Halo - 7. Chapter Seven

I walked into the garden behind of Mike’s home looking for him. I was dressed in a gray-colored suit that was tailored to fit my body. Even after two years it still looked pristine since I only wore it occasionally for my father’s social events that didn’t required the tuxedo. I also used just a small dap of gel to sculpt my brown hair with a side part and took the time to add some polish to my shoes so I didn’t disappoint when I arrive at the fundraiser with Mike. This was the most I’ve cared about my appearance. I really wanted to impress Mike.

I saw Mike hands sitting with his legs crossed and his hands on his lap. I noticed his eyes were closed and I assumed that he was meditating. The other thing I noticed was an object levitating right in front of him, at chest level, that looked like a raw piece of gold about the size of my hand. Its shape was changing like an invisible force was molding it like clay. There were smaller pieces revolving around the bigger piece like electrons of an atom. It must’ve been concentrated light like the discs that levitated behind his body. It was fascinating to witness.

I wondered if I should interrupt Mike’s meditation when the material in front of him started to shine with a bright light before disappearing. He then released a deep breathed before he reached his hand to grab the small, gold statuette that was about a foot tall of a woman placed in front of him. He adjusted its position on the ground before turning his head, facing me and giving me a smile.

“Hey, Mike. Am I interrupting your meditation right now?” I asked.

“Oh, no, you’re okay. I was just about to finish when I sensed your arrival. I was just receiving knowledge by using this gold statue that Maria originally created as a medium along with meditating,” Mike said as he slowly stood up.

“Really?”

“Yup. Since this gold statuette was created through the manipulation of light, it emits low frequency wave lengths below the visible light spectrum that contain information that can only be deciphered through meditation. During meditation, I can receive that light without obstructing it. The information wasn’t new to me, but it was more of a review of how to structure light into a physical form which I was practicing when you arrived. The best I can compare it to is studying a book for an exam which requires concentration to do so.”

“Wow, very interesting… Could you also use the statuette as a medium to communicate to Maria herself in whatever form she’s currently in?”

“I would love for that to be possible…but no. The statuette is more of a piece of past knowledge that was created to enlighten individuals willing to learn the craft, like how ancient philosophers recorded their knowledge to be learned and passed down to future generations. And before you ask, the statuette was originally just a piece of gold that my tribe took and they sculpted into an image of Maria.”

“I see, so I’m assuming Maria was a very humble woman.”

“She is…or she was.” Mike turned his head to look at the statuette. “She wasn’t like other individuals with her abilities. She used her powers to help the villagers by giving them gold and never expecting anything in return. The people who ruled over the ancient Greeks, however, were less empathic towards the normal man, demanding that they be worshipped and throwing tantrums when they didn’t get their way which caused a city to fall as a result.”

“Wait…are you talking about the Olympians from Greek mythology…like Zeus?”

Mike nodded. “Their stories have been extremely embellished since their existence, but yes, I’m talking about the same people who lived on Mount Olympus. People like them were once revered as gods which I don’t like at all because I believe our powers should be used to serve, not to rule over. At least the people who would be later perceived as the gods of Norse mythology, who all lived on a mountain they called Asgard, were caring towards the normal man even though they considered themselves as omnipotent beings as well. I know what I just said seems very farfetched, but…”

“Everything that happened this past week was farfetched to believe, but it doesn’t make it any less real.”

I then wondered if it was a coincidence that the these supposed gods lived on mountains. Maria also lived on a mountain called Makiling located in Laguna, thus earning her the surname of the same spelling. If it wasn’t a coincidence, then was it possible that the closer they are to the Sun’s energy, the more powerful they are…or was it that they wanted to be closer to another, more powerful god from above. This reminded me of the Tower of Babel when I studying allusions during my sophomore year in English. The people of Babel wanted to reach godhood themselves, which was why they built their civilization as far up as possible. It definitely gave something more to research about and hopefully discuss with Mike.

“That’s true…anyways, that’s enough of a history lesson. Can I just compliment you right now on how great you look in your suit?” Mike said as he touched my right lapel.

“Thanks. You look great too,” I complimented, looking at the black suit that Mike was wearing.

“Yeah, I haven’t worn anything like this in long time, especially since the Philippines has such a humid climate. So, forgive me when you see me pull out a handkerchief to pat down the sweat from my face. Hopefully the place where the fundraiser is taking place has its air conditioning on.”

“Yeah, I totally get it. Even though I wear suits all the time when I go to school or for one of my father’s frequent social gatherings, I always feel stiff while wearing them regardless of how many times I throw them into the washer to loosen the fabric a bit.”

