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MATAPOS ang magdamagang putukan, maiiwan sa kama ang hubo’t hubad na katawan ng kalaro sa apoy—tila tupok na tumpok ng tuyot na laman at kalansay…

Gano’n sa sinubaybayang nobela sa komiks nitong dekada 1960, “Ambrose Dugal” ang pamagat… obrang Al Cabral yata… isinumpa ng ginahasa niya na lakambining babaylan… Adonis na naging taong linta o limatik na sisipsip, sasaid sa mismong élan vital or vital force ng bawat dilag na makasiping.

An’daming sinalanta sa kama…tayan.

Gano’n din pero walang pinipili ang mga salot na pulititiko—bata, matanda, kahit anuman ang kasarian… hinuhuthot ang kabuhayan. Mas matindi siguro ang hilakbot sa isipan ng mambabasa kung pinalabas na lingkod-bayan, pinuno ng government-owned and controlled corporation, customs or tax examiner si Ambrose Dugal… the horrors, the horrors hounding our lives…

Teka… ganoon din ang ginawa ng mga alalay ni Haring David (isa sa mga ninuno ng Manunubos) nang uugod-ugod na hukluban na ito… itinabi sa pagtulog niya ang birheng dilag na si Abishag… upang madugtungan ang buhay at lakas ng lupaypay na ari, oops, hari.

From ‘Ritual and Magic’ published in 1997: “The same technique was used in classical Greece and Rome, seemingly with considerable success. Latin historians record... the remarkable case of a certain L. Claudius Hermippus (who at) the age of 70, began to feel a waning of his physical and mental powers.

“He immediately began to sleep with young virgins… his tombstone recorded that he lived to the age of 115, owing to ‘the emanations of young maidens, causing great wonder to all physicians’.”

Matinding pampabata marahil ang kakaibang singaw o alimuom mula bubot na baba, eh… kaya hanggang ika-18 siglo, ginagawa rin ng mga may pambayad ang ganoong paraan para lumawig, sumigla ang buhay…

Kinukutuban na tuloy sa mga alaga naming pusa…

Nagsilang nga ang kilabot na Toyang ng tatlong kuting nitong bisperas ng Todos los Santos—pusikit na karimlan sina Sheng Li (Tagumpay) at Jianyu (Espada at Lawa), busilak na bulak si Tung Wang (Emperador)… nagsalin sila ng lintik na sigla at likot sa kabahayan.

Sa hindi maipaliwanag na dahilan, nakagawian na ng mga lekat na tumabi sa ‘kin sa pagtulog… maaalimpungatan na 2-3 ang nakabalumbong bola ng puti o itim na balahibo sa aking sikmura, sa mismong dan tien or haraki, that’s storage area for the élan vital… ah, I’d sure agree with Da Vinci anytime that a cat is a masterpiece… then again, there’s law in claw or lex talionis… cat in catch… and there’s feline in lifeline.

And I’ve run into old texts describing how Egyptian wonder-workers used felines in lieu of crystals to store energies or effect healing.

Siyameow—siyam na siopaw daw ang buhay ng mga lekat…

And I’m likely infected with a fancy for fish, say, tilapia guanio… garoupa mae quinto… salmons pubis…

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