m.e.nt ceiling that crept to the hole onto the opened chamber.
The chamber was more like a small man-made cave. A people of 15 could fit in the whole place. There was a single bed made of bamboo on the farthest wall and beside it was a small red table. On the table were a rope-bound stack of papers, an old rusting kerosene lamp and a quill pen. Other items that came to her attention were some old utensils that were made of copper, bronze, and clay lying around. Antique appliances were also found like a big wine jug made of gla.s.s, chairs made of Narra wood and others. The rest were of no value to her.
Before touching any of those items, she thought to ask her grandparents first for she might have fallen to a forbidden area for the chamber seemed deliberately made. Even the items were valuable enough to be purposely hidden. Her imagination went wild thinking this might be part of a gold treasure, that on those stack of papers were the parts of a treasure map. This made her wanted to explore right away but hesitant in the end.
Asking permission first is a universal rule, she thought.
By using some st.u.r.dy appliances there with the broken ladder, she worked her way out from the hole for it was not that deep at all. Not minding how she looked, she ran straight to the kitchen. Her grandma was inside busy preparing for dinner.
"What happened? Which hole did you go to look this messy?" It was just supposed to be an inquiry and a joke but Grand Mommy was spot on with her a.s.sumptions.
"Yeah, I really went to a hole or to be precise, I fell to a hole in the bas.e.m.e.nt."
"What? What hole in the bas.e.m.e.nt are you talking about?"
"Grand Mommy, I don"t know if you knew there"s a hole or exactly a chamber there underneath the bas.e.m.e.nt but what I"m really saying is the truth. You better go there and see for yourself."
They both went and when Grand Mommy saw it, she decided to wait for Grand Daddy first.
. . . . . . .
"This hole was an underground hiding place of the family during World War II. I saw this once when I was still very small but didn"t know what happened later. The house was still made of wood and this bas.e.m.e.nt was an animal pen. My father said that they crept to the hole whenever they saw patrolling invading soldiers checking houses. They hid the young men, girls, children from the soldiers at that time."
"Later on, I got my first job and I gave my first three months" salary to him. Afterward, my father sold some valuable things then built this cemented house. At that time, I didn"t know that the animal pen became part of the bas.e.m.e.nt. I once told him to cement the bas.e.m.e.nt flooring but he insisted and made me promise not to do that even in the future." Grand Daddy slowly explained as they slowly went down the hole using a ladder he borrowed. In his right hand was a rechargeable lamp that illuminated the whole chamber at once.
"How come you did not know when they planned on building the house? Why didn"t he tell you the reason not to cement it? Why didn"t he mention to you about the chamber again?" asked Beauty.
"No idea at all. Well, I was not living here for my work was in the city then he might have presumed I know since I already saw this chamber once."
They explored the chamber and checked on the things in there. Beauty went to the small table, where she found notes bound by a rope that was almost tattered but still survived the years. She looked at the cover, only a name and date were written, Maria Divina Luferia Pascual then below was August 17, 1924. "Wow, so old" that"s the first thing that came to her mind. Slowly loosening the rope and opening the first page she saw "Chicken Together" written on top but worded in Cebuano language.
Grand Daddy checked the other stack of papers and read the names.
"These are my grandfather and grand uncles" notes. Whoa, look at their notes as if they were learning to read and write." Grand Daddy was excited seeing all those notes.
"I think they were really learning to write and read English. The 1920s was the year American missionaries came to our country and started teaching," added Beauty with a pout. "You"re forgetting your history now, Grand Daddy."
"Correct, he"s really old," Grand Mommy said bluntly. The old man just replied with a big grin, "I"m still young, Sweetheart."
"Ooh, stop that. It hurts!"The grandpa received a heavy pinch from the sterned face grandma.
"Check this out. Who"s Maria Divina Luferia Pascual? She wrote this whole collection of recipes. Well, we can already call this a book."
"Let me see." Grand Daddy tried to read by squinting his eyes while pulling the frontmost paper far away from him.
"She is my grandma. Your great-grandmother. This collection of recipes is your great great grandmother"s recipes." Grand Daddy said those "greats" with pride in his heart as he continued to try to read moving the papers in a different angle.
"Hey, stop doing that. Just go and get your spectacles." Grand Mommy couldn"t bear to see Grand Daddy squinting his eyes while she also needs one to check on the papers.
"Okay, okay, let"s go up first and start bringing these things up slowly. We also have to keep this from our neighbors. It will be dangerous on our side with these antiques here." Grand Daddy started carrying things as he spoke.
These were treasures of the family. Such antiques would be so expensive. For Beauty, her main treasure was the old recipes. Her grandma was so delighted to see it and encouraged Beauty to try the recipes. Her grandma jokingly told her that she would just be her a.s.sistant and taster. Who had thought the c.o.c.kroaches would lead her to the treasures?
"Thank you c.o.c.kroaches and stay away from me." Beauty thought of those flying c.o.c.kroaches and her body jerked thinking of it. She brushed them off her mind.
The next day, the bas.e.m.e.nt cleaning project was announced in the household. Grand Daddy repaired the hole and covered it with bricks again. The two ladies sprayed some anti-c.o.c.kroach agent killing all bugs and c.o.c.kroaches on sight. They then swept the floor and clear the cobwebs away. They rearranged the things in the bas.e.m.e.nt while Beauty was writing her inventory in a notebook. The chamber was empty at this time. Grand Daddy was still not sure on what to do with it.
This recipe book she found would be an essential tool to attain her dream in the future.