Morning in Nagrebcan
Morning in Nagrebcan (Manuel E. Arguilla)
(1) It was sunrise at Nagrebcan.
(2) The fine, bluish mist, low over the tobacco fields, was lifting and thinning moment by moment. A ragged strip of mist, pulled away by the morning breeze, had caught on the c umps of bamboo along the banks of the stream that flowed to one side of the barrio.
(3) Before long the sun would top the Katayaghan hills, but as yet no people were around. In the grey shadow of the hills, the barrio was gradually awaking. Roosters crowed and strutted on the ground while hens hesitated on their perches among the branches of the camanchile trees. Stray goats nibbled· the weeds on the sides of the road, and the bull carabaos tugged restively against their stakes.
(4) In the early morning the puppies lay curled up together between their mother’s paws under the ladder of the house. Four puppies were all white like the mother. They had pink noses and pink eyelids and pink mouths. The skin between their toes and on the inside of their large, limp ears was pink.
They had short sleek hair, for the mother licked them often. The fifth puppy lay across the mother's neck. On the puppy's back was a big black spot like a saddle. The tips of its ears were black and so was a patch of hair on its chest.
(5) The opening of the sawali door, its uneven bottom dragging noisily against the bamboo flooring, aroused the mother dog and she got up and stretched and shook herself, scattering dust and loose white hair. A rank doggy smell rose in the cool morning air.
(6) She took a quick leap forward, clearing the puppies which had begun to whine about her, wanting to suckle. She trotted away and disappeared beyond the house of a neighbor.
(7) The puppies sat back on their rumps, whining. After a little while they lay down and went back to sleep, the black-spotted puppy climbing on top of the Four.
(8) Baldo stood at the threshold and rubbed his sleep-heavy eyes with
(1) It was sunrise at Nagrebcan.
(2) The fine, bluish mist, low over the tobacco fields, was lifting and thinning moment by moment. A ragged strip of mist, pulled away by the morning breeze, had caught on the c umps of bamboo along the banks of the stream that flowed to one side of the barrio.
(3) Before long the sun would top the Katayaghan hills, but as yet no people were around. In the grey shadow of the hills, the barrio was gradually awaking. Roosters crowed and strutted on the ground while hens hesitated on their perches among the branches of the camanchile trees. Stray goats nibbled· the weeds on the sides of the road, and the bull carabaos tugged restively against their stakes.
(4) In the early morning the puppies lay curled up together between their mother’s paws under the ladder of the house. Four puppies were all white like the mother. They had pink noses and pink eyelids and pink mouths. The skin between their toes and on the inside of their large, limp ears was pink.
They had short sleek hair, for the mother licked them often. The fifth puppy lay across the mother's neck. On the puppy's back was a big black spot like a saddle. The tips of its ears were black and so was a patch of hair on its chest.
(5) The opening of the sawali door, its uneven bottom dragging noisily against the bamboo flooring, aroused the mother dog and she got up and stretched and shook herself, scattering dust and loose white hair. A rank doggy smell rose in the cool morning air.
(6) She took a quick leap forward, clearing the puppies which had begun to whine about her, wanting to suckle. She trotted away and disappeared beyond the house of a neighbor.
(7) The puppies sat back on their rumps, whining. After a little while they lay down and went back to sleep, the black-spotted puppy climbing on top of the Four.
(8) Baldo stood at the threshold and rubbed his sleep-heavy eyes with