Play's the thing

By Ruel S. De Vera, Associate Editor Sunday Inquirer Magazine IT'S a Filipino thing: playing in the streets as the sun goes down. The very names of the games played speak to their exotic and mesmerizing nature: tumbang preso, patintero, and so on. It's a siren song; when the mothers start asking their children to come home because it's getting dark, the need to play becomes so much stronger, like a mild muazzin. Every second of play becomes all the more precious, even as the mothers' voices grow shriller. But not everyone thrives in the streets. Those who are neither fast nor athletic nor well-liked literally don't play well with others. Truth is, they don't play with others at all. I was one of those. I never learned to ride a bike; I tried, it didn't go straight -- or well. I was not only a weakling, I was an annoying weakling prone to holding grudges and getting ticked off. But I found a refuge in the library, be it at home or in school. I know, I know, it seems so contrived, but I enjoyed playing inside my own mind much more than I did outside with the others. I liked watching events unfold even if I knew what was going to happen. And we had amazing books at home because my parents bought all the books they could. We had encyclopedias, Reader's Digest Condensed Books (those were awesome), hardcover classics, and the holy trinity of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and the Bobbsey Twins. They were my companions, my playmates. I worried after Ivanhoe and Rebecca, knew that nothing good would come from Lancelot making goo-goo eyes at the Queen, disliked Bess, found Chet Morton annoying though found his hobbies fascinating and while the Bobbseys were predictable, the places they traveled to were not; Greece and London were the best. And it never, ever occurred to me that I was learning. Countless suns have set. Endless games have ended. But I have never regretted not spending my time in the sun. The ultimate games were those found in the cool places between a book's pages, each shadow stretching into forever. Check out the June 22 issue of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine.