ILIGAN City ― It's time for a valentine's story--again. Because this is valentine's month, they say. And so, on February 14, specifically, it's valentines day. And all the lovers will come forward. To celebrate, what else.
But there are several kinds of lovers--the true, the false, and the in-betweens.
There are also masked lovers. Masquerading as true, but really have other agendas in their minds. So, this is about the masked one. Anyway, we're already very familiar with masks. Although many would want to do away with them, there are reports of variants, here, and variants there. So, now, the masks have to stay in for a little longer in our faces. So, what the heck? We're already accustomed to wearing them, anyway.
Lawyer Teddy Barnes reluctantly took up the case of book publisher Jack Forrester. He, Jack is accused of murdering his wife in their oceanside home in some state in America. Anybody can't deny that he had much to gain in the death of his wife she being much much wealthier than him. So everything that belonged to his wife would now go to him!
Teddy Barnes thought so too. But she had reason to believe that he too was innocent. For Jack says he was the first to be rendered inutile by such a murdering bastard. And he couldn't identify the culprit, what with his mask on. So, how could he protect his wife in such a situation?
Like the good lawyer that she is, Jack was rendered "not guilty." To the delight of the two.
And after the said verdict, Teddy and Jack became lovers. They went on horseback riding together, or at times dined in fancy restaurants. Oh, such a good life. "Oh, the good life, full of fun, full of joy." so goes the lyrics of an old song.
But one day when Teddy was alone in their now conjugal bed in their oceanside home, she discovered a typewriter. That's right folks. It was the time of the typewriter in those days. When she tested it, she faintly remembered some notes from Jack to his then-living wife, some messages of love, with those typewriting prints. She phoned Jack about it and he gave some plausible, but lame explanations.
A realization grew. He really was the murderer! What should she do?
The next scene saw Teddy waiting for Jack her lover, on their bed, lying on her back.
And then, a masked creature entered the unlocked room, ready to pounce on her. But Teddy was quick on the draw. She shot the creature with a gun she had canceled among the sheets.,
Whoa! In the next scene, we see her unmasking the culprit. It was Jack, who else, ready to pounce on her with a jagged edge weapon.
She had unmasked her lover! But you're right. This is the plot of some '80s movie, "Jagged Edge."
Now here in this city, I'm reminded of another case with some similarities in some aspects.
In August 2013, a media personality suddenly was gunned down during the night, in a barangay here when he was having fun with some friends in a house there. When Nanding Solijon came down from the house to do some call of nature, it was there when it happened. He fell headlong into the ground.
Who could be the culprit? During a meeting with fellow media personnel. it was learned that although the good mayor then was pointed to by some Marites, there was no evidence linking him to the incident...
But the suspected gunman was a guy named PJ, the close security of the mayor. He was then accused of said murder.
Yet suddenly, he was reported to have disappeared from the face of the earth. I don't know if the face of the earth that he disappeared from is this city only, or somewhere else. Because he was reported to have drowned. Or missing. There were no exact circumstances on it.
Now, this PJ fellow has a lovely daughter. Who is now a councilor in the city? And somebody is casting moist eyes on her, say some Marites.
Sorry to disappoint you. There's no masked lover here. So there's nobody to be unmasked. I don't know whether these stories would qualify for valentine's stories. At any rate, happy valentines card, I mean, happy valentines day, to all lovers. And we are all lovers of something, aren't we?
Email: nora.lady@yahoo.com
