Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share IAN ROSALES CASOCOT''s short story, COMPARTMENTS. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. All articles and photos are copyrighted by the individual authors. All rights reserved. This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

IAN ROSALES CASOCOT teaches literature, creative writing, and film at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Philippines where he was Founding Coordinator of the Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center. He is the author of several books, including the fiction collections Don’t Tell Anyone, Bamboo Girls, Heartbreak & Magic, and Beautiful Accidents. He has won the Palanca nine times for his fiction, plays, and children’s poetry. In 2008, his novel Sugar Land was longlisted in the Man Asian Literary Prize. He was Writer-in-Residence for the International Writers Program of the University of Iowa in 2010, and produced the film City of Literature, directed by Zhao Lewis Liu. His website is http://eatingthesun.blogspost.com .

COMPARTMENTS

Copyright By Ian Rosales Casocot, all rights reserved. 

 

For L.

Something people will never understand, if ever I begin to tell the story of how we met, but more so how we made love for the last time, if making love were the right words for it: you had a small knife hidden in your pocket, and you were ready to kill me.

But I must tell you I’ve always understood perfectly why that was.

Years later, in unguarded moments when I find myself still thinking of you, I try to imagine what it would have been like if things turned out differently that night. What words I would have said, what frantic gestures I would have made, what degree deeper into the heat of anger we would have plunged to, to trigger a bloody end, and my death. Your knife upon my back, or protruding from a deep trembling wound on my side. My blood thick on your hands.

I would have said, “Dev, what have you done?”

The Journey by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard -- Weekend Reading in English and Bisaya

 

I am pleased to share a short story that I wrote that grew out of a minor character in my third novel, THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW. THE JOURNEY was first published in Bisaya or Cebuano in Katitikan: Literary Journal of the Philippine South on July 12, 2025. I am sharing the original English version and the Bisaya translation. 

THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW is an acclaimed literary mystery set in Ubec Philippines in 1909.  The novel has forthcoming translations in Arabic, Slovenian, Serbian, and Macedonian. For more information, click here https://ceciliabrainard.com/book/the-newspaper-widow/ .

 ~ Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

 

 

THE JOURNEY

Copyright 2025 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. All Rights Reserved. 

THE JOURNEY was first published in Bisaya under the title ANG PAGLAKAW in Katitikan: Literary Journal of the Philippine South

Let us start here.

Imagine this: winds howling and toppling over trees, knocking off roof tiles; rain so thick you couldn’t see beyond your arm; water oozing into windows and doors; and she looking out her window and weighing what to do. Was she in a home, a hospital, a small room somewhere? What excuse did she give to explain why she was taking her newborn baby out? Or was she all by herself, with no one, so she could bundle me up, hug me close to her chest, throw covering over us, and step out into the darkness broken only by flashes of lighting in the sky. How far did she walk before she made it to the gate? And past the gate, she walked down the slippery road to the wall where the turning cradle was. Did she talk to me, say goodbye to me before she lay me there? Did she weep when she turned the wheel, listened to the metallic creaking that went on for an eternity until it stopped? She rang the bell, heard it echo within the walls of the Casa San Jose, listened for some movement behind the walls to indicate someone was there to receive me. Did she imagine the wet nurse wiping sleep from her eyes as she shuffled over to the turning cradle? How many heart beats passed before she turned and made her way back out, through the rain, darkness, and dangers that only Manila typhoons bring.

I’m talking about my mother.

            Your mother must have been desperate to give up a beautiful baby like you, people at the orphanage said.

I was soaked and limp like a small dead animal. All but the wet nurse had written me off as dead. But nurse removed my wet blanket and clothes, dried me off, wrapped me in a warm blanket, and she held me close to her breasts for more warmth and so I could smell her milk. She said it took a long time before I rooted for her breast and suckled.

An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Stories Series #7

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share PAULINO LIM, JR.'s  short story, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. This story first appeared in The Philippines Graphic Reader, June 2, 2025. It is featured in my blog with permission from the author.  

PAULINO LIM, JR. is a professor emeritus of English at California State University, Long Beach. He is a recipient of the 2016 Presidential Award for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas—for his fiction and scholarly essays that are constructive criticisms of the political, social, and religious problems in the Philippines. Also in 2016, his alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas, conferred upon him a lifetime achievement honor—the Parangal Hagbong Award—for significant contributions to Philippine literature.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

Copyright by Paulino Lim, Jr. All rights reserved.

