Chapter 28: Eventful
My stay at the Trivinos' was more eventful than I had anticipated.
The little riverside village, with its nipa huts and simple villagers, gave me the degree of freedom and peace that even Marinduque was not able to provide. Free from the responsibilities of my position and my estates, everything I did there was voluntary and for fun.
Even with the 75 years of my former existence, I experienced several firsts in Calumpit.
On Wednesday, I learned the basics of nipa weaving, with Felicia as my mentor. I was proud of my first attempt—a crude, lopsided little basket that leaned like a drunk on a bad day. Needless to say, it didn't make the cut for the goods she planned to sell at the market. Still, she told me it was good for an absolute beginner. And I think she meant it.
The next day, the village kids taught me about spider-fighting. While easily found spiders were docile, certain rarer ones were more hostile and did put up a fight. They would place two spiders on a stick, each one on the opposite end. Then they would push them to the middle, where a vicious fight would ensue between the arachnids. The loser ended up paralyzed and wrapped in spider silk, its corpse becoming food for the survivor. The victorious kid won the bet and got a centavo, while the victorious spider returned to a small, cramped box to fight another day.
Intrigued, I was convinced to buy one hairy red spider for five centavos, as my champion. I think I got scammed because said spider folded like a lawn chair in its first fight. I lost my spider and the chance to gain prestige among the kids.
Vicente, noting that I liked "childish" stuff, taught me how to create a sumpak the following afternoon. The toy gun was simple to make. We went wading into the surrounding untamed rainforests to search for a bamboo plant.
Once we found one, he selected a small and straight-looking stalk, from which he produced two bamboo tubes. From the leftovers of the stalk, he created the ramrods—sticks that snugly fit into the tube. The ammo were mud pellets.
The way it worked was straightforward. It was technically a muzzle-loader. First, you insert a pellet into the front of the tube. Second, you load another pellet in the rear. Finally, you forcefully slam in the ramrod, building pressure that lets out a satisfying snap and shoots the first pellet into the air.