Count to Three

Feliz Z. Esguerra
Vallejo CA
Jesse Bethel High School

1. isa (ee-sah)

Friending is a fun activity. If you have a Livejoumal, you know what I mean. You log on your username for your online journal, click on Manage, and then click on Friends. Follow the Edit Friends link, and type in another person's username to add them to your Friends list. You could even choose a combination of two colors to represent their user icon on your Friends page. From there, every time you read your own journal, all you have to do is switch to the Friends view to read your Friend's latest journal entries.

Friending is fun. You get to see your own list of Friends in your public user info page, and watch it grow as you make more Friends. What's even better is when you see the list of people who have Friended you; the people who have listed you as their Friend.

Friending and being Friended is fun. I watch my friend doing this on the computer all the time. She has many Friends. She is also a Friend to many people. It's fun to watch. She tells me it's even more fun to do it. I wouldn't know. I don't have an online journal. "That must mean I have no Friends," I tell her all the time. Usually, she laughs it off and tells me I'm stupid. Lovingly, of course, because she is my friend. But lately, I'm not even sure she hears me when I say that. "That must mean I have no Friends," I repeat, with a shaky laugh; hopefully a laugh jovial enough to coax another laugh from her.

The silence that followed the last time I said it repeats itself.

But that is okay.

I know she is my friend, without having to be my Friend.

I tell myself that amidst the clacking of the keyboard as she adds another Friend to her list.

2. dalawa (dah-lah-wah)

I'm sick. I have the flu. It is very bad. I have been coughing, spitting, and regurgitating all my food. Very disgusting. I haven't been able to talk on the phone or go online to talk to my friend lately. The last time I contacted her was yesterday. I called her cell phone and left a voicemail warning her that I might be absent from school for a few days. She must have understood, because she didn't return my call. It was a self-explanatory message anyway. One that didn't need to be returned. Well, I'm sure she acknowledged it. I'm sure she's sitting in class right now hoping I'll get better.

I'm sure of it. Especially since we have a presentation due in our Biology class next week. She'll want me to be there, to explain to her before class starts what it is I did for the presentation. She's been very busy with other schoolwork, and I happen to be very quick when doing my homework. Of course I could help her with her part of the presentation. Of course I can shoulder the cost of materials. After all, she assures me for the umpteenth time, I am the Chinese half of our friendship, and therefore automatically received more brain cells than she did. I don't have the heart to tell her, again for the umpteenth time, that I am Filipino, and not Chinese.

She just forgets who I am sometimes.

3. tatlo (tat-loh)

It's a scare tactic, you see. When I was little, my mother would always say, "Isa. (One.) Dalawa. (Two.) Tatlo. (Three.)" If I didn't do what she wanted me to do by the time she reached the count of three, she would spank me. I knew whenever she would begin counting, she was fed up with my disobedience. I love my mother very much. I love her for teaching me these things. She always said that my early training in practical wisdom would accompany me wherever I would go.

I wish I had listened.

Here I am, waiting for my friend to pick me up so we can go to school together.

Wait, I can rephrase that:

Isa: Here I am waiting for a girl I've talked to for several years now, to pick me up so we can go to school.

Dalawa: Here I am waiting for her to drive by in her car so I can get in and get a ride to the school we go to.

Tatlo: Here I am, waiting. For my friend.