As the Retired Colonel Ricardo Millora sat on their lawn chair in his home in the small town of Pennsylvania about two hours drive from Philadelphia, he could feel that the air was getting chilly everyday.
He would feel the swish of wind on his face, for late October, he knew that the cold autumn wind was the announcement of the stingy gray of winter,a cruelly harsh to aging veteran like him. Yet he could not deny the lingering gorgeous sunset at day’s end, and various colors of leave from the trees falling on the ground in that season.
The retired officer of the Philippine Army and a survivor of the Death March in Bataan in 1942 went to US mainland for medical check up being a member of USAFFE. When he found out that he was in a tip-top shape except for some arthritic pain during cold weather, he applied for permanent residence and was approved by the US Immigration court. Later, his family joined him to live abroad.
Dick, as his friends called him, was almost six feet fall and heavy set. His favourite sports while in the service were baseball and boxing. As he sat in his folding chair, his mind wondered back in his yesteryears as if in a reverie like stupor in Tondo where he was born and educated up to high school and his continued residence therein even when he was in the State University and subsequent call to active duty.
“Come on, Dick, let’s go to the cabaret in Maypajo”, cajoled his roommate in the barracks in Gagalangin during the Commonwealth years.
“Why not, its weekend and I’m not on duty” replied the young bachelor lieutenant.
So, on that Saturday night, Dick and Thelmo went to Maypajo cabaret located just after the boundary of Manila and the adjoining municipality of Caloocan. Dick saw the well constructed wooden two storey building festooned with light all around. In front of the entrance were the many vendors selling cigarettes, candies, gums and soft drinks.
The two, in civics, paid their entrance fees, and they entered the dimly-lit first floor. At the center of the big space were many pairs dancing to the continuous playing of a seven piece orchestra. That center dancing space, Dick saw, the long benches abutting the rails where the taxi dancers were contentedly seated. In the dimply-lit place, he could also see a long row of women, all beautifully made up, with different scents of perfumes filling the air. Customers like them had to stay outside the railing, a booth nearby where anyone could buy a ticket on a cash and carry basis. One ticket would entitle the customer to one music piece. Some customers buy 6 tickets at one time to save their time going back and forth to the booth. Some customers even buy a dozen or even a roll depending on the desire and cash status.
“Sir, glad to see you here too!” greeted one of Dick’s men from the military barracks as they bumped each other in the dimly-lit floor.
“Enjoy yourself, Sarge,” Dick replied with a smile, as both of them clinched their perfumed partner.
Outside the wooden enclosure, Dick saw where men and women were seated on a long wooden bench. There, he found out were the chaperons of the many taxi-dancers waiting patiently until the closure of the cabaret by midnight.
On the upper storey of the cabaret building were men with their partners seated on chairs having conversation as the same time drinking their favourite drinks. These girls came from below, and they were paid by the “tabled hour” or fraction thereof.
By experience, the girls knew the lavish tippers and the tightwads. Tabled girls earned more per evening than by dancing.
“Lt. Millorca” greeted the manager of the cabaret as the young officer was taking a glass of beer in one corner with his companion.
“Nice place”, Dick remarked.
The manager took Dick and Thelmo to his office where they were offered imported bourbon. The manager offered Dick and Thelmo each a roll of tickets but the two refused. The manager did not insist and said if they come again, just look for him for the VIP treatment.
When the two were in the room that evening, Thermo said “Why should we be treated like VIP.
“To me, it appears that our presence can evoke peace and security, as I understand, the trouble makers are those soldiers who had too much drinks. – our soldiers” Dick explained.
During those years, the favourite music pieces in the cabaret were the slow sweet music as played and arranged by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Larry Cointon. It is also called the “slow drag”, the habitués like Dick and Thelmo loved to dance these pieces as they could stay in a tight clinch with their chose partners making each ticket worth the time and cost. As usual most of the men would whisper “sweet nothings” as the pair would glide on the smooth polished floor under the strain of sweet music. If a male patron had the cash, he could have the same partner through many music pieces until his energy or money would last out first. Usually, it would be the cash.
In one party held at the military barracks honouring their Commander who was promoted in rank, Dick won the best dancer with his partner. Unknown to them, Dick discreetly requested the manager of Maypajo cabaret to loan him the best dancer of the joint.
In the many months that followed. Dick, alone or with Thelmo, would go to the Cabaret to relax and unwind a hectic week of work like drilling trainees, physical exercises and lecturing. In due time, he would always get Mely as partner for she was the same girl Dick took as partner in the barrack dance party. Mely was a statuesque girl of 20, rave-haired light brown skin and light brown eyes. She may not be stunning but she was charming to include her melodious voice and manners.
“Dick, you have made me very happy in spite of my job”. When I am with you, I feel at ease and happy. Please do not give me ticket when you dance with me here” spoke Mely as they were in tight embrace with ”Embraceable you” being played, slow and romantic. Dick could not say anything, a confirmed bachelor and a Don Juan that he was. Unofficially, Mely became Dick’s girl and on many occasions, they would go out to the beach, and to other places where they could be alone.
Without any notice, Dick was reassigned to another camp. His new duties and location, Maypajo cabaret prevented him from visiting Mely although he missed her so much. He also missed the music, and the crowd in the cabaret which to him were entertainment in themselves.
Then, the threat of war filled the air, and the more Dick had no extra time to leave the camp. Training became hurried and full blast. One night, he dreamed of Mely crying due to his failure to visit her. Her being a “:bellas”(taxi dancer) must have made him forget her. In uniform, he got a camp vehicle and drove to Maypajo cabaret one early morning.
“Lt. Millorca, are we at war?” greeted the manager who was surprise to see Dick. “Come in, he continued still surprised with his visit.
“:This is personal. Is Mely still working with you?” nervously asked the officer.
“Mely is no longer here. One time, she came to me crying that you forsook her for someone else” the manager pointed out as he poured whisky in a tumbler.
“Well, due to the tense situation in this part of the world, I could not go out and reassigned to another camp that is far from her” related Dick.
“Where did she go, do you have any idea?”
When you didn’t visit her at all, she met a foreign student. He was here every night and we found out that he was a prince. He fell in love with Mely and when the war clouds threatened to burst, this man proposed marriage to her. Mely accepted” related the manager with a sad concern for Dick.
Dick returned to the camp, and a few months later, the Pacific War broke out. It was during the Japanese occupation years that he met his present wife. He raised children and remained in the service until his retirement.
“It’s getting cold Dick” called his wife. “Dinner is about ready and come into the house” his wife followed up her call.
Dick woke up in his reverie, and like a video tape, he saw his past experiences that made his heart throbbed for in his many years as a bachelor and as a married man, he had never met a woman as gorgeous, as lovely, and scintillating as the unforgettable
Mely.
The war destroyed the Maypajo cabaret where she met this woman, but in his memory, time could destroy the nostalgia that was Mely wherever she may be.