THIS is fiction based on actual facts. Let’s call it, “The Trip.” And, while the journey was truly worth remembering, everything in it was a rare tableau of art imitating life. Boss Anton missed it and, sadly, he missed half of his life’s sweet caress.
The main characters were Moryot & Kongsyut. Mokong for short. Both male.
One day they went up the mountains onboard an Inniva, the predecessor of the now iconic Innova. Mokong had to fulfill a job they couldn’t afford to skip. They are gentlemen of the first degree.
Then Moryot remembered he had another date coinciding with the mountain trip. He consulted Kongsyut.
“You must honor your pledge,” Kongsyut said to Moryot. “You are known to be true to your word at all times.”
Moryot’s date had been set quite far from the mountains.
“Distance is nothing,” Kongsyut said to Moryot. “We will hire a driver.”
Because Kongsyut is a learned man, Moryot relented. So off they descended down the plains.
With Moryot’s Inniva in tip-top shape, the tandem arrived without encountering even a minor hitch.
Overwhelmed to see them was, first, Johnny B. Good. Immediately, he opened a Double Black to celebrate Mokong’s arrival. Johnny B. Good wasn’t actually expecting Mokong.
“To your brave efforts in coming down to see us,” Johnny B. Good, raising his glass, said to Mokong. “Cheers!”
“Our pleasure,” said the duo. “How could we miss your Kampupot Rally?”
Kampupot Rally is none other than the car race in Subok where everything is precisely on time. Its time-honored battle cry for the car racers is, “On Time All The Time.” That’s because for, say, a distance of 5 kilometers in one race lap, organizers want every racing team to cover it in five minutes.
A car arriving under five minutes draws a penalty. You are late, another penalty. Johnny B. Good calls the penalties “demerits.”
Moryot happened to be the skipper of Likes, an exquisitely designed car of enduring beauty. Likes owner Mister Moonlight was the happiest man on Earth when he saw Moryot in the flesh.
“And I thought you couldn’t make it,” said Mister Moonlight to Moryot. “With your coming, what’s left for the opposition tomorrow is the battle for second place.”
They celebrated their imagined, anticipated, triumph on the eve of the race by killing two bottles of Macallan and one Hibiki from Mike Lee.
Then it was time to say good-bye. Under the midnight sun, Moryot and Mister Moonlight bade farewell—their embrace creating a poignant scene.
Back in the mountain’s nippy air some four hours later, Mokong slept like a pair of babies. In their dreams, Likes won. Hic!
Lexus launch
I missed the Lexus launch of its latest model on Monday because I was in Baguio City. But upon reading Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa’s text message that night, I felt profoundly happy for Danny “Sir John” Isla, the Lexus Manila president.
Elvis’ text message: “Sir Paul, hinde kompleto ang manipisan. Wala ka. Bidang bida si SJ [Sir John], which is what it should be. Siya ang main speech at siya ang nag-offer ng toast. Galing!”
Then came SJ’s text message: “Nagkakamanipisan na. Mishu terribly. Sabi ko, sana surprise attack ulit si SP!”
True friends a.k.a. kamanipisan are fondly remembered even they are not around. Always, time and distance are no impediments to true friendship.
Isang manipis!
PEE STOP The more than 1,200 golfers, including the bravest souls from Canada, Korea, Guam, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Okinawa and the US mainland, are exempt from color coding in Baguio City from November 23 to December 10, the dates covered by the San Miguel Corp.-backed Fil-Am Invitational Golf offering two Toyota Wigos as hole-in-one prizes. That’s how city officials value the importance of the 67th edition of the iconic global golfest, which is just right. If all other cities could copy Baguio’s resolve, then tourism in the country will easily shoot up to world levels…Speaking of tourism, the Baguio Country Club is practically on its way to making history by being host to one of the major events attending the Miss Universe pageant in January 2017. “We will do our utmost to ensure a smooth visit and presentation here of the Miss Universe contest,” said a very proud GM Anthony de Leon of the Baguio Country Club (BCC). Already, Baguio has hit universal fame when the city’s very own daughter, Kylie Versoza, won the recent Miss International crown. A charity dinner hosted by the BCC, with Versoza as the guest of honor, was a smashing success last weekend. Cheers!