The Agony of Elsa

Parents is a word, which here in this episode of Elsa's story would mean: Preposterous! It may also refer to such lexemes like: punishment; apathetic; defilement; and umbrella!

Elsa, if euphemism would make it any different, has what I wish to call "a natal mother who is four quarters short of a dollar, a substitute father who is five cans short of a six packs, and a biological father who is wandering the Elysian Fields"!

While most young girls of Elsa's age would be delighted on the thought of going home from school every afternoon knowing that a loving mother would be ready to meet her at the door with a warm hug, Elsa, just so that you are aware, does not!

If most young girls of Elsa's age would be confident on the thought that what ever happends, a supportive father will always be around to defend her from bullies in school, Elsa, to make my point clearer, does not!

The reason why Elsa does not look forward at meeting her mother at night after school is easy to understand! And it is easier to understand why Elsa does not consider her father supportive! At this point of the story, allow to me remind you about the name of Elsa's father. He is: Icasiano Antonio Ragoza. It is important that I mention that name again. It is important that I remind you of that name in case you have forgotten all about it. Some people, especially the grown-ups, have the proclivity to forget minute details like the names of people.

If you are a grown-up who has followed this story from the onset and has forgotten about Icasiano Antonio Ragoza, I honestly do understand and infact, you are forgiven! But if you are new here and is just starting with this episode, then you have three options: the first is to leave hastily and look for something else to read; second is to trace back four episodes back and start reading the episode entitled: The Simple Schoolgirl; and third is to forget about prerequisites, just read along, infer, and make a conclusion! A conclusion which, since it’s devoid of basis, may end up biased!

Anyway, for the third time in this episode, allow me say again that the name of Elsa's father is: Icasiano Antonio Ragoza! Icasiano Antonio Ragoza spent his childhood days in the largest province and the biggest rice producer of Central Luzon in the Philippines: Gapan in Nueva Ecija! When he reached the age of 22, he decided that he had enough of the provincial life! And so, he went to Manila to look for a job. Unfortunately, he wasn't very successful at finding an employment! Knowing nothing else and having no other skills but to sow and reap in the rice fields, he always ends up with small jobs with very meager pay! But, despite the elusive luck, Icasiano Antonio discovered that he attracted the attention of many women due to his nice looks! And, Icasiano Antonio Ragoza also soon found out that he could survive life in the city using only his good looks! He got romantically involved with several women who could afford to give him allowance every month. Icasiano Antonio Ragoza got things going until he met Maritess Dolores Pulmones, The Vile Vendor!

His liaison with The Vile Vendor paved the way for him to meet the woman who he really fell in love with and whom he eventually married, Fanchita Isidra! Unhappily, his love relationship with the woman who he really fell in love with was doomed because of a curse made by The Vile Vendor! A curse that states: "Death will be the reward for whoever gives true love to the first born child of Fanchita Isidra and Icasiano Antonio Ragoza!"

After spending sometime of his life as a gigolo, Icasiano Antonio eventually wedded Fanchita Isidra in a civil ceremony. They used the earnings from the Special Banana cue stall, which Icasiano Antonio took with him when he eloped with Fanchita Isidra, to start up their family. The two contentedly lived together and in no time, Fanchita Isidra got heavy with their first child.

When Fanchita Isidra concieved, it was then that Icasiano Antonio realized that he has to start working hard for his family. He realized that soon he will grow old and his good looks would no longer be much use to him. He realized that it was time for him to take his life seriously! And so, he decided to go to Hong Kong and worked as a Cutter in a Clothing Factory. Icasiano Antonio worked really hard! He sends home a big portion of his earning every month so that Fanchita Isidra could save a portion of it so that she'll have money to spend when she delivers her child and she spends a portion of it for household expenses and home improvement.