“Hmm, maybe I can loosen it up for you once this fundraiser thing is over,” Mike said, winking and pulling on my necktie.

I chuckled. “Gosh, Mike. You’d do that for me?”

“Definitely. And I definitely need to loosen up as well after all of this is over. I already tried to have a conversation with my father this morning and it didn’t go too well.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing much, and that was the problem. I just asked him some simple questions about the gold mining claim and how knowledgeable he was on that matter during breakfast, and he just said that it’s nothing to worry about, that he has everything in order and under control.”

“Oh.”

“You would think that being the heir to his seat in the company would grant me more details on this kind of business situation. And he even told me after the first week I was back that me replacing him one day as the company’s president hasn’t changed even when he presumed I was missing. So, I pressed him with a couple of more question and he then said to me that I had no business in the matter. Can you believe that?”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense… Does your father know anything at all about your connection with the Laguna tribe? The reason I ask is because maybe if he knows that, he wouldn’t want your involvement in this particular claim since you might have a bias. I don’t want to call it that, but it’s the only word I can come up with.”

“But wouldn’t he think the opposite though? Assuming he knows about my connection to the Laguna tribe, wouldn’t he want my perspective and experience with them that could allow him to make a more informed judgment on the situation? I don’t know. Maybe I still believe my father is the same man I knew ten years ago, a man I assumed knew the ethical problems of acquiring certain claims that would most likely cause conflict among the people there… I really underestimated how much the world has changed outside the tribe…and not always for the better.”

I just nodded in agreement as I thought about the crappy things that have happened only in the past year and multiplied that by ten like the current political division within the United States just to name a major one.

“Well, maybe you should try to think about your father’s perspective,” I said when I reminded myself about the division. “I’m not trying to defend the man or anything like that, just consider that possibility that the reasoning for the claim is deeper than what it appears at first on the surface. I can’t think of anything out of the top of my head that could justify his actions, but I can use my father as an example if you want to hear it.”

“Definitely. Go ahead,” Mike said and walked to a stone bench where he sat down and patted his hand on it.

I proceeded to sit next to him and with my elbows on my lap, I began by saying, “My father’s company, several years ago, decided to plan construction on a chain of oil rigs in Arizona, located in the same area where a tribe of Native Americans considered a sacred land. They didn’t want any oil to be extracted from the land and major protests occurred because of it to prevent the construction from happening. Unfortunately for them, the government ruled in favor of the oil rig construction and now the oil rigs dominate the horizon. Even though I strongly believed that the oil rigs shouldn’t have been built there for a multitude of reasons and still do, I understand that his reasoning was more complex than I originally thought.”

“Care to explain?” Mike asked.

“Well, for one, most of the people who work at that specific oil rig chain are Native American. My father understood the low employment rate of the Native American people in the area and wanted to provide a remedy for that by granting them an opportunity for jobs that paid above average compared to other oil companies. He didn’t make it a quota to hire only Native Americans, he just provided them the opportunity and they came. Also, if it wasn’t for my father’s intervention in increasing the amount of domestic oil in the country, gas prices would’ve continued to soar and the government would’ve had to make a deal with a country in the Middle East that we were also at war with at the time. My father knew this deal would prove to be disastrous and when his company discovered how rich the land was with oil, there was little else to persuade him not to do it. Now there’s the possibility that these aren’t the true reasons for why he constructed those oil rigs, but the way he told me why he did what he did with such sincerity and passion, I really do believe that he had the Native Americans’ best interests in mind as well the rest of the country. He told me this after I confronted him about what a cruel man he was, that opinion mostly fueled, no pun intended, with the knowledge that he was having an affair with another woman as my mother was undergoing several experimental therapies for her cancer treatment.”

“God, that must’ve been rough on you,” Mike said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

“It was. My opinion of him was so low after that discovery, that the whole oil rig situation pushed me over the edge. So, I confronted him and what he said made me reevaluate everything I thought I knew about him. Not immediately; since I was still pissed that my father could turn the confrontation to how ignorant I was. I eventually understood and tolerated that this world wasn’t just black and white. There is a whole spectrum of gray and my father’s action were somewhere in that spectrum due the reasons I just told you. It made me see my father in different light after that. I still dislike my father for more legitimate reasons…but this whole oil rig controversy isn’t one of them.”

Mike lightly nodded a few times and then said, “Thank you very much for telling me this, Duncan. I hadn’t given much thought about the other perspective, maybe because I see the aswang, for example, as the embodiment of evil and Maria as the total opposite and applied that to everything else that I experienced so far.”

