My brother,
B O Y S O
(remembering him on his 42nd birth anniversary, October 23, 2002)
Before his 1st birthday
· He was born dark, robust and fat. Doc (dad, Quiting) named him after this
world great heavyweight boxer, Solomon Boyso.
· When I was four years old, the family lived near the Sta. Ana racetrack.
It was an old abandoned house owned by the Zuluetas'. One night, I heard
great commotion in my parents room and a piercing shout from Doc. When the
househelp and I went to that room, Doc was shaking and pointing to the sleeping
infant, Boyso. He told us, that when he wakened at around past midnight and
looked at Boyso's face, it was Lolo Iyas, he saw. Probably, that was the
reason this 3rd child of his, was legally named Zacarias III. That is, in
honor of the old man himself, Zacarias I.
At 3 years old
· With all of Doc's kids, I remember that he lavished more attention to Boyso
than with any of us. He was barely a toddler then, and there he was infront
of Doc, answering all the arithmetic questions like - - - -100 + 200; 300-150;
20 -5 etc. Doc also brushed on his spelling, and at that age, I remember
him already knowing how to spell - - - cat, dog, kite, bird, ball and many
others. Doc was mighty proud of him, bragging that he was the brightest among
his kids.
· At 3 years old, he entered Grade 1. He knew all the answers, but was only
given a passing mark of 75%. The reason was that, the teacher felt that
he was not emotionally ready. Though he passed the exams and quizzes in
flying colors, he spent his time in school playing with all the colored chalks
and pencils that he can find. By close of school year, the Grade 1 classroom
was filled with his wobbly drawings - all in different hues, colors and shapes.
Doc got the cue. He waited another 2 years, before the kid was made to enter
Grade 1 again.
At five years old
· There was one summer vacation, when we were all in Elias. We spent the afternoons
watching cartoons at Lola Asion's room. Popeye, Superman and Batman were
our favorites. I didn't know how great the effect of these cartoons to kids,
until I saw Boyso jumped from the top of the stairs of Elias down to the
cemented pavement below, shouting "Batman!" He got his legs on cast because
of this incident, and he was not able to go back with us on a boatride back
to MSU (Mindanao State University, Marawi City, where Doc and mom, Rose were
college professors) by summers' end. He took a plane back to Marawi 2 weeks
later, and to our consternation, enjoyed the trip back home more than we
did by boatride on Compania Maritima.
· The rains in Marawi was always a time of rejoicing for the 3 younger siblings
- Boyso, Maya and Rani. There was this big mudhole in front of the house,
about 2 by 1 1/2 feet and a depth of about 1 foot. Everytime it rains, you
can see the 3 kids, with Boyso as leader, singing out loud and screaming
to their heart's content ----Wimmmming poool! Wiiimmmingg pool! They do
this while splashing each other with mudwater and swimming in great abandon
in that cursed hole. This usually caused Doc's nose to reddened with embarassment,
specially when there were visitors around the house. Probably, this memory
got etched in Doc's head for a long time, that he built a real swimming
pool in Las Pinas, even before our small house got renovated.
At eight to nine years old
· Unlike Boy (Quiterio Jr.), an older brother who is more reserve, Boyso was
a spitfire with many friends. They play rough and tumble, hitting and hurting
each other in the process a great number of times. There was one time when
the game got so intensed that he got pushed in an open construction manhole,
with pointing iron bars. His right leg got stripped-raw and he was in pain
and in cast (again!) for over a month. After this incident, his interest
shifted to tinkering with mechanical things in lieu of rough games with the
boys.
· There was one afternoon when I arrived at the house in MSU that I noticed
that it was all peace and quite. I found the 2 girls (Maya and Rani) sleeping
in one of the rooms. I looked for the boys (Boy and Boyso) but can't seem
to find them anywhere. Suddenly, I heard soft snoring from down below the
house. And there they were, the 2 boys in deep slumber with their pet dogs,
all numbering 10.
· Boyso and Maya, when still very young, were thin, small and dark. Maya,
a second grader then, had an assignment to bring a picture of a "negrito"
to school. Rani, a precocious child of five, asked Boyso what a "negrito"
is. He told her " they are small, dark people" . Rani, looked intensely
at the both of them and told Maya, without batting an eyelash, "Oh, just
bring a picture of Boyso and yourself to school and there's your negrito!"
At twelve years old
· Doc had this habit of buying small mechanical clocks for us when we were
still kids. Our rooms had individual side tables where this pesky contraption
should be placed. Doc checks our rooms often enough to see that this thing
gets to do what it should do - which is to tell time. However, he noticed
one time, that he seemed to be buying clocks often enough. And that the
clocks conked out easily or gets lost after a month or so. After Boyso's
death, we found where all the lost clocks were. They were all in a box inside
his room. He loves tinkering with things and we didn't knew that it included
clocks. He pulled it apart, interchanged some parts and put it back together
again. Some, he destroyed. But there were a couple which we found were in
good working condition.
· The househelp sometimes wonder why he never eats. And he seemed to be forever
tinkering with things. Never stopping, never ending. However, one astute
maid found out later that he had an electric griller, stove and bread toaster
inside his room. He stuffs his room with hotdogs, bacon, eggs and white loaf
bread and cooks/heats them himself if he gets hungry.
At fourteen years old
· This guy always seemed to do things at the very last minute and inevitably,
a fiasco resulted . There were a couple of times, when upon reaching MLQU
(highschool), he realized that his left shoe is different from his right.
And that his other sock is green and the other brown. And when he ran away
from home after a fight with me, he found out that we was wearing different
colored slippers - one blue and the other green. This amused our grandfather
at Pangasinan no end, that he brought the kid back home the following day
with brand new matching slippers in tow.
At fifteen years old
· Doc asked him earnestly one night what he will take up in college. He told
him, 'Nuclear Physics' . Doc was perplexed. He asked him again ---"Ano ginagawa
ng Nuclear Physicist?" . He answered back, "Gumagawa ng bomba" . At this
point, Doc really was in a quandary. He again asked, " Anong gagawin mo sa
bomba? " Boyso, while forking his hotdog and eggs, answered back, " Di pasasabugin
ko!" Doc laugh out loud. His eyes were streaming with tears. His belly, shaking
in convulsive laughter. Finally, he told Boyso - - - "Siguraduhin mo lang
malayo ako, pag pinasabog mo yung bomba ha?" And he shook again in convulsive
mirth and laughter. At that time, it was real funny. I wonder how Doc will
react if the same was said to him at the present, what with all the spates
of bombings going on around the globe.
· Boyso asked me then, when I am leaving for abroad. I asked him why. He told
me that he will inherit my car, if I go. I tell him: okay, fine. Just wait
till I graduate, March. After that, the car is all his. January 12, that
year was a turning point. It was a fluke of an accident. That first drive
of his was doomed to be his last.
· I will always remember you, Boyso. There will always be a vacuum in our
hearts which no one can fill, except you. So long brother, till we meet again!
Shanta Suller Miravite
October 23, 2002
Manila, Philippines
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