A couple of months past and Fanchita Isidra gave birth to Elsa. But Elsa's birth, which was supposed to be a very happy event, turned out to be the beginning of The Vile Vendor's curse. When Icasiano Antonio learned that Fanchita Isidra gave birth to a baby girl, He was very happy and was so full of pride that finally he is a father. Icasiano Antonio became more determined to work hard for his family. Icasiano Antonio felt so much love for Fanchita Isidra and his new born baby, which of course would be Elsa! And because of too much joy, Icasiano Antonio decided to celebrate the special day by inviting some of his Filipino friends in the factory for a night of drinking in a bar.

The celebration went on and then ended a minute past midnight. At the end of the drinking spree, Icasiano Antonio was already so drunk to even go home that he fell asleep on a bench in the park which is right infront of the bar. When he woke up that morning, he was no longer feeling well. He was nauseous. He was throwing up. He was feverish. At first, he thought that it was a simple flu that he caught as a result of sleeping in the park. But, he got worse as the day progressed. He still reported for work however! But toward the end of the day, he just went from worse to worst. In the afternoon, he collapsed while at work and so he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was confined at the hospital for a week before he breathed his last. The official hospital report indicated that Icasiano Antonio's cause of death was: Meningococcemia!

When Fanchita Isidra learned of the news of Icasiano Antonio's death, she was devastated! When she learned about the cause of Icasiano Antonio's death, she was terrified! When she learned about the reason why Icasiano Antonio went drinking that day, the drinking that made him drunk, that made him fall asleep in the park, that made him sick, and that made him pass to life eternal, she was furious! Fanchita Isidra was very angry! And she blamed her new born child! She took it all against Elsa! From that day on, Fanchita Isidra never really cared about Elsa anymore!

Fanchita Isidra never breastfed Elsa! Fanchita Isidra never changed Elsa's diapers! Fanchita Isidra never sang a lulluby for Elsa. Fanchita Isidra never hugged Elsa! Fanchita Isidra never even considered Elsa as her daughter!

Elsa grew up uncared for by her own mother. Elsa never really knew what happened to her father. Fanchita Isidra never spoke about Icasiano Antonio to Elsa. And it was because of that missing piece in The Simple Schoolgirl’s life that made Elsa think that her father "was not supportive"!

Six weeks, six hours and six minutes after Icasiano Antonio's death, Fanchita Isidra met Rodelio Jay Cabogus. Fanchita Isidra was on her way to the Juetengan to place a bet that time when she met Rodelio Jay Cabogus. By the way, Rodelio Jay Cabogus is a short stout senior Jueteng bet collector who came from a family with history of mental illness!

Because of Cupid's mischievous game, Fanchita Isidra and Rodelio Jay, upon laying eyes on each other, instantly fell in love. Fanchita Isidra even gave Rodelio Jay a “beautiful eyes” as the latter took her bet. Rodelio Jay on the otherhand reciprocated by giving Fanchita Isidra a wink. Then he made sure that Fanchita Isidra won on that particular Jueteng draw! Of course, it was Rodelio Jay who delivered Fanchita Isidra's winnings that night! And it was that night too when Elsa's life went from worse to worst! Rodelio Jay and Fanchita decided to live together. Rodelio Jay didn't mind if Fanchita Isidra already has a child! Rodelio Jay didn't mind at all because he knew that he could make use of Elsa when she grows up!

Time flew fast! Days went on to weeks, weeks went on to months, and months went on to years! Fanchita Isidra and Rodelio Jay now have three daughters! The two love their children! They took care of them well! Fanchita Isidra breastfed all of her three daughters. Fachita Isidra also changed their diapers! Fanchita Isidra sung lullabies to her three daughters! Fanchita Isidra hugged her three daughters as well. Rodelio Jay also helped in taking care of his daughters. Rodelio Jay played with his daughters! Rodelio Jay bought dresses for his daughters! Rodelio Jay brought his daughters to the playground! Fanchita Isidra and Rodelio Jay were good parents...but only to their three daughters! To Elsa, they were terrible! Not once did Fanchita Isidra ever considered Elsa to be her daughter. Not once did Rodelio Jay ever bought Elsa a dress. Not once did the two ever cared for Elsa. Infact, they treated Elsa as their slave! Elsa was made to do all the household chores! From repairing the roof, to doing the plumbing, to washing the dishes, to boiling water for Rodelio Jay's hot bath, to cooking Kalamay Hati for Fanchita Isidra's dessert!

