Dream Kingdom

The Golden Boys

by Chris Rose

Every August. Every August for twelve years. Every August for twelve years we went to the same small town on holiday. Every August for twelve years we went to the same beach. Every August for twelve years my parents rented the same small house in the same small town near the same beach, so every morning of every August for twelve years I woke up and walked down to the same beach and sat under the same umbrella or on the same towel in front of the same sea.

There was a small café on the beach where we sat every day, and every day Mr Morelli in the café said “Good morning!” to my parents, and then always patted me on the head like a dog. Every day we walked down to our red and white umbrella, every day my father sat on his deckchair and read the newspaper then went to sleep, every day my mother went for a swim in the sea and then went to sleep. Every lunchtime we ate the same cheese sandwiches which my mother made, and then every afternoon we went up to the café and ate an ice cream while my parents talked to Mr Morelli about the weather. Every summer for twelve years I sat there and read books and sometimes played volleyball with some of the other boys and girls who were there, but I never made any friends.

It was so boring.

Every August for twelve years the same family sat next to us. They were called the Hamiltons. We had a red and white umbrella, they had a green one. Every morning my parents said “Good morning!” to Mr and Mrs Hamilton, and Mr and Mrs Hamilton said “Good morning!” to my parents. Sometimes they talked about the weather.

Mr and Mrs Hamilton had two sons. Richard was the same age as me, and his brother Philip was two years older than me. Richard and Philip were both taller than me. Richard and Philip were very friendly, and both very handsome. They were much friendlier and more handsome than me. They made friends with everyone, and organised the games of volleyball on the beach or swimming races in the sea with the other children. They always won the games of volleyball and the swimming races. My parents liked Richard and Philip a lot. “Why can’t you be more like Richard and Philip?” they said to me. “Look at them! They make friends with everyone! They are polite, good boys! You just sit here reading books and doing nothing!”

I, of course, hated them.

Richard and Philip, Richard and Philip, Richard and Philip – it was all I ever heard from my parents every August for twelve years. Richard and Philip were perfect. Everything about them was better than anything about me. Even their green beach umbrella was better than our red and white one.

I was sixteen years old the last summer we went there. Perfect Richard and perfect Philip came to the beach one day and said that they were going to have a barbecue at lunchtime. They were going to cook for everyone! “Forget your cheese sandwiches”, they laughed, “Come and have some hamburgers or barbecue chicken with us! We’re going to cook!” My parents, of course, thought this was wonderful. “Look at how good Richard and Philip are! They’re going to do a barbecue and they’ve invited everybody! You couldn’t organise a barbecue!”

Every summer for twelve years, on the other side of my family, sat Mrs Moffat. Mrs Moffat was a very large woman who came to the same beach every summer for twelve years on her own. Nobody knew if she had a husband or a family, but my parents said that she was very rich. Mrs Moffat always came to the beach wearing a large hat, a pair of sunglasses and a gold necklace. She always carried a big bag with her. She never went swimming, but sat under her umbrella reading magazines until lunchtime when she went home. Richard and Philip, of course, also invited Mrs Moffat to their barbecue.

Richard and Philip’s barbecue was, of course, a great success. About twenty people came and Richard and Philip cooked lots of hamburgers and chicken and made a big salad and brought big pieces of watermelon and everyone laughed and joked and told Mr and Mrs Hamilton how wonderful their sons were. I ate one hamburger and didn’t talk to anybody. After a while, I left, and made sure that nobody saw me leave.

Mrs Moffat ate three plates of chicken and two hamburgers. After that she said she was very tired and was going to go and have a sleep. She walked over to her umbrella and sat down on her deckchair and went to sleep. When she woke up later, everybody on the beach was surprised to hear her screaming and shouting.

“My bag!!!! My bag!!!” she shouted. “It’s gone!!! It’s GONE!!!” Everybody on the beach ran over to Mrs Moffat to see what the problem was. “Someone has taken my bag!!!” she screamed, “Someone has stolen my bag!!!”

