The Quest

by Michelle

It was a cat that started it all. A stray Persian cat, of all things.
My sister found it hanging outside our door, old and dingy
and looking for some love. So of course she took it in.

Three days later it died of old age.

So now, what to do? My mom said to bury it in the grassy area near the house.

Ok, I thought, there must be a shovel somewhere around here.
I saw our maintenance guy walk by. Not wanting to alienate him,
I tried to remember the Tagalog word for shovel...aha!

I asked, “Sir, do you have a “shovel?” only I said it this way:

“Manong, may...spada po kayo?”

He looked at me strangely and walked away, shaking his head.

Well, I thought, the nerve of some people!
I went to the nearby store (where there were a lot of people)
to ask the seller, “Ate Minda, may spada po kayo?”

She looked at me like I was crazy and told me she didn’t think anyone
in the area had a “spada”.

Across the street I spied a house being built.
A-HA! They MUST have a spada there for sure!

I went over to one of the workers to ask my question. When he gave me another puzzled look it began to dawn on me that maybe I wasn’t saying this right. I began to gesture “shovel” and saying I wanted to dig in the soil. He replied, “aaaahh...pala!”

“Pala” is the Tagalog word for shovel. It wasn’t “spada” as I thought.

I had been going around asking people for a sword.