Fanchita Isidra also forced Elsa to go to work at an early age! Fanchita Isidra forced Elsa to sell Pandesal every Labor Day, Taho every Town Fiesta, Sampaguita Garlands every Piyesta ng Nazareno, Kamoteng Kahoy every Easter Sunday, Cotton Candy every Christmas, and Thunder Lolo every New Year! Fanchita Isidra also didn't mind if Elsa was tired, hungry, lonely, or sick!

Rodelio Jay also required Elsa to hand over to him all her earnings! Rodelio Jay also required Elsa to tickle his callously feet every night so that he could fall asleep. Rodelio Jay also required Elsa to sing him a song every night as his lullaby! But it is not suppose to be an easy task as he required Elsa to sing songs backwards! And while Elsa is singing... she must pull off her hair one by one! Now, didn't I just answer the question that I promised to answer back in the first episode?

Anyway, Rodelio Jay and Fanchita Isidra took turns in making Elsa's life miserable. Sometimes they do it in tandem! They punished Elsa for the slightest mistake! They did all terrible things to Elsa! They called her names! They repeatedly told Elsa that she was useless! They repeatedly told Elsa that she was ugly! They repeatedly told Elsa that her life was headed nowhere! They repeatedly dampend Elsa's spirit! They inflicted pain not only in Elsa's young body but also in Elsa's innocent heart!

Now allow me to mention that when Fanchita Isidra discovered the sleeping effect of the feet tickling and the backwards song number that Elsa performs for Rodelio Jay, she also required Elsa to perform the routine to her! Fanchita Isidra also required Elsa to learn to sing her favorite songs backwards! Her song list includes: Lollipops and Roses, Moonlight becomes You, Maria Leonora Theresa, Kahit konting awa, Pearly Shells, Tiny Bubbles, My Pledge of Love, Ang Pipit, Yesterday when I was young, Tipitipitim, and Yeyeh Vonnel! And, if Elsa doesn't sing the songs backwards perfectly, she also asks Elsa to pull off her hair as punishment! Fanchita Isidra does everything to make sure that Elsa's life was miserable!

This episode wont be complete if I dont tell you about the miserable incident about the umbrella. The event with the sunshade took place one day, at around 2:46 in the afternoon, Fanchita Isidra went home gnashing her teeth. She was very furious because she left her favorite umbrella in an Airconditioned Baliwag Transit Bus! The umbrella is fuchsia colored and she got it as a prize in a raffle! So, she ordered Elsa to run after the Airconditioned Baliwag Transit Bus and retrieve the sunshade! Elsa, without second thought, obeyed! Elsa, after writing down the plate number of the Airdconditioned Baliwag Transit Bus on her palm, quickly sped off and ran after the Airconditioned Baliwag Transit Bus which was enroute to Baliwag, a 1st class urban municipality in Bulacan, Philippines! Running by the way was an easy task for Elsa! The reason why could be inferred in the first episode.

While running after the bus, Elsa was thinking only of making sure that she retrieves the precious fuchsia colored umbrella. She was motivated on the thought that if she is able to bring back home the umbrella, her mother would start appreciating her. Elsa was also thinking that the reason why her mother ordered her to ran after the bus was for her to learn how to be speedy so that one day she could enter the Olympics and be a well-known sprinter like Lydia de Vega and Nancy Navalta!

Without Elsa knowing it, she already out run the bus and has arrived at the bus terminal ahead of time. She waited for the bus to arrive. Elsa waited for 3 hours, 17 minutes and 52 seconds! When the bus finally arrived, she breathed a sigh of relief! She waited for all the passengers to alight the bus! When everyone has gone down already, Elsa went inside the bus and started searching for the sunshade. It wasn't in the front seats! Elsa became nervous, she wondered if she was in the right bus! She checked the plate number, it was the same one. She went back inside the bus and continued her search. Elsa looked among the middle seats! But the fuchsia colored umbrella wasn't in there either! Elsa became even more nervous! She wondered if someone already took it! But Elsa continued looking around until finally, she found it at the left corner at the back seat! The sunshade was on the bus floor beside an empty canister of Pringles Cheez Ums Flavor size 163g! When Elsa saw the fuchsia colored umbrella, she quickly grabbed it and embraced it like it was the most important thing in her life! Then after making sure that it was indeed the umbrella that Fanchita Isidra won in the raffle, Elsa almost immediately started running back to Baseco compound where her mother was waiting!

