Tankulan/Manolo Fortich Part 2

Then came a time when Papa's brothers-in-law, our supposed to be relatives, the very people whom we taught cared for us and whom we could count and rely on started to cause trouble for our family.
They would come to our house from their drinking spree and begin hurling invectives towards us, especially to Papa.
They would challenge him to a fistfight or threaten to skin him alive for one false move. An apprent sign that they don't want us among them.
Whatever the reason or motives they had for doing so was truly beyond us.
Sometimes the people we think we know best we don't really know at all.

But papa always kept his cool.
He never lost his temper for he knew they were intoxicated and he would never stoop down to their level out of respect to Tatay Iping and most of all, to Mama.
Not that he was a "yellow-livered chicken", but Papa, for all they know, had never known fear, having seen and survived hell, there's nothing that could buckle him down.

There were times when they would bring their group of friends and visitors to our house and consume whatever food they could find on our table.
They would feast and indulge themselves with edible things from Mama's store without paying for them.
What items they can't eat, they bring to their homes.
They would also bring their distant relatives to stay with us for a couple of weeks at our expense.

Our Grandmother, Nanay Biyang, would take Mama's clothes from her "baul" and give it to her daughter, Atilana (Tiyay Tiyang) so she could run away from her husband.
Then her children would be left with us for Mama to feed and take care of.
They were our cousins favored by our Lola because they were goodlooking and prettier than us.
Besides, their father comes from the Neri clan of Tagoloan, not a Talaandig like Papa.

All of these things they did purposely to enrage Papa, but one thing is almost sure, he is one person who did not look for trouble but never looked away from one either.

For four miserable years, we endured this kind of harsh treatment.
Young as we were, we feel and understand how it is to be ridiculed by relatives just because we have a father whom they can not tolerate and accept to be one of them.
For all the abusive behaviors of his in-laws, Papa's patience was worn thin.
He can no longer afford to live amongst people who dislike him too much.
He felt he can't survive the hatred, the derision and cruelty of his in-laws that Papa and Mama decided to sell our property and moved on to Malaybalay especially that we are about to reach secondary learning with Vic and Lydia about to enter school too.
The prospect of a brighter future looked good in Malaybalay, away from the cantankerous and belligerent people and their prying eyes.

Our differences were greater than the things we have in common with them.
Such insensitivity had created wounds that would never heal and rifts that would never mend.