PART 1
I was in Manila last March for some monkey business. I was picking up a check from a client who happened to hold an office in very heart of Ortigas Center. I rode a taxi from the airport and went straight to SM Megamall where I planned to have my breakfast. It was barely 8 O'clock in the morning when I stepped out of the taxi in front of SM Megamall. The first thing I noticed was that, the very big parking lot of SM Megamall that I once knew was gone. It was replaced by high rised building that made the facade of my once favorite mall very ugly. I mean very, very ugly.
SM Megamall was once my tambayan nearly 2 decades ago. It had the biggest parking lot around it, back when I was still the young, ambitious, good looking, intelligent, smart, full of hope and yet naive taxi driver. (Ehem, walang kokontra!) The year was 1995, when SM Megamall was still THE Biggest Mall in the country.
I was 21 years old then, earning around 600 pesos to 900 pesos a day as a taxi driver. Being single, my income was more than enough for me that time. I could afford branded jeans, branded jackets, branded high cut leather shoes, branded sunglasses and even branded under wear! Oh ha! It was the year I felt I had 'arrived'! I look very much like my action star idols like Badboy Robin Padilla. Though deep inside, I know I look more good looking than him in real life.
But unlike my idol Robin Padilla, I only looked bad (and handsome, ehem!) outside. Inside, I was still that little boy craving more time to play anything. Among my favorite past time was the Computer games in Megamall where you put a P5.00 coin and you get to pilot a fighter jet plane and shot all the enemy planes that comes your way. It was the latest and computer game at that time. It was hot! There was only one computer game that displays a 40 inches screen infront of a seat with a joy stick as controls. I was among those who got hooked by the game.
As I become an addict of the game, I made it a habbit of parking my taxi at Magamall every 5:30 pm just to play the game. It was a good tactic for me. I was able to avoid the traffic jam during rush hours and save some gasoline too. Most of all, I was enjoying the computer games that made me feel like a real pilot. The more I play the game, the more I feel and look like Tom Cruise, the star of a n Ace Pilot movie hit, Top Gun. I really didn't mind to look like Tom Cruise. After all, I always thought my facial features is nearer with Tom Cruise, who is a Holywood Action star than my local idol Robin Padilla whom I thought is less intelligent than me. I'm not saying Tom is brighter than me. Excuse me! Though I'll readily admit he look more handsome by about 1 percent, or less.
PART 2
So much about good looks, my playing of the computer games at megamall normally ended at around 7:30 pm when most of the students and workers are already home and the traffic were much less congested. For almost 2 months, it was a schedule that I religiously followed. It worked for me. My games were improving too each day as a pilot wannabe and I really didn't mind the cost of about 50 to 100 pesos per day. I had the time of my life enjoying my computer games everyday and driving taxi too. I get to eat any fastfood meals I wanted. It was a perfect happy life!
One rainy night, I went out of Megamall as usual straight to the parking lot. My knees buckled when I discovered that my taxi was gone! Oh my God! Where is my taxi? My taxi was named named RODEO, a color white LX Kia Pride, 1.2 liter engine with plate no. XYY -699 if I remeber it correctly. It was barely 8 months old still not fully paid by my boss.
I didn't know if it was insured for carnapping but I was almost sure it wasn't. My face turned pale and I lost all energy for fear of losing the taxi because of my computer games. I should I do? How will I explainto my boss? Should I tell him I lost the taxi while plahing computer games? I was scared. I was a bad boy. I was confused. I thought I cried. Can't remember. But I was very, very scared.
I remembered boss once told me that the taxi cost around 200 thousand pesos. What of he will charge me that cost? What if he files a criminal case against me for gross negligence? What if I will go to prison? What if....? What if....? I didn't know what to do!
I was paralized by fear. I was paralized by guilt. I was paralized by confusion. Should I go to the police?mwhat will I tell in yhe blotter? Should I admit that I played computer games? Was it my fault? YES OF COURSE IT'S MY FAULT! I was suppossed to be driving that taxi when it was carnapped. But I was playing computer games. I was stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I'm going to jail, I was certain.
PART 3
It was the most scary moments of my life. I was debating, blaming and condemning myself as I sit outside Magamall teary eyed, confused and terrified. I had lost a P200,000.00 worth of vehicle because of my childish desires. I'm supposed to be a grown up at 21! What happened?
It was raining harder. The time runs without me noticing that nearly 4 hours had passed. I was sitting absent mindedly beside the mall like a rain soaked helpless little puppy. The mall had already closed more than an hour ago. It was already 11 o'clock at night. I was castigating my self for that long chilly hours as if I owned all the sins in the world including that of Marcos and Enrile. In fact, I thought I was more sinful than them. The guilt was to much for me to carry. I couldn't survive another 6 hours. I was the most sinful man in the world that I deserved to do a Harakiri. I had no guts to face my boss.
The rain suddenly stopped at around 11:30 pm. I found my self still sittimg in the corner. The mall was closed. Most of the lights were turned off. The whole big open space parking lot of megamall was empty. It was bare. No more cars...except one. A white car. It looks like a taxi. It bears the name "Rodeo". It looks like my taxi. Wait... is that my taxi?
I slowly got up and walk towards that lonely taxi with plate number XYY-699. Opps! Now I remember! I was not able to park in my favorite and usual parking slot for the last two months because it was full when I got there this afternoon.
I got the keys in my pocket and happily drove my carnapped taxi, or so I thought. Whew!
THE END.
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