When Elsa reached home at around 8:03 in the evening, she quickly but lovingly handed the fuchsia colored umbrella to her mother. Fanchita Isidra grabbed the umbrella and inspected if it was indeed the same one that she won in a raffle! After making sure that it was without a doubt the same one, she knocked Elsa hard on the head with the handle of the umbrella and scolded Elsa for taking too long! She yelled at Elsa, called her useless 29 times, told her that her life was worthless 39 times, told her that it was better if she was dead 49 times, and then she whacked Elsa’s face really hard for 3 more times! She never said thank you! She blamed Elsa for a delay in her schedule! Apparently, Fanchita Isidra wanted to stroll in Luneta Park with Rodelio Jay...and the fuchsia colored umbrella!

Most fairy tales begin with: "Once upon a time". But if you noticed it, my story started with the word: "Most"! Now, you must understand this firstly because the truth of the matter is this is not a fairytale - infact this is a sad story! Secondly, I have to remind you that the reason why I wrote this sad story is to narrate the grieviosly melancholic events in the life of a poor young girl whose name is in the main tittle. Having used the words grieviously and melancholic would only mean that: I have no intention of making my readers feel spellbound or enchanted, which normally is the case with a great number of fairy tales! Third and - actually if only to tell the truth - the most important reason why I had to start my yarn the way I did is because the poor young girl's story is like no other and so it requires a beginning like no other as well!

And so before I go further into details, let me once again remind you that this is a sad story! A narration of a poor young girl's life that has nothing in it but pure misery! If you are expecting to read about a Prince Charming with a transcendental kiss, a Fairy god Mother with a magical wand or a Winged White Unicorn who would rescue a Wizard in distress, then this is not the story that you should be reading! I am sure that there are other stories out there that you might want to take hold of, but not this.

Again, not this!

But, If you take extreme indemnification in reading stories about how doleful a poor young girl's life is because it makes you feel that your life is not as sorry as you think it is, then by all means - read along!

If the above reason however is not your sole basis for being here still reading this part of the story and your real aim really is to be entertained, then again, my apologies! This story is not at all enthralling! In fact, at some point it may even be bromidic.

Bromidic or - to use an alternate word - drudging because it is my bitter duty to put into words all the circumstaniality leading to the lugubrious life of that young girl. This of course - in the process - would oblige me to give exact details of all the how's, what's, who's, where's, when's and why's of the poor young girl's very sad story! A process which, for most Grown-Ups, is absolutely boring!

At this point allow me to say that: "Unequivocal trivialities are sometimes a source of vexation to the Grown-Ups!" This personal opinion, if only to be really honest about it, is yet another thing that I don't fully understand about them! Grown-Ups - when in distress and sometimes even out of it - usually demand explanation but never really listen to all chapters and verses specially if it's a child giving them reasons!

Having said all that I have said above, If you are a Grown-Up who abhors having to listen to exact details of all the how's, what's, who's, where's, when's and why's of the poor young girl's very sad story, or if you are someone who feels that you are not geared up to peruse such kind of a story like this one, then leave. I would understand and be assured that I would definitely not take it against you. But if you decide to stay, then it is for you that I shall introduce the luckless little girl - whose name is in the title of the story - of this allegoric chronicle.

The name of the main character of this sad story is: Elsa. Elsa Ragoza!

Elsa Ragoza is a resident of Baseco Compound, Barangay 649, Zone 68 Port area Tondo Manila, an Urban Poor Settlement Community near the Port Area in the Philippines.