“Yeah, and I guess that’s why I’m a moderate since there’s also a spectrum within politics as well. There’s no absolute right or wrong solutions to solving a society’s problems like there’s no absolute good or evil as if it were a simple math problem. That’s just how I see it now at least,” I explained.

“Yeah, I guess to sum it all up, humans are just a complicated species,” Mike noted.

I nodded in agreement. “I hope this doesn’t stop you from confronting your father during the fundraiser since the whole gold mining claim will undoubtedly have negative consequences. But just keep in mind that his reasoning will not be as black and white as you might think and maybe there could be a solution to treat some of the issues.”

“Definitely.” Mike then chuckled and said, “It looks like I’m not the only one giving someone else a new way to look at things.”

“Just trying to help,” I said with a smile.

Mike smiled back and that was when I turned my body to see Miranda approaching us. She was wearing a rich, blue-colored dress and had her hair in perfect curls that bounced as she walked, stumbling a couple of times due to her high heels sinking into the soft ground.

“Hey, guys, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Miranda asked.

“Not at all…and who is this is beautiful maiden that I’m looking at right now,” Mike said, standing up and lifted his sister’s hand above her head.

Miranda smiled and proceeded to twirl her body once, the skirt portion of her dress flaring out slightly. “Oh, don’t try to charm me, Mikey. This is the same dress I wore at homecoming last year, but it’s so pretty that I’m using the fundraiser as an excuse to wear it again.”

“You still looking stunning though,” Mike complimented.

“And you too. It just sucks that Dustin can’t come with me to the fundraiser. Duncan, do you know why by any chance?”

“N-No, sorry,” I lied.

I knew that Dustin wasn’t going to the fundraiser was because I was going to be there. I haven’t seen much of him since that fight we had, neither at school nor back at home. Which was a twist since I wasn’t going to show any weakness by avoiding him like he was currently doing to me.

Miranda didn’t seem to notice my stutter and said, “Oh, all right then...”

A ringing sound was then heard and Mike pulled out his phone from the breast pocket of his suit. He looked at the screen and said, “Sorry, guys, but I need to take this in private.”

“Oh, go ahead,” I said.

Mike gave me a smile and answered his phone as he walked away. With Mike gone, that only left me and Miranda behind. There was a moment of silence as I checked my phone for any messages just to distract myself as Miranda looked down and moved some pebbles on the ground.

I then decided to break the silence by saying, “You really do look great, Miranda.”

Miranda looked up at me and smiled, “Thank you, Duncan. You really are sweet. I wish I had taken the time to get to know you better since you’re the brother of my boyfriend after all… Especially since…”

I was wondering what made Miranda suddenly look awkward…then my eyes drifted to her hands where she was turning a ring around the ring finger of her hand. She then quickly placed both of her hands behind her back, probably due to me noticing what she was playing with.

“I wish…I wish things weren’t so complicated.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Placing a hand on her forehead, Miranda puffed up her cheeks before letting out an exhausted sigh. She then walked up to me and slowly extended the same hand that had the ring into my view. I looked at it and I knew it wasn’t just some fake piece of jewelry. It had a real, round-cut diamond encrusted on the silver band with two smaller diamonds, one on both sides of the larger one. I then looked up at Miranda who looked so nervous, a total difference of the confident person I always perceived her as ever since she started dating Dustin.

“I…I shouldn’t burden you with this…but since you’re the closest person to Dustin, even though I know you two don’t always get along…I was just wondering if you could help me…”

Miranda’s breathing suddenly became uneven and heavy. I quickly stood up from the bench, quickly concerned that she was having some kind of panic attack.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, Miranda. Just take deep breaths, okay?” I said as I stood by her side and rubbed my hand on her back.

Miranda nodded as she did what I insisted, taking deep, slow breaths as she clutched my other hand like it was preventing her from going over the edge. This was the second time I saw her like this and I hoped was being helpful, not doing anything that could worsen the situation.

Fortunately, Miranda’s breathing soon became more even and relaxed, so I then guided her to the bench where we both sat down since I believed Miranda must’ve been feeling weak right then. I continued to gently rub her back as she worked on her breathing some more.

Miranda eventually turned her head to face me and, with a weary look, said, “I just don’t know what to do, Duncan.”

“Talk to me, Miranda. I’m all ears,” I said.

“What is there left to say? You saw the ring…and my sudden overreaction should tell you everything about what I’m feeling right now.” Miranda took another deep breath and a sob escaped. “When Dustin proposed to me yesterday, my reaction should’ve been pure bliss…but instead I panicked and ran away from the park where he proposed to me. I just left him there, still kneeling on the ground with the ring in his hand, and went back home. I felt so horrible for doing that him, but…I just couldn’t.”