“Impossible!” said everybody else. “This is a very safe, friendly beach! There are no thieves here!” But it was true. Mrs Moffat’s big bag wasn’t there anymore.

Nobody had seen any strangers on the beach during the barbecue, so they thought that Mrs Moffat had perhaps taken her bag somewhere and forgotten it. Mr Morelli from the café organised a search of the beach. Everybody looked everywhere for Mrs Moffat’s big bag. Eventually, they found it. My father saw it hidden in the sand under a deckchair. A green deckchair. Richard and Philip’s deckchair. My father took it and gave it back to Mrs Moffat. Everybody looked at Richard and Philip. Richard and Philip, the golden boys, stood there looking surprised. Of course, they didn’t know what to say.

Mrs Moffat looked in her bag. She started screaming again. Her purse with her money in it wasn’t in the big bag. “My purse!” she shouted, “My purse has gone! Those boys have stolen it! They organised a barbecue so they could steal my purse!”

Everybody tried to explain to Mrs Moffat that this couldn’t possibly be true, but Mrs Moffat called the police. The police arrived and asked golden Richard and golden Philip lots of questions. Richard and Philip couldn’t answer the questions. Eventually, they all got into a police car and drove away to the police station.

I sat there, pretending to read my book and trying to hide a big, fat purse under the sand on the beach. That was the last summer we went to the beach. My parents never talked about Richard and Philip again.

Long ago, there was a siblings called pangasinan and ilocos. They had different mothers but had the same father. Pangasinan�smother was named Pampanga while Ilocos was named Cagayan.

The father of the siblings, Fernando, was often put to shame when his sons quarreled in public. And it was often Uniangan, their brother between them. When Uniangan could not satisfy their demands simultaneous his two brothers would fight over it.

One day, a Spanish Priest passed by their house and observed the brothers Pangasinanand Ilocosquarreling and shouting of their voices. The priest heard all the quarrel was centered on who had clout to order Uniangan around.

The priest remarked that they cut Uniangan into two so that each of them could have half of him!� The two brothers taken the advice and look each other�and then at Uniangan. They finally realized their foolishness and started to pity Uniangan.

The priest saw the wonderful reconciliation among the brothers and patted Uniangan on the back. Uniangan was the cause of The Union�or in Spanish, �La Union.� From the day on Uniangan was renamed La Union.

When, three brother got old and eventually died they were buried side by side with La Union in the middle of Pangasinan and Ilocos. So, as this legend of La Union goes, the mounds grew bigger with the passage of time until they became provinces.

Once upon a time, a fisherman angered to a sea god and he was turned into a stone.

His wife, who went looking for him was also turned into stone.

and they became the town�s guardians called Apo Lakay-lakay and Apo Baket-baket.

When Apo Lakay-lakay gets angry the waves supposedly grow violent.

if the fisherman want to go around him, they must make an offering�either food floated on wood or coins tossed at the sea near these rocks.

The couple have their abandoned child called Apo Ubing-ubing and he stands patiently waiting for his parent�s return and he become a stone too, and it�s located at the eastern end of Claveria Beach.

A long, long time ago, there was a rich and respected old man live in the village.

He owned a vast of rice field and all square inch of the land. . .

One day, the people noticed that the old man was missing for three days, the people really became apprehensive and the fate of the old man became the talk of the town.

His disappearance remained unexplainable, but the greater mystery is the appearance of the old man's head and the missing of the body that was never recovered from then on. . .

The residents of the village referred to the place as Olongapo-- "Ulo ng Apo," in Tagalog, which means "Old man's head" . .

Once upon a time, there was a Diwata called Maria Makiling. She has light olive skin, long shining black hair and twinkling eyes. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

One Day, the child of a farmer got sick and he went to Maria and he was given a ginger. The Farmer sadly went home and he was greatly surprised when the ginger turn to gold! because of her kindness the people love her.

