How Silica Got Her Name

Once upon a time, there was this old man lying on his deathbed. He had been suffering from tuberculosis for three years and he decided to give up. One day, he called his three sons for his last will and testament.

The three sons came and they were kind of excited. How much they prayed for their father to die so they could have their inheritance. Now the old man didn’t have anything valuable to leave to his sons but the rice mill, the ten-wheeler truck, and a two-hectare piece of land. To make things simple, the three sons drew their lots to know which of which goes to whom.

The eldest son got the ten-wheeler truck. The middle son got the rice mill. The youngest son got the two-hectare piece of land. Everything was settled and the old man passed away at last. All were happy except the youngest son. I never liked that two-hectare piece of land, he thought. It’s everything but sand. How on earth am I going to farm it?

Jealous of what his other siblings got and desperate to have much more, the youngest son sold the land he got from his late father. A businessman bought it from him and he thought he was lucky enough dealing with a fool who was interested in such a useless lot. He used the money he got in going to Thailand.

Now, the businessman who bought the land from the youngest son of the old man who died of tuberculosis wasn’t really a businessman. He was actually a researcher working for an industrial company that manufactured glass products. After months of monitoring the land he had just bought, he was 100% sure it was rich with minerals particularly 'silica' or quartz sand, the raw material used in making glass products.

So the glass company got the land they wanted at last. They were able to extract tons of silica from it and earned a large sum of money. To think, they bought it from the youngest son of the old man who died of tuberculosis at a very cheap price.

An international cola company was one of the many giant corporations that partnered with the glass company where the researcher who pretended to be a businessman worked. The glass company supplied the bottles for the cola company to be used for their products. Those bottles, of course, were made from the silica of the sand in the land which was once owned by the youngest son of the old man who died of tuberculosis.

Let’s focus with this particular cola bottle. Of course, it passed through the belly of the cola company. It was printed with a label, filled with the cola drink that millions of people thirst for, and finally sealed with a metal crown. Then the packaging followed. The bottle was placed in a case along with the other cola-filled bottles all ready for the market.

A month after the old man died of tuberculosis, a fat man was delivering cola products to a far-flung town with a large delivery truck. Before he left the cola company’s local branch factory, the fat man had a lunch of chicken inasal, two cups of rice, and iced tea. Set aside the viand and the rice. The iced tea caused the fat man frequent urination along the way.

It happened later that afternoon that the fat man stopped at some deserted place to take a piss. That deserted place was very prone to road robbery. After he urinated, the fat man left with no idea whatsoever that two masked men went inside the delivery truck and took with them a case of cola drinks.

Now, in the town proper where the fat man was supposed to deliver his cola products, there was this sari-sari store owned by an old maid. She was kind of lucky that afternoon because she purchased a case of cola drinks from two unfamiliar men cheaper than the factory price. Somehow, she had an idea that those where stolen goods. But who cares? She thought.

Early the next day, a handsome man was in the old maid’s sari-sari store. He wasn’t there to buy anything but to add something in the list of his debts. He’s a single parent and he raised pigs for a living. That day was his unica hija’s birthday so he wanted to have a simple party at least. He forced himself to kiss the old maid on the cheeks and got himself ingredients for pansit and pochero and half a case of cola.