Elsa - to begin with - is an ordinary girl. She is a girl like all others! She enjoys playing with dolls and dreams of being a princess. She loves wearing pink dresses and adores the smell of flowers. She likes the refreshing feeling of the rain on her skin and blushes every time the sunshine kisses her cheeks. She loves eating ice cream just like any ordinary young girl and gets thrilled with the thought of staring at the twinkling stars in a dark cloudless night.

But unlike other girls her age, Elsa must wake up very early each morning then go back home very late at night! This is because of her employment at Estrella's gotohan and special mami store in Binondo Manila whose owner requires her to work twice as hard than an ordinary grown-up person.

Elsa must report to work at the gotohan and special mami store before and after school. This means that she must wake up before the neighbor's rooster could even crow and go home at around the same time as the She and He Whores would roam the dark streets of Ermita. This situation leaves Elsa with just around 2 hours and 54 minutes of sleep everyday.

To those who knows what real beauty is, Elsa could be considered beautiful! Her eyes are almond shaped, her cheeks are the color or the cherry blossom, her lips are as red as a polished apple, her nose is impressively high bridged. Her brows are arched perfectly and her hair... aahhmm, her hair is... Oh! how could I say this? Her head is... Okay, She is bald headed! Elsa is bald and the reason for this I shall explain anon in the story.

I wish to inform you further that, Elsa has 1 mother, 2 fathers, and 3 sisters. Elsa loves them. But, they don't love her. That situation of course makes Elsa again, quite different from other girls her age. While most young girl are taken well cared of by their parents, Elsa is treated otherwise. One time Elsa even thought that the reason why her parents and 3 sisters doesn't love her is because she is bald. She was almost convinced of this way of reasoning until she saw a cancer stricken young girl around her age on TV being well taken cared of and loved by everyone. So, after seeing the cancer stricken girl on TV and after realizing that even if one is bald she still deserves to be loved, Elsa was left with no other idea why her parents and 3 sisters doesn't love her. And so she just convinced herself that in this world, there are those who are born who are meant to be loved and there are those like her who was born to be ignored and neglected! Even by her own family.

Springing forward from what I mentioned above, Elsa, needless to say is an optomist...to a fault! She always thinks that no matter how bad a situation may become, there is always something good behind it. Once her mother, for no reason at all, slapped her face very hard for 11 times in front of her classmates until her lips bled, she thought that the reason for this is because it is only her mother's way of showing how much she cares for her. One time still, while she was passing by a neighbor's house and when all of a sudden the neighbors dog got loose and chased her and bit her all over until she was bleeding then no one helped her, she didn't complain. She didn't feel bad, she just thought to herself that one day she'll own a dog and take care of it well so that it wont bite others and that the reason why people didn't help her is because she must learn how to take care of herself.

Another proof of Elsa's extreme optomism showed up the day when her mother forced her to work at the gotohan and special mami store of Aling Estrella. Being made to work from sun up to sun down means she must give up her playing time and be faced with an adult obligation. But despite that, she still managed to make out something good of the situation. She said that her mother made her work only because she needs to learn how to be independent.

Working at the gotohan in Binondo by the way was not the only employment that Elsa is engaged in. She also has part time jobs! Elsa must also sell Pandesal every Labor Day, Taho every Town Fiesta, Sampaguita garlands every Piyesta nang Nazareno, Kamoteng kahoy every Easter Sunday, Cotton candy every Christmas and Thunder Lolo every New year!

With Elsa's very busy time table, she has no more time to make friends. Making her again, different from other girls her age.

Making matters more lamentable, Elsa has dog bites all over her body. This is because every time she sells pandesal, she must walk along Asu Asuhan Street. The street is so named because of the furious dogs roaming that area. The truth is, if only Elsa has a choice, she wont pass that street anymore. But she has no choice because most of her suki or patrons are living in that street.

In addition to what already seem like a life so full of misery, Elsa always has goto residue all over her clothes. This is because she always gets wet with the hot goto from the gotohan and special mami store where she works.

And to top it all... Elsa only has one pair of yellow worn out slippers with Betty Boop design that she wears only every time she goes to school.