I had just finished reading The Opposite of Love by H. Benedict and this book reminded me of one story.

In the midst of a squatter’s area in Manila lived a poor family. It was only the father who worked because the mother lacks the initiative to help. And so it was the father who worked almost all his life for the family until his death (but this is another story). The eldest of his children was his favorite it seemed. He had never let her do hard work like doing the laundry though most of the time the eldest helped in preparing and cooking food for the family when the mother is not around or is lazy to do the cooking.

Because of the weak body of the eldest, it was the second to the eldest daughter who was assigned to do the laundry. The mother had given the responsibility of doing these house chores early to her daughters. She had even more time to stare at the skies than her daughters. The second to the eldest of course was very annoyed at the situation. She had vent her anger to her older sister. She had always been angry and disrespectful.

One time when she was doing the laundry at the base of the three-stepped house, she started doing the laundry and also started speaking harsh words intended to her older sister. The older sister tried to ignore but her younger sister could not be silenced. As minutes roll by, the older sister got irked and began to speak, “Stop that nonsense or I’ll throw these hangers to you.” The second sister really had this intention to provoke her older sister so she kept on talking ill things about her while the neighbors across and around started to gather. “Stop, or I’ll throw these hangers to you!” went the angry voice. But she could not be stopped. The next thing the second sister knew was that a few hangers landed on her face.