one night only

the ninongs and the ninang (a.k.a cousins) with Jharred Floyd and his brothers

ang tagal namang magmisa ng Pari

Jharred Floyd mugshot

the gang's all here but where's bulldog

alak pa

dressed to the nines

the gang with Lady Coyote and kids

before "tuwalya gang"

after "tuwalya gang"

hey bulldog's here (peace man)

isang kahon pa uli

whatanight

Sundays should be spent with family and friends and Coyote had found a good way to make this day a very special day for him and his lovely better half. Jharred Floyd their handsome sargo ilong six month old baby was baptised on Sabbath day, the day God rested and man was he refreshed (Genesis 2:3 and Exodus 31:16–17). Jharred Floyd, a variation of a Hebrew name (Jarred) which means "to descend, descendant" and Floyd, taken of course from our favorite band Pink Floyd was all smiles on his baptismal and so are the Ninongs and Ninangs and the buraots. After the religious act of purification by water usually associated with admission to membership or fullness of membership to Christianity (words not mine huh), we all proceeded to Coyote's place for the chicha. There are lots of food on the table and drinks on the cooler ready to be consumed by families and friends. I looked around and found out that the faces are all familiar, no gatecrashers. I even joked that we were like the characters in the movie titled "Goodfellas" wherein the group of gangsters (but were not ha) always spend their time together on every event (baptism, death, Christmas, New Year, All Souls Day etc). After feasting on kare-kare, kaldereta, menudo or is it mechado, bopis and sex, what? sex?, yes sex...shanghai express, Coyote the proud papa served us ice cold beer. To all of us "tomadors", this is the start of the celebration. First the roll call, Tarug, Jun D. Chikong, Moonshiner, SNY? all present, but where is Serio? he's still cooking some pulutan and how about Bulldog? who cares, we all chorused. Our first topic for the day is not the usual feel good thing. It's about our worries and "little" illnesses and the medication we're taking. Funny how time flies, way back then, when we had a group session, our topic is strictly limited to the beautiful girls, music and of course the medication or should I say drugs we're taking. But now its all about family and the future that awaits all of us, at least we had matured a little. After consuming three bottles of ice cold beer, we remembered where the hell Serio is. Still cooking pulutan? and what is he cooking that takes him almost half a day, an elephant?. So Coyote decided to send one of his handsome pamangkin (nephew) to check on missing Serio. When the nephew (actually he's the son of Serio) returned, he had with him a kaldero full of pulutan (kilawin and papaitan) courtesy of Serio. Now we can forget about him, joked one of our "glassmate", but the next thing we knew, Pareng Serio suddenly appeared with another kaldero of pulutan (adobong kambing or is it a dog). As the baptismal celebration downed deeper into the night and the beer flows freely, someone suggested that we might as well reminisce or is it reenact our "tuwalya gang" days, JUST FOR ONE NIGHT. Some cheered and some almost puked at the thought of it. Forget it, i said it to myself, but i was not able to utter it, lest I be mobbed by my "glassmate". We were about to vote if we will to continue the "tuwalya gang" adventure, when out of the blue, Bulldog came. Beer is in hand to the "late" Bulldog. And when we say beer is in hand or the bar is open, we mean four bottles in a row for the latecomer. Bulldog was about to start his antics (read: kulit) but by nature's intervention, a cat suddenly stole the show from him. The cat went berserk and bit and clawed bulldogs foot. The reason? the cats tail got caught under bulldogs chair. It resulted in bulldogs foot having three long scratches and bitemarks. Another icebreaker again for all of us. Everyone had his own opinion about the cats rabies. I told him that the cats rabies attacks the brain and central nervous system and is almost always fatal. (from Vincent Price monologue in one of Alice Coopers album) "The cats bite is fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake. You see her venom is highly neurotoxic, which is to say that it attacks the central nervous system causing intense pain, profuse sweating, difficulty in breathing, loss of consciousness, violent convulsions and, finally.. death". When the hysteria died down on bulldogs cat misadventure, we ordered one more case of ice cold beer and wait if bulldog will see the day again or leave this world tipsy due to the cats rabies. It's almost midnight and we are all talking at the same time, a hint to everyone that the end of another happy gathering is nearing. I told everyone to fix the place before leaving, so that we will not be a burden to the host and after fixing the place, I bade everyone a goodnight. But how about the "tuwalya gang"? Oh forget it.