By Atty. Egay Uy
LAST Sunday started as an exciting day. The sun was shining and my phone rang. My son asked if I wanted to go with them to Talakag, Bukidnon. Since it was a Sunday I said yes.
The route to Talakag in southern Cagayan de Oro was not the usual heavy-traffic days. It was also my first time to use the highway past that town towards Bukidnon. The weather started to be cooperative, i.e., ideal road trip weather.
We reached a kids’ haven some 30 kilometers beyond Talakag, the Bonsita. As we alighted the SUV, the weather started to sour. Then it rained cats and dogs.
We ordered the only available food at that time ― grilled chicken with unlimited rice. It was delicious and reasonably priced. As we took our lunch, fog crept into the open-air dining hall. It was good that I wore my usual long-sleeved shirt. But my short pants betrayed me.
The fog made visibility impossible to enjoy the natural contour of the hills and lush green trees around. So we focused on enjoying our food and our discussion about anything.
By the way, as we entered the dining hall, the smell of second smoke from a lit cigarette greeted us. A group of six men was waiting for their order and lit cigarettes. We requested the cashier to ask the smokers to put them. Fortunately, they heeded.
A few minutes later we again smelled a lit cigarette. It was from one of those in the same group who must have been in my age bracket. I personally asked him to smoke elsewhere (or in a designated smoking area). Reluctantly, he obliged.
After two hours since we arrived there, the rain cooperated ― it stopped. It was a sign that we had to move out and motor back to Cagayan de Oro. We learned that it was also raining hard here. And true enough, our interior access road was impassable to small cars for several hours.
Rain water-filled, and stagnated in, the drainage canals to the brim. It was how my rainy Sunday went.
