A girl on the seawall

The other night, while walking home from the market, I met a kid on the street and I remember she was that girl I met in the seawall last January. I am irritatedly amused by her persistence and insistence in asking for coins. I told her the other night to give her next time, for what was left with me was enough for the internet. And I went on walking. I had walked almost a block and I found out she was still following me for coins! I just walked on. I had a diary entry about her of January 17 this year. It says and I quote:

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"Here at the seawall. I am sitting on a long table with my feet resting on a bench connected to it. A tent is still in place to shield me from drizzles. This is a makeshift eatery for cockfighters. A stone's throw away is a cockpit temporarily built for a weeklong feast celebration. It was the feast of the Holy Infant, patron of the Seawall, and it ended yesterday. I am facing the sea and the islands. My feeling is that I am sitting on a bleacher of an amphitheatre, facing a great stage: the sea and the islands. It is also like I am on a great football arena. What if the government would construct rows of benches here? Say, of five levels for sea-watchers? Just made of bamboo! I am unsure if it would be done. Most people are needy here. Their needs are first and foremost. While writing this entry, a girl of five kept pestering me for five pesos. 'I only have a peso,' I told her. But she insisted on Php5. 'What for?' I asked. 'For biscuits,' she replied. I ignored her because she would not accept my peso. She kept asking, this time reducing the amount by a peso. 'P4!' 'P3!' 'P2!' Until... 'Okay, just a peso, 'Kol!' (''Kol' is short for 'uncle,' the name the children here are fond of calling those older than them.) But I was already annoyed by her way of asking - prodding and somehow pushing my side with her hands. To think that I am writing this entry through my cellphone in which keypads are very hard to press. I looked at her, and I saw her eyes already misty. I immediately took the coin from my pocket and gave it to her. For I remember a proverb. 'My son, do not deny the poor his food and do not make the man who looks at you with pleading eyes wait.'" Sirach 4:1.

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End of entry.

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I should have given the girl a coin or two out from my money reserved for the internet the other night. I spent my money without having served the purpose. I had difficulty getting into blogger.com. I had been into this problem for nights. I stopped going to the internet cafes in that area. I had my internet last night in the market. It was smooth.

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