Wouldn't it be nice

Last night.

From Mercury Drug for my drugs.
Looking for a place to eat.

My mom comes over. Joel Toledo is spinning in Mag:net. Risking social status (what little of it I have) I tell her, "You want to eat at Mag:net?"

"Not really," she says. "Masisira yung floppy disk ko."

I roll my eyes.


*

Crossing the street.
Still looking.

Mom: Pinapawisan ka ba?

Sasha: Nope.

Mom: Ako pinapawisan!

Sasha: Wow.

Mom: . . . and I often get hot flashes lately!

Sasha: Ah.

Mom: *big grin* I'm getting menopause!

Sasha: You don't have to sound so proud and perky.


*


Rapzi Tapzi under the overpass.
Thinking of what to eat.

Mom: That embutido looks so sad.

Sasha: Wah?

Mom: It looks like a chopped up penis. A skinny one.

Sasha: Mom.

Mom: What? Look at the right end of it. That's a head!



*


Still at Rapzi Tapzi.
Updates.

My thirty-nine-year old mom's hair is in the Posh Spice haircut. My fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel Joshua, got a Mohawk. And since my grandmother's staying with them, my dad can't beat some sense into his son, lest he face the wrath of my sweet little lola.

My twelve-year-old brother, John Vincent, has a suitor named Rosita.

"Joshua says that this Rosita is really pretty," Mom tells me.

"Uh, isn't he in fourth year?" I ask. "What's he doing looking at freshies for?"

The pretty Rosita is texting him messages like (my mom whips out phone to show me) : "I think you're cute and very funny. You make me laugh a lot. Cute talaga! I like you a lot, John."

I huff. "We girls never did that in my day!" I say, waving my fork about.