the HOLY WEEK that was..

For the past 3 years, whenever Holy Week nears, I sort of know where I’ll be. And sure enough – I was in Subic, for the 3rd consecutive year. You see, my Panget’s family has a house there – they leased it for 50 years (I think..) and so – there is always a place to stay (Thank god!) No need to scramble with everyone else in making reservations.

This Holy Week in Subic was different for me. Well, for starters – I’ve renewed my faith- I’ve been attending mass every Sunday, I’ve somehow become more in touch with my prayerful self as I pray as often as I can. The ‘holiday‘ has been less hectic and more relaxed. Even if I brought Jenna (our clever dog) – I wasn’t stressed at all. I can say that I had a good rest, just lazing around and eating. I kinda missed doing Bikram Yoga – no way to burn off the extra calories consumed.

Anyhoo – what made the ‘holiday’ different was – I experienced my first ever roadkill. Yes, you read it right! My very first roadkill. I’ll try my very best to relay what really happened – because in my mind – I can still remember everything clearly. As if it happened just a few minutes ago. It was a Friday night, and we were bored. Actually, we were all looking for something to do. And we decided to go out of the base to this place called ‘The Coffee Shop‘ – it’s open 24 hours – and although it was a holiday – the place was open. The Coffee Shop is famous for it’s Jumbo Taco. It’s a really huge taco – and it’s cheap! I mean for Php70.00 you’ll be stuffed (I’ll be stuffed, but for my Panget – 2 will do the trick). And so when we got there – we were welcomed by 2 waitresses – the kinda looked tired. And upon sitting down – one of them informed us that – they ran out of tacos! Damn. Perfect – now what?! She told us that they ran out – but not to worry because they’ll be serving it again the next day. Great – now where to go? We had to go back to the former base.

Upon entering the base – we were pondering on where to go to get our midnight snack – we kidded that we still wanted tacos and decided to check out Pancake House – unfortunately, at that godly hour – the store was already closed, they were cleaning up! And so we had to turn and look for another place. While on the road (to wherever) Andy (he was driving) suddenly said ‘Dead Cat!’. I thought he was joking because the cat was not dead! It was running towards us! When he said ‘Dead Cat!’ he stopped the car. Everyone inside the car paused for a while – wondering where the cat went. And so when Andy stepped on the gas – the car moved forward (duh?!) and there was something else that we felt. It was a like riding over a hump, but there was no hump in sight! We ran over the cat. Yes, we did – and it felt really really weird! My reaction to this was also weird! I covered my ears, closed my eyes and lifted my feet from the car’s matting. What the hell right?! And then I heard the screams of ‘Yuck!’ My Panget’s sister and Annie (Andy’s wife) looked back to check what it was – and indeed, it was the cat. We ran over the cat and that was my first ever roadkill.

in Memoriam

I’ve seen dead cats on the road – but I always avoided them. I step on the brakes if there was a cat or a dog in sight – for fear that I will run them over. I have dogs you see, and I can just imagine the anguish and guilt I’d feel if I ever ran over one.

It was not as if we intentionally ran over that poor cat. We did not! In fact, we stopped because we knew it was somewhere. We hoped that it went away, but unfortunately – it did not. After our coffee break at Xtremely Espresso – we decided to go back – to check on the cat and to take photos (I know it’s gross, but my companions wanted to take a remembrance photo, and I wanted to blog about it) But when we went back – the cat was gone. Two things either happened 1) The cat was semi-injured and was able to run away 2) The SBMA clean-up was really fast and the swiped the place clean – as if nothing happend. Your guess is as good as mine.

I hope everyone had a good Easter!!