I HEAR YOU

I: CALVIN

I ran away.

Again.

But this time, my feet didn't reach that far like the last time it did. This time, I headed to the shore instead of heading to the other side of the town. Their fight still leaves an unpleasant ringing in my ears. Last time, I ran and found myself standing at the side of the road hitching for a ride home to which I have received an earful from mom.

This town where I live is a small and peaceful town but the home, as I suppose to call it, is far from peaceful. I guess this is what happens when you are born in a family of unmarried couple, if you can still call them that. I just know that one day, one of them will just snap and leave. It could be mom, or it could be my dad.

I stared at the waves that seems to be furiously smashing the white sand. My eyes enjoyed the sight of familiarity of how my heart felt that my skin forgot the scorching heat of the sun and my grumbling stomach from lack of both breakfast and lunch lost its voice to the sound of the waves.

"If it isn't the damsel in distress," says a voice I recognize.

Without turning around I said, "Hey Carlotta."
I can feel the glares she must be aiming at me right now for calling her by her first name. I chuckle lightly and grin at my little victory over this 60 year old woman who never ceases to amaze me.

"You know I hate it when you call me that," she said grimly.

"It was the point besides you know I'm no damsel, I am a handsome prince," I said laughing lightly. When I turned my head and look at the woman behind me, I smiled at her though she was looking at the sea and not at me. I returned my gaze at the sea and say, "I'm sorry Carl."

"You know I can't hate you kiddo," she said still not looking at me.

"I know. You're a sucker for a face like mine," I smile confidently while she scoffs.

She turned her gaze at me and opened her mouth to say something but I beat her to it. "I know. I know. Nothing beats your Eduardo," I say dreamily.

"For a 12 year old kid, you have a smart mouth," she said chuckling and I smiled remembering her eyes as she tells me the story of her Eduardo. Her first love. And her last.
Carlotta. She never lets people call her that. 'Carl', she'd say it sternly to everyone she meets who calls her Carlotta. That is why I could never blame kids my age afraid of her and would rather just say she's a witch to justify their fear when they see Carl rushing towards them. But, Carl is harmless. She's a great listener and she never gets old to listen to a childish rant. She basically watched and tended to me growing up with unstable relationship between my parents. She is my bestfriend despite our age gap.

I asked her one day why she never let anyone call her by her first name. She'd say, 'I'm waiting for Eduardo to come back and call me that.'

Eduardo was an American-Spanish of origin, an American navy who had spent a decade in our little island. They were based here in Isla Alcantara and spent their days off from work in the beach where Carl's house was just a few metres away from. She used to just watch her Eduardo from a distance and remembering the words of admiration that flows out of her friends' mouth when they catch a glimpse of Eduardo. He was indeed a sight according to Carl but she would never admit that to her friends. She kept her fantasies to herself.
But one night changed it all, a drunk Eduardo was lost and bumped unto one of Carl's pot. A pot she made herself for her family owned a pottery. Her father had chased Eduardo with a bolo and stopped mid-way realizing that he was too drunk to even run away. They took him in and she tended to him being the only child of the family since her mother died after giving birth to her and her father too old and tired to stay awake that night. And since that night, they hit it off with Eduardo making up for breaking Carl's pot and Carl having a modest laugh out of his efforts. He'd call her Carlotta within that decade and he'd write 'My Beautiful Carlotta' in his letters when he left Alcantara.