Maria is so beautiful and wooded by many suitors. Three of them was Captain Lara, a Spanish soldier. Joselito a mestizo and juan a farmer.

As time passed, her suitors became more and more impatient and demanded that Mariatell them who she loves. So the diwata was forced to promise: "By the night of the full moon, I will tell you my answer."

When the night of the full moon arrived, all her suitors up the mountain to know her decision. All was startled when Maria told them that it was Juan whom she loved. Joselito and Lara much angry to juan.

They accused Juan to huge fire to quartel, juan imprisoned and tortured. Next day, soldiers bring Juan to plaza, Juan shout the name of Mariabefore he was shoot and killed.

It was heard by the diwata and quickly down her mountain But Juan was already dead. Tears falling down her face and embraced tightly his lifeless body. Maria cursed the two and those men who cannot accept failure in love.

Days later, Joselito die by no cure illness and Captain Lara was killed at the revolution. From then, Maria never let herself be seen by the people. Every time somebody got lost on the mountain, they remember the curse of the diwata. They remember the great love of Maria Makiling.

Once upon a time, there was a princess named Daragang Magayon lived in Bicol. She�s so beautiful and came from the family that reigns over the entire Bicol.

Because of her beauty and influence, warriors, prince and datus from different parts of the country desired to have her as their wife.

But Magayon fell in love with a prince named Handiong, a prince who came from a tribe that was, unfortunately, the rival of Magayon�s tribe.

The two suffered so much from their family�s attempts to separate them and their families fought a bloody tribal war. This caused the young couple so much pain and decided together to commit suicide.

There tribe buried them.

Months passed the Magayon�s tribe saw a volcano growing in the place where Magayon was buried.

They named it for Daragang Magayon. �Bulkang Magayon� describing its perfect shape like their beautiful Daraga.

Later on, it called Mount Mayon.

Isang lugar sa Tabuk Suba sa Jaro Iloilo, nkatira si tonyo at ang dalawa niyang anak sa isang kubo. Siya lang nagtataguyod dito dahil naaksidente ang kanyang asawa.

May lahing aswang si tonyo at tuwing kabilugan ng buwan nagpapalit siya ng ibat-ibang anyo, ipinaliwanag niya sa kanyang mga anak at naintindihan naman ito at pinayuhan na huwag gagamitin sa masama ang kapangyarihan.

Isang gabi nagbilin si tonyo sa kanyang anak na luluwas ng bayan at dun na magpalipas ng gabi at pinagbilin na wag lalabas ng bahay. Sa kasagsagan ng gabi napansin ng mga bata na pula ang buwan.

Naglaro sila at nagpapa-palit ng anyo bilang ibon nang biglang dinagit ang dalawa ng isang agila pinatay at kinain. Busog ang agila at nagbago ng anyo ito pala ay si tonyo. Hinanap niya ang mga bata at natuklasang ang kinain niyang dalwang ibon ay kanyang mahal na anak.

Many years ago, there lived a tuba seller in dumaguete named banog. He was respected, and the people tried in every way to help him and his daughter Catalina.

Catalina was a beautiful girl, good and industrious but he has a many strange ways that she saw something that no one else could see and people thought that she has a mysterious powers.

One day, ships of Moros landed and killed many people. One of them who was died was banog.

Meanwhile, Catalinalooked up in the sky and she sprang into the water and walked lightly over the waves and walked along the road to Dalugdug, the thunder mountain behind Dumaguete.

OnDalugdug there lived a terrible Sigbin. The people begging catalina not to go the mountain but catalina didn�t listen to them.

Later on, she raise her hand and the sigbin rushing down to the mountain and killed the morosand meanwhile they disappear among the mountains.

People search Catalina but they couldn�t find her. Years later, More Morosarrived and catalina appears and spoke a thousand of bees and killed the moros. The moros never came back and dumaguete has been safe by Catalina the savior of Dumaguete.

