Screwed

Somebody tried to break in to our house this afternoon.

The nerve. It happened between 12PM to 330PM-- an assumption because Kenn had left the house past 11, and Kat and I arrived there around 4PM. That somebody left an obvious ugly scar on our main door, possibly in an attempt to unlock the doorknob, and get in. Kat and I became a little paranoid, thinking about our laptops, which are the only valuable and portable things that can be taken away from us in an instant. So, the hunt for the screen lock began.

I - I reported the incident to the management, which, at that time, had been preparing to get home. A guy wrote our unit number and my name on a piece of paper, and told me that they [the management] will send someone to look into the matter. I asked about the maintenance who could fix our lock, and they told me that we [I] need to have all the materials with us first, then come back the next day to fetch the maintenance. Ugh.

II - We started pondering about our temporary workaround. We considered shifting in manning the house, or taking a leave, or asking him or Tabz to stay and sleep there in the morning. The last option would be the sweetest, kindest, relieving thing that the three of us could get today. I asked Kenn about Tabz. She asked Tabz about it. Tabz agreed. There. One workaround solved.

III - I had been pacing back and forth, thinking how we could nail the situation, while Kat had been prodding me to eat the misua that she made. Lalamig na raw. We walked toward the door, looked at the scarred wood, walked back to the room, then waited for a text message from anybody. Some sympathy, I guess. It had been the routine for almost an hour. Then, we heard our neighbor's door being opened. Bright bulb flickered. We went outside. Kat, with her guts, asked for some "tools", which we don't have (and I think, we should've had), and relayed our sob story.

IV - Our warm neighbors, whose names until now we don't exactly know (we just heard one time that they had been calling "GG" to open the door, from 4AM to 7AM), lend us their hammer and screw driver, and offered to call a maintenance guy they personally know. Nag-feeling kami ni kat, planning to do the job by ourselves. But, it remained a plan. Buti na lang.

V - The maintenance guy arrived past 6PM. Thank God. He looked at our materials-- an aluminum lock with six screws for the six holes. I showed him the drill, which Kat had brought from Antipolo. Then, he started fixing it. Thank God, again. Our warm neighbors, one of them, I eventually learned is "GG" (and he's a guy), started taking stuff like electric fan, screws of different sizes and extension wire outside their unit. I was embarrassed but grateful. Kat wasn't there to witness it; she had left for some vanity affair just before manong arrived. I had been hearing "ribit", "rebit", or whatever. They said that we should have had those instead of screws because the former are more durable and are designed for aluminum. My buddy has been right all along. He had been telling us about it several months ago. Been advising us to get a lock for the screen. I had been agreeing but doing nothing about it.

But how could we know that anyway-- ribit, rebit, or whatever? "GG" had been helping manong figure out how to attach the screws temporarily as replacement for ribit or rebit or whatever. It took them almost one and a half hours to finish the job.

VI - I had been holding in my hand a 100 bill, which we were supposed to give to manong. Imagine, I had been deliberating how much moolah to give. [I started at P50. Then, P100. Back to P50. Then, P70. But after one and a half hours, I decided to give him P100 for the hassle.] But GG blocked that plan. Right after they cleaned the mess, he told manong to go inside their house to chow (they happened to be friends). I tried to steal a chance to talk to manong and hand him over the damage. But GG, with all his will and persistence, screened him away. And told me that his service is free, no worries. Ugh. I was more embarrassed and ever grateful. I even tried to bribe them with two glasses of iced-cold cranberry-raspberry juice, which, I know, was a risk move. I was not sure if they would even like the taste, but that was the only flavored, thirst quencher we have had. I was rejected twice. Hmmmp. But thanks. As in super thanks.

VII - I left Kenn to spend a night with Nay and write this stuff. Kenn and Tabz will guard our little mansion tonight until tomorrow. Kenn will make a follow-up on the ribit, rebit, or whatever with the management first thing in the morning. Kat and I will look for a hardcore double-lock for our main door tomorrow after our routine walk with Jay around Global City. And we will live happily ever after.

To that somebody who tried to break in-- screw you mahn.