red threads

Friday, 14 April 2006

busybodying, Filipino style.

sometimes irk compels one to stick her nose in other people's business in a way that no one other than the Filipino people will do. tell me if any other culture will give a damn about this:

today, the washerladies - mother and daughter tandem - came. their job is to wash the week's dirty laundry, obviously, plus clean up the house. and do other domestic troubleshooting, like mending clothes.

long after they've left and as we were eating lunch, our neighbor, fondly called tiya or aunt, came a-knocking, asking for some thread to sew one of the pants hanging outside to dry.

we wondered, mom especially, what she needed the threads for. the daughter washerlady already did the needed mending.

a few minutes later, tiya comes back with the said pair of pants. Exhibit A, your honor. "Look at the terrific job your lady washer did."

She points to the big, ugly, rudimentary stitches in bright red thread, conspicuous against the dark brown pants.

"If you have threads of another color," said tiya, almost pleadingly, "i will sew the pants again."

She exits, and outside we could still hear her ranting. it was so amusing how something so none of her business annoyed her so much she just had to offer her services.

the pants in question was my dad's. and he says wryly, "well, what can you do, my wife is inutile."

mom laughs. how was she supposed to know the washer lady used red thread?!? common sense.

mom can't help it too if she's so tailorically challenged. i haven't seen her insert a thread into the eye of a needle in my entire life. though she claims to have studied dress making in her youth.

okay tiya, she said. i'll give you your thread. don't worry, you'll have a lot to stitch.

hey i mean, since she's offering...