Long time ago, a young couple Dang and mulay lived in the swampy shores of Kabatok, their livelihood was catching crabs and shellfish and crossing the Bay to a village in Samar island.

One Day, Dang ventured into the bay and said to himself he gathered a pearl. He took a dive depth into the pacific ocean. He noticed that the ocean floor was moving and he wassurprised to find the giant crab as big as hill.

Dang hurriedly back to kabatok and tell his wife Mulayand they planned to catch the giant crabs. They built a crab basket that big as a hill.

That night, they capture the huge crab and they towed the big basket with all their might. They were so triumphant and forgot one thing, a cover for the basket. Suddenly, Dang and Mulay fall to sleep. The big sea crab climbed out.

The Couple awake and Dang attempt to kill it but its shell was too hard. The crab pinned the couple and dashed them against the rocks. In her terror, Mulay shout the word: �TAKLUBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!� . . . . . . .

The next day, the people in the nearby town found out a dead bodies of the couple , Years passed, the site where the bodies buried they grew mound, a hill, then a mountain. The people called the mountain �Danglay� means Dang and mulay .

The swampy sitio where the couple lived was called �Takluban� as the last scream of Mulay and become tacloban.

Long time ago, there was a mall owned by a chinoy-businessman which was built a snake pit or home of snake.

In the mall there was a trapdoor enough for one person to fit and people in there will be disappear and they become a snake chow.

It was said that the giant snake have brought some luck to the family who ran the business.

Once upon a time, there are two sisters named Maria and Cristina.

One day, they meet sultan and they both loved him and also sultan loved the two sisters as well.

Since, Sultan can�t chose and because the two sisters loved each other, to the point of selflessly, "Maria was jumped to the falls".

When Cristinaknow about this, she followed and jumped to the falls as well.

When the sultan found about this unhappy incident, he buried "Maria and Cristina"under the falls..

As a tribute, he named the falls as Maria Cristina falls....

There was a young woman named Maria who went to Canada to be a caregiver.

Before she went abroad, she taken care of an elder man who have the cursed called "aswang". When the old man died, he passed his cursed to Maria.

Finding no luck in Canada, Maria went home. One night, when her husband a policeman went home. He was looking for their kids and he finds Maria eat their children.

Enraged, her husband struck her with a bolo ("labo") where she obtained a scar on her face, so they called her a Maria Labo.

She fled to Luzon, Visayasand Mindanao, to feed her hunger for human flesh and viscera. Like a typical aswang, she has the ability to change her appearance. She become a beautiful woman at other times, she appears as an old woman.

An "aswang" called Maria Labo...

Once upon the time, there was an old couple called Grandpa Pasir and Grandma Pasir living in the forest of Mount Lawu.

One day, he was surprised with an existence of an egg under a big forest tree, without consideration, Grandpa Pasir immediately took the mysterious egg home, and gave it to his wife.

Later on, they agreed to braise the egg and share it for two. Grandpa got back to the field to continue his job. But he felt his body is getting warmer and painful. By so much pain, he fell down on the ground. He had been cursed !!! . His body changed into a big giant snake.

In other side, grandma also transformed into a giant snake and they had makes a flutter and soil around and the water spouting and filled around the holes of pasir�s flutter and become a lake.

The lake named Lake pasir, nowadays they known as Lake Sarangani.

One night, there was a girl waiting for a taxi. Upon entering the vehicle, she felt a strange feelings but she ignore it that it was probably caused by the cold of the night.

She tried to open a conversation with the driver who was unusually silent. Upon reaching the destination, she reached a wallet in her bag for a fare but suddenly when she turned , the driver was become Bloody and headless!!!

In her terror, she ran out of the vehicle and when she turned around, the taxi was disappeared. It was said that the ghostly taxi driver was murdered at the cab and still making terror at night..

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