Along Bashful Lane

Walk Softly

My heart is already warming as my mind identifies the memory of those perfectly-intact images of my summer vacation days at the farm which are featured in this series. Walk Softly is an inscription at the entrance of Acadia National Park in Maine. 

Of all the paths you take in life,

make sure of few of them are dirt. - Anonymous

There is always a moment in the morning, between the silence of the night before and the noise of the day to come, when it seems that time stops for a beat, when all the world is motionless, expectant. 

Then, Kokorokok! Tandang rooster rouses me up. It is still dark outside. I hear the rhythmic sound of a broom being swept over dry earth. Tia Chuling is awake early, as always. Get some eggs from the coop, will you, mi 'ja? Auntie asks before I can say anything. I rub the sleep from my eyes.  

Lazily, I amble down the short walk toward the chicken coop. Along the way, I teasingly kick the makahiya in greeting, Good morning, sleepy head! Makahiya, also called 'touch-me-not' or 'shy plant,' is a weed whose leaves shrink and close when they get stimulated by touching, warming, blowing, or shaking. I giggle as its tiny leaves fold inward and droop. Shy again today? I stoop to blow on a cluster under the tamarind tree. Its leaflets close. It's just me! I'll try to walk softly.

My eyes sparkle with good humor. Knowing that they will re-open a few seconds later, I walk on a little bit, stop, then look back. Aha! so you're not bashful anymore. 

I am determined to josh the entire length of Bashful Lane, but I presently get distracted by the pearly-white shell of newly-laid eggs peeking from a small pile of hay in the coop. Akin na yan. Give me that. I reach out to claim some choice ones, and skip on back, taking care that they're secure in the pleat of my hiked skirt.

I move lightly along the creeping touch-me-not, its leaflets shrinking as I step through, but quickly opening up again after I've passed them. 

Auntie's torta egg omelet is delicious, but I can't wait to finish and play on Bashful Lane again. On days such as this one, it's hard to imagine that anything can be wrong on the farm.