Battery.

A couple of hours ago I went to Earnest's house to pick up a few Cambio shirts, and on my way there I witnessed a jarring incident.

I sat quietly at the entrance end of the almost empty jeepney facing the driver (so my hair won't get all messed up). After a few hundred meters a woman boarded the jeepney and sat at the far end behind the driver's companion. The man in front of her shouted, 'Anong ginagawa mo rito???' and gave her a mean, forceful slap across the face.

I was too shocked to react. In the back of my head I was imagining what her left cheek was going to look like tomorrow morning.

I couldn't hear what she was saying to the guy, but he was really pissed to see her, to say the least. (All this time we weren't moving. The driver knows the man, apparently.) The man went down and the woman followed. He looked like he was about to hit her again. She looked at him while trying to hold back the tears.

At this point I wanted to shout at the guy. Gusto ko nang makialam. He looked capable enough to hit me, too. Hindi naman ako takot masaktan, hindi ko lang alam kung may karapatan na akong makialam sa problema nila.

The guy tried boarding the jeep several times while trying to keep the woman from following him. Finally he said, 'Sige, pare, bumiyahe ka na!'

So we left them behind. I can still hear the slap replaying in my head. I've seen situations like this so many times before, and I don't think I will ever get used to them.

Ang kapal din naman ng mukha ng lalaking iyon na manakit ng kapwa (o asawa o girlfriend). No one ever gave anyone else the right to do that. I wanted to scream at him. Buti na lang hindi na siya sumakay sa jeep, baka inaway ko pa siya. Grrr...

*****

I told myself that I will never subject myself to that kind of treatment. I will fight back AND get even. And that means goodbye, too.