the last 48 hours has been something of a rollercoaster.
it started happily enough: meeting up with abbu in starbs emerald avenue where it turned out jowein was sitting two tables away from where abbu was. heading to banchetto with abbu to join popoi and aj for "lunch" where i also bumped into a former co-worker, earl. back to starbs with jowein while abbu tried to convince me not to go back to work.post-shift breakfast with popoi and aj at those canteens in st. francis square. buying a roll of cake for mom's birthday. falling asleep as soon as i got home only to wake up too late to attend a godson's birthday party.
by afternoon i messaged carlos and asked him if he wanted to hang out at our place and watch movies. we met up later in the evening, killed time in bonifacio high street, walked downhill to our house, and ate at a late night canteen before finally ending up in my parents' house. it turned out that he wasn't comfortable near other people's dogs and would skirt away whenever one of our dogs approached him.
the dvd player wasn't working so we ended up watching hedwig and the angry inch in the computer. i also gave him previews of butterflies are free, camp and zelig. i let him sleep on my bed (on the upper deck of the bed i share with my brother) to keep him as far away from the dogs as possible.
i woke up around noon, but carlos probably woke up earlier. i saw him lying in bed, reading a book he found in the bookshelf, and probably hungry. after breakfast/lunch we hung out by the balcony, talking.
tuned out the guy decided to see me also because he was avoiding ciggies for an upcoming lung examination. he told me how his housemates wanted to get my number to instruct me that he is not to touch cigarettes, but that was hardly necessary: among out friends, i'm the most decidedly non-smoking bastard. i kept giving him mints when he'd mention he's craving for a smoke.
he said one thing that made him want to grab a stick was how he's not holding anything in or doing anything with his hand, which reminded him of the lack of a lit cigarette.
carlos and i thought about going out for a walk when i saw my mom lying in her bedroom, covered in blankets. she had chills, had a fever, and was complaining of abdominal pains. remembering a co-worker who underwent surgery recently to remove gall stones, i decided to bring her to a doctor for a check-up. she could walk but she's obviously in a lot of pain, cupping the right side of her abdomen all the time. my sister was with her when mom saw the doctor, while carlos and i went to look into the megamall art galleries. (there was an exhibit of ronald ventura's works at the big and small which carlos also enjoyed. if it was a romantic date, it would've been like a scene from 500 days of summer.)
when we went back to the clinic, the doctor said he also suspected gall bladder stones but it requires several lab tests and an ultrasound to confirm. he suggested that my mom be admitted to a hospital to be monitored, and eventually she may have to go to surgery if doctors found gall stones.
while me and my sister was talking to the reception and the hmo people to see if the lab tests were covered by my health card (they weren't), i asked carlos to talk to my mom in the waiting area. i'm very grateful to him for keeping my mom company. carlos finally separated from us after we got out of the clinic; he went back to his place, we went back to ours to prepare mom for hospital admission. when we reached the hospital, we were told only one person could accompany my mom as of yet; my sister stayed while i had to go back home. i've been up since then, trying to play the last few hours in my mind.
it was a strange day, not without incident. i wish the universe honks of flashes some metaphorical headlights to us when little bumps like these happen to our lives.
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