I Just Saw a Snake

And it was gliding through the tops of our windows.
We were watching TV when I noticed something rope-like through the glass of the window, which wasn’t usually there. Several seconds later I looked at it again and the rope-like thing was gone, instead it was on the adjacent window! I took a closer look and there it was, a gray-brown hissing creature as big as a mop handle dangling from our window.

Of course I screamed. Noy tried to poke at it and when it came gliding down the sill, he called for help from the neighbors. When they got to the house, the snake was gone. I don’t know where it went. I wasn’t able to take a photo. Heck, I can’t even look at it again. And from now on I’m not going to live in this house the same way again.

The house where Noy and I live, a real house where normal living takes place, is a concrete-and-wood structure sitting on that strip of land surrounding the National Mental Hospital. It was one of the many house and lots granted by the government of Mandaluyong to its deserving employees. Noy started living here when he was in college after growing up in Cainta, Rizal where his family was able to acquire a property. A lot of people have come and gone in this house, mostly boarders and Noy’s siblings in their college years. This is where we lived when we got married, as what was his family probably had planned.


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Though I am appreciative of his family’s thoughts, I can’t help but complain sometimes that the house is a little too worn out for me. I honestly think it was haphazardly built without an architect’s opinion – the floors aren’t leveled and the walls aren’t straight. I would not mind if it were difficult to “style” or that the paint is starting to peel off – it was just too difficult to keep clean because debris seem to just fall off the ceiling every hour. I’d clean in the morning and by evening there’s a neat little gathering of dirt in the corners.

Earlier last week, we found a large group of big black ants in one corner of the spare room upstairs. They were eating off a piece of the wall. And though they easily gave in to insect spray, I was a bit surprised when Noy blurted out we should move to another place. I am a bit scared about renting (hence, paying), but the snake today kind of reinforces that idea. If I see a big bad wolf outside the door next week I’d probably move back to Tondo where I had lived most of my life.

I kind of love this house though. It’s near everything. It’s 2 minutes away from EDSA. It’s quiet and airy. I love our bedroom which has a large window that looked out the back of the hospital, which has a small road lined by trees on one side and vegetable patches on the other, which goes all the way down to our side. It smells fresh in the mornings and when it rains. Most of all, FIREFLIES do fly around here. I don’t think I can find that anywhere else in the city.

For the meantime, let me ogle at these my dream living spaces (thanks HGTV!) until Noy and I have come to a decision.