chancing upon a cock

since i already gave gorgeous my favorite local fiction anthology, ma'am chari lucero's "feast and famine," during hunk's birthday, it is just a matter of time when i'll give him its foreign counterpart, any of gabriel garcia marquez' story collection. that means i have all of two months to scour for a copy of "innocent erendira," "collected stories," "strange pilgrims," or the one i have, "no one writes to the coronel." since also my favorite latin american fictionist alongside jorge luis borges and mario vargas llosa is a nobel laureate, i'm pretty sure any anthology will cost around half a grand--quite pricey but worth it, come to think. notwithstanding, i'm bent on gifting one on gorgeous' birthday, so my way of thoughtfulness will come full circle by encompassing the best of this side of town and of the opposite.
luck seems to be on my side because half a week before the booksale in national officially closes, a neglected copy of "no one writes to the coronel" lay unnoticed in the santa lucia branch. i almost didn't get there--after my emergency interview in an ortigas writing firm, i had to forego visiting the robinson's cainta branch, the one in sta lucia east mall, and that one in q plaza, all because i was running out of time to meet my boylet. he only had until 3:45 to take a break, but the traffic in cainta junction made me swear empty promises again not to create an impossible schedule. i passed by those bookstore branches, but when my boylet asked me to visit him at the department store, i figured that i have about a quarter-hour to scour the heaps of books. there i found, like a treasure trove covered by dirt, the silvery-brown background of a rooster (shall i queerly say, cock?) poised to peck a cob of corn. and the worth? 80% off the price i saw in powerbooks. the universe is so good to weird bibliophiles.
now, here's the problem: when i gifted gorgeous with "feast and famine," he complimented me that it's his first time to receive a gift as such, but he also admitted to having a hard time finding free minutes to read any of the five long short stories filled with philippine folk realism. if until now he hasn't read any, i'll be giving him this english-translated anthology as a second backlog. he challenged me into making him pick up the book for reading, despite his non-bookworm self. his smile made me remember hugh jackman's character in "swordfish" when he was being coerced into decoding the u.s. defense password under the pains of a bullet shot through his head. of course there was motivation, but i'm too naughty not to equate that motivation with gorgeous' challenge.