Chapter 7

Just as the mine was preparing to reopen, news of the typhoon Luding blared over the radio. Over the next few days, the town braved howling rainstorms, and rising floodwaters from the usually small river swamped half of Santa Catalina. As the winds were dying down, reports of a rockslide at the next town began filtering in, and on the heels of those… a couple truckloads of covered stretchers carrying bodies. The governor decided to park the dead at Santa Catalina for a few days before the roads were cleared and the trucks could move on to a proper burial site. Predictably, everybody were complaining, and even if the bodies have been moved to the mine, the stink could still be detected well into the town, so Grandma and most other families shuttered their windows during certain times of the day. And the school remained closed.

“Lemme go with you!” cried Carlito, awed by the gear Gardo was carrying.

“The mountain is not a place for children, Kitoy! You stay and help Nanang.”

“But it’s smelly here! Let me go!”

“The corpses are at the mine, it’s even smellier there!”

He was able to rid himself of the kid after Tatang intervened. Much better that way. The route he was taking was quite roundabout, along the river and up a brook leading to the nickel mine, away from the unsavory stuff at the main mine.

A scant half-hour into the trail, he began to smell the scent of oncoming rain. Then, the distant murmur of thunder. Next he knew, he caught dark clouds gathering behind the mountain.

Instead of taking cover somewhere, he quickened his pace along the riverbed with the idea of making it to the nickel mine before the rain caught him in the open. Well, at least he was sure he must lay hands on those jewelry before dark.

He made it before midday. The rain has not fallen. Talk about a feint. Puff!

He checked up on his gear. Everything seemed to be fine. The hardhat had a torch and came with the sketch. The bag was not too large, but maybe it could carry enough if the items were small.

The passage into the rather narrow entry into the mine went smoothly enough. The first hour or so was similarly uneventful. But the hardhat’s lamp at full power only threw light as far as a few paces in front of his feet… and there were such surprises as sharp rocks, not too often, but that was what made it unexpected, as the workmanship in this tunnel was more polished and the ground felt like a paved road. The passageway was narrowing, too.

Soon enough, the humidity ramped up as he went deeper. This is it. The tunnel is becoming the pain that it should be. But go on he did. He had been in a mineshaft like this for two, maybe three times so far, so hopefully there would be no unpleasant surprises but, gah, it’s getting hard to breathe. He was not accustomed enough; he probably should have spent a month or so more in that very part of the workplace he least wanted to be assigned to.

“…”

“…”

He checked his sketch in the lamplight. So… there should be a steep descent or a shaft around fifty meters ahead… OK, so I’m walking the fifty meters right now… now what?

“…”

Where’s the shaft!?

Oh…

OK…? Here it is. Alright now…

The shaft was in the corner. It was shrouded by darkness and looked like an overshadowed nook at first glance. He went over and began to clamber down… whoa. Only one man at a time can shinny into here.

After what seemed to be half an hour in that darkness, his feet touched something. The floor. But it sloped down… a footpath. The steep descent.

The path should drop by twenty or so meters to a sort of chamber, where a number of items were said to have been found. Down he went. Near the end, the passage began to become less and less narrow. He is already entering the chamber.

Now, he did protest that the people who came before must have taken everything already, but no, Grandpa reassured him that a lot have been left behind. In fact…

“Guh—!”

The chamber opened up to a vast darkness!

“Ah…!”

But it looked small in the sketch!

“…”

Never mind that. He began to cast about for anything of interest. Let’s see… What could be found here? He did remember something about jars, vases. The treasures should have been kept in those. If those things were even decently large, there’s no way anyone could carry off the contents of one, what with the difficulties of getting into this tunnel.

Gardo anxiously glanced at the torchlight. It was already dimming. But the jars should be close by. Pottery shards lay everywhere here, cracking underfoot. There wasn't much time.

And then—

Brrrr. It got cold a little too quickly. Was there an updraft from deeper within the mine? There must be a whole lot of unexplored corners; a complex of caverns. No more details were given. But people certainly had been here quite a number of times already and none of them cared for exploring, only the treasures. Tatang insisted there were still plenty left over. He better be right.

He doffed the helmet and trained the lamp by hand on every wall and ledge and crevasse he could find. The battery was running low, but he hoped to catch a glint of anything that may be of interest. Oh. There were two or three. He closed in… and there they were. He found what seemed to be… gemstones? Pendants? The pendants Grandpa was talking about? They were lying around at his feet close to the wall. It seemed they had been dropped carelessly, or perhaps one of the jars that held them fell over and broke, no thanks to those previous cave raiders. Anyway, he can’t carry off a lot, either. Too much time had been spent getting the hang of the place and the torch was not built to last all day. He just grabbed three of the larger pieces and stuffed them into the bag.

As he prepared to squeeze back up into the shaft, carrying as much as he could in that little bag and in his shirt, he looked back. The chamber felt decently spacious, now that he realized. It also stayed pleasantly cool. Perhaps he could rest here awhile. It did not really feel so threatening, after all. Maybe he could venture even further. And go missing, too? Scratch that. He was not as greedy. Then again, who knew if Santander and his ilk just blew the whole rumor out of proportion to have the loot to themselves? The eyes… they must have been human eyes, after all. Maybe they sent someone to finish off the more recent raiders.

“…”

Well then, he better hurry home fast.

The following morning, Gardo got up early and went to the pawnshop over at the next town. Having just learned some decent haggling skills from Grandpa, Gardo got a little bit more value from his haul. And then he went straight to the market for some manioc for nilupak at dinner. And of course, homemade was cheaper. Afterwards, he sliced a bunch of papayas for more dessert.

Shortly after sunset, the aroma from Nanang’s kitchen began to drift all over the house.

"Done," declared Grandma proudly.

The treat was still steaming hot, but the smell of it was just too much to refuse. Gardo and the kid raced to take their share.

"Ay! That's for later with everyone! And your fingers, so dirty!"

But Gardo had already taken a piece. For that, he also got a free swat from Grandma’s fan.

"Hey, why me?"

"Because I can. Now move you back outside!"

After that night’s dinner, there was not a lot of the pawnshop money left in his hands, but it was alright. Isn’t the money you work hard for meant for family? He retired to his bed for the night after closing the windows. It was so quiet now. The “tuck-oh” of the gecko hiding in the rafters, the sounds of the forest from outside, everything enhanced the silence even more. He saw Carlito laid out on his bed, still drooling a bit and barely snoring.

Come to think, this is one of those times he was up later than usual, but he was not tired. Not at all.