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It was time to go.

A thunderous roar echoed across the crimson horizon, chasing a couple of birds away, as if it resonated from a belly of a dying whale. It was almost night and some of the street lamps that towered behind the cluttered trailer vans were already lit, and the rusty ticket booths were slowly being crowded by passengers. While a series of black smokes started to crawl lazily, on top of the ship like a blotted ink against a pretty canvass, he looked up the tranquil sky, and saw the early moon peeked through a little between the clouds. The sky seemed to shift from one painter’s hand to another, the puffs of clouds illuminated by the weak light of the sun. Once in a while, he would search for a familiar face in the crowd. And everytime his eyes turned and looked and be fooled once more, he felt the more annoyed. He knew very well she can't possibly be anywhere near this place.

"Excuse me, but i think you're next." came a fair voice from behind him as he continued on squinting on the placard that read 'FARE rates as of July 12, 2001.' "huh?," he murmured to himself trying to restrain his disappointment. He had no idea of the immediate change in fare rates so he brought just the exact amount of money for the trip, for it was safer that way and atm machines were available in the island. Because of this, after some quick deliberations in his head, he decided that what will be left of his money can only afford him two meals instead of the supposed three, one pack of cigaretes instead of the usual two, and no snacks, coffee, not even videoke for him until the end of the trip. "Oh fuck," he cursed a little more than a whisper, oblivious of the people who were starting to get restless in line.

"Excuse me, but are you buying a ticket or do i have to buy it for you?" the voice came louder now, almost irritated but sarcastically fine.

"Oh, sorry i was just...," he stuttered "Just get it over with, will you?" said the woman behind him with a half smile obviously trying not to sound irritated.

He noticed she was carrying a backpack almost as large as his, but with three other medium sized baggages on her side. She was fairly slim, her eyes were just above his shoulder level so he assumed she was with someone for she couldn't possbily be able to handle all those baggages.

"What's the problem?" she said with darting eyes and at the same time pointing at the placard in front of him, it read: Departure time- 7 pm, and on top of the booth the clock read, 6:23. He stared blankly at her like he didn't know what to do next,

"Oh ok," he said, coming to his senses, he hurriedly scuffled through the top most compartment of his backpack, his huge and worn out backpack that made him look like an amateur climber, searched for his wallet that contained his money and his school ID (he couldn't possibly afford not to get a student discount now that he had to skip a meal and cut the nicotine) and handed the money and ID to the man in blue polo shirt inside the booth with a pencil stuck out his ear, and after a short while received his money change and finally his ticket. He took his backpack and started to walk off and thought he heard sighs and murmured words that sounded foreign like of a different dialect but he couldn't grasp which one.

He looked up and noticed that they were already starting to crane the metal stair of the vessel down with the help of some people below who pulled the tip of the stairs as to position it in its right angle. He also saw the red flag that was still on the starboard side of the vessel which fluttered relentlessly with the strong wind. She looked pretty much the same, he thought, a little bit groggy and old as usual, the white paint all over seemed to be peeling off rapidly that some rust were being exposed, but her name seemed to be well kept with its six letters protruding all blue and bright, like an old maiden who has been stripped of youthful skin but has possesed richness in soul through time that the name alone confessed everything about her. Just the way he remembered.

"you should be happy now." he thought, as he trod the filthy pavement towards the long queue of passengers. Once in a while, the back of his palm brushed his irritated eyes due to the fumes from the passing fork lifts and trucks, that if he opened his eyes for so long it started to sore and so he tried to close his eyes as frequently as he could, but it was evident that the blinking didn't help, for his eyes began to secrete tears instinctively, to minimize pain or way of protection. And as quick as lightning, it crossed his mind that maybe it wasn't the fumes that wet his eyes. But just as soon as the thought came, it was gone and he walked on.

"Same time of the year, same ship." he thought as he dropped his backpack to the ground and tucked his ticket inside his left shirt pocket. It was this time of the year too, last year, only it was morning, when he and izen had both gone off to the island of Sta. Cruz. This time of the year when the joyful days of summer were just about to begin, when many people visited Sta. Cruz for its magnificent beaches with fine sands that when seen from afar shone like pink chorals under the sun. The beautiful landscapes and caves too, lured the people from neighboring provinces to come, and perhaps even people from the cities up north and some tourists as well. "Casa Maria," he thought, it's the name of her family's resthouse where they usually stay when they visit Sta. Cruz, and last summer they had gone there, just the two of them. He immediately grabbed his backpack from his left and dragged it to the right and back to his left side again, as if to help his mind shove off the unwanted thoughts.

Many times he had cursed this meandering of his as useless and pathetic, especially of memories passed and memories that always leaves a prick that seemed to hurt his brain, but not as much as his heart. "tangna tlga" he finally said to no one in particular while he stood reluctantly in line for his turn to board Ferniz.

Suddenly, somebody poked his shoulders from behind. It was the woman with the baggages.

"Hi, uhmmm... i was wondering...," she hesitated and he can tell by her looks that she was about to say something important and he immediately knew what it was so he was the first to speak.

"what's you're cot number?" he said, his eyes on the boxes beside her.

"Blue- 49." she said smilingly.

"My cot is not that far from yours. maybe i could carry those two boxes for you all the way to your cot. i'm sure you can manage the other one." he said without looking.

"All the way up?" she asked

"Yes." he replied.

"Thank you, thank you so much. you see the porters are such a pain in the ass, don't you agree? they extort money from you as if you would die without them." she said determinedly.

He just shrugged for he didn't know what to say, picked up the two boxes walked a few steps as the line moved closer to the foot of the metal stairs.

The vessel roared its last as the rear most part of its hull moved a few inches away, slowly from the rubber tires that fended the concretes of the wharf. Some of the fortunate porters and vendors were scrambling, rat racing down the steps of the stairs, but still some of the more diligent vendors were still in the middle of their business transactions, seemingly unaware that in a minute or two, the whole of the vessel will be entirely freed off the land.