I stayed quiet, letting Miranda control her breathing again before she continued, “I did call him, however, after a few hours and…the hurt in his voice, even when he told me that everything was okay and that I didn’t have to accept his proposal, was so painful. I love Dustin, I really do. It’s just… I know our relationship isn’t perfect, but I know we care for each other deeply. It’s just that I never gave any indications that I wanted to take our relationship to the next level, and neither did Dustin…or so I thought. So, when he proposed to me, I just wasn’t prepared for that. At all... However, here I am right now, wearing the ring because…just the way he sounded so hurt from my initial rejection showed to me that he really cared about our relationship, about me that maybe there’s a chance that we can work… Or might it all fall apart. I’m sorry for telling you all this, Duncan. I just…I just needed to tell someone who wasn’t my friends because I knew they would tell everyone as the latest gossip, then there would absolutely be no way I could reconsider this engagement I’m in right now.”

“No, it’s okay, Miranda. You don’t have to be sorry… To be honest, though, I didn’t think my brother could do something that involves so much commitment unless it is baseball. He always changes his mind on everything like the paintjob on his car which took him almost three months to decide until he settled for red. So, something so huge and a seemingly permanent isn’t like him at all.”

“I totally understand since his indecisiveness always comes up whenever we’re going out on a date which plays into his procrastination and has caused plenty of fights between us. So, I don’t know if marriage is something that really wants or if it’s something he’ll later regret. Also, I’m no better either. I know everyone thinks I’m a super confident person, but I’m not at all. I was in denial about this, but now I accept the fact that I’m a very impulsive person, and that’s not good at all since it has led to me making compulsive purchases online, from clothing to makeup, and I’m just a few dollars away from reaching my second credit card’s limit… I believe it’s because I need to fill this emotional void that has been there since Mike disappeared and it only worsened when Matilda and Melinda moved out and when my parents became too concerned with the company to pay any attention to me. I remember my dad buying me a brand-new car for my sixteenth birthday only to leave for a month-long trip in the same day, which I guess is why I use material things as a crutch. God, how can I be Dustin’s future wife when I’m such a mess, especially since our relationship can’t fill the void either. It’s just another reason why I shouldn’t have accepted his proposal.”

So, I knew about Miranda’s perspective on their relationship, but I was still stumped about Dustin’s. Like I said, his indecisiveness, in addition with his severe procrastination, had led me to believe that something as huge as marriage was not something that appealed to my brother. Apparently, I was wrong and I had no legitimate reason I could think of for why Dustin proposed to her. Or maybe he truly did love her despite both of their major flaws, and that he was able to overcome his own to express to her that he wanted to take their relationship to the next level. I just didn’t know and I needed something to tell Miranda that would at least be comforting.

I didn’t want to leave her hanging, so I said, “Miranda…all I can really say is…you shouldn’t go into anything like marriage unless you feel absolutely certain, okay? And if that means telling Dustin that you need more time to consider this then you should even if it hurts. I believe marriage is a big deal and if you’re not fully onboard with it, you’ll end up hurting so much more compared to if you decided to be honest with Dustin about all of this. Am I making sense?”

Miranda looked at me and gave me a small smile. “Yeah, you are… Thank you, Duncan. I should better communicate my feelings to Dustin if want everything to work in the end. I’m actually thankful now that Dustin couldn’t come to the fundraiser, so I can begin thinking… And don’t get me wrong, Duncan. I really do love your brother. Everything from his protectiveness of me to his quirkiness, like how he adds grape jam to his burgers and picks out all the raisins out of his favorite oatmeal cookies just to name a few that makes me love him even more.”

I smiled at what Miranda just said since I was very familiar with Dustin quirky eating habits. He was a very picky eater when we young, always taking the things from his plate that he didn’t like and giving it to me. I happily accepted them since I ate anything that was on my plate and was the reason why I was the more…overweight twin.

I was teased for it during early grade school, but my brother, believe it or not, would actually come to protect me. So, even though we’ve drift so far apart since the time we used to have fun in the playground, I understood the protectiveness Dustin’s had with Miranda. I also needed to understand him if I was ever going to reconcile with him, which I don’t think is going to happen any time soon. At least it gave me more time to think as well.

“Hey, sorry about that,” Mike said as he approached us. “The fundraiser is going to begin in thirty minutes, so we should go now if we want to be there on time.”

Miranda gave me one last look and I patted her on the shoulder. Smiling, Miranda stood up and walked to her brother. I did the same and as we walked to the car, I had a renewed hope that this fundraiser would end better than expected.