Babbling Point

The generators roared as it came to life, disturbing Reyrey’s afternoon nap. It must be 1:04pm, he thought; because 1:00pm is when the city’s electricity shuts down and it takes four minutes for the generators to switch on. These rolling brown-outs now happen on a daily basis. Reyrey wanted to bury his head between the black trash bags that served as his pillows and blanket; but he didn’t even try to go back to sleep. He stood up and stretched and looked around the street corner where he and his friends would usually beg for money, gamble with that money, and rummage for trash. He hasn’t seen Ronnie, Rick, and Tomboy for the past four days. Underneath where Reyrey stood, under the level that housed the generators, the Beast growled for more food. Lately, the Beast’s nightly meals have not been enough to keep it satisfied. The summer heat had made more hungry than usual. These brown-outs have become the perfect excuse to switch on the generators of all the bui...

August stood in front of the speakers as the DJ started to play that song -- the song they danced to that night in Boracay, the song that they asked the DJ to keep on playing because they loved it so much and the DJ didn't mind because they were the only customers in the bar that rainy, summer night. As the song reached its peak, August stood still and let every pore of his body absorb the music. For a split-second he had hoped that the sonic blast would be powerful enough to hurl him back to the beaches of Boracay; propel him through time to that very night when everything was all right. The rising beat, gave way to the female vocals that promised him an endless summer. And August just kept on dancing.