MONSIGNOR SULLIVAN WAS SEATED at his glass-topped desk, the letter from Vikings Cruise on a linen stationery before him. Should he take up the offer of a free cruise in exchange for serving as chaplain for two weeks on the ship?

He was wearing a black cassock and tinted lenses that highlighted his cropped white hair and shaven surf-tanned face. He looked up when he heard the knock, and said, “Come in. Oh, hello.”

His assistant Father Clive James was in his late forties, with his trimmed brown hair, metal-framed tinted glasses, hair on the chin but not the cheeks. He looked like a surgeon, except for the white alb he wore at the outdoor Mass on the playground of St. Ambrose Catholic School.

“How was Mass on the grass, Clive?”

“Just a couple of Southwest Airline planes that landed and took off from the Long Beach Airport. Deacon Charles delivered the homily.”

“When is he leaving for Florida, by the way?”

“End of the month, during school break.”

Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share MELISSA SALVA'S short story, GAME. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. Melissa's story developed in a Filipina Women's Writing Workshop, that included Melissa, Susan Evangelista, Cecilia Brainard, and Nadine Sarreal. This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

Writing Workshop in Tagaytay 2013 with l-r: Melissa Salva, Susan Evangelista, Cecilia Brainard, Nadine Sarreal

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MELISSA SALVA  (aka Melissa Ramos) writes fiction, poetry, and children’s books. Her work appeared in national publications as well as in anthologies published in the Philippines, the US, and Singapore. She is the author of five books, including Marawi, Land of the Brave, which was shortlisted in the Philippines’ 6th National Children’s Book Awards. Her children’s book on the Spanish artist Juvenal Sansó is forthcoming.

 ***

GAME

Copyright by Melissa Salva. All rights reserved. 

THE CLOCK on the dashboard read 10:26. KC sighed and climbed out, because being late went against her nature. A time had been agreed upon. If it were merely a suggestion then it would have been vague (“between ten and eleven”) or implied (“brunch.”) She disliked the notion of suggestions. But for the time being, she was willing to wait before asking point-blank. She didn’t want to scare this one away.

None of her previous dates ever showed up on time. None of them referred to their meetings as dates, either. It confused her so much that she always pulled her wallet out when the waiter came with the bill. She insisted on paying her share so aggressively that the men could do nothing but concede. What she wanted to say was, “if this were a date, of course I’d let you pay.” But what came across was, “you didn’t say this was a date!”

Cecilia Brainard Fiction - The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair

 

 

THE ONE-NIGHT STAND AT THE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR, by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Copyright 2025 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, all rights reserved.

Published in the May 2025 issue of the Philippines Graphic Reader - https://philippinesgraphic.com.ph/2025/07/21/the-one-night-stand-at-the-frankfurt-book-fair/

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Cecilia Manguerra Brainard shares THE ONE-NIGHT STAND AT THE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR, a work of fiction inspired by her visit to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2024. This was first published by the Philippines Graphics Reader on May 2025. 

Cecilia is the award-winning author of three novels: When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, and The Newspaper Widow. Her Selected Short Stories was awarded the 40^th National Book Award. Her work has been translated into Greek, Turkish and Finnish. Her books have forthcoming translations in Portuguese, Japanese, and other languages.  For more information, please visit her official website at https://ceciliabrainard.com

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MARIBEL GLANCED AT HER PLANE SEAT, grateful that she had the aisle seat and only one seat beside her. Her seat mate was a young woman who had her ear buds on. Maribel was grateful for that too; she didn’t have to chitchat with her. After making sure she had her passport, eyeglasses, and valuables in her small cross body bag, she tucked her backpack under the seat in front of her. She buckled herself, and settled into her seat, ready for the ten-hour journey from Los Angeles to Frankfurt.

            While passengers and the airplane attendants bustled around her, she closed her eyes and tried to push away the sadness of the past few days. She had been in LA for the funeral of Lou, her school friend, partner in countless girlish escapades, and later, companion to more serious political marches. They were both writers and they had written their share of articles to try and right wrong (human rights, justice, gender equality, extra-judicial killings). Later, Maribel had found her voice in her political-yet-entertaining fiction. The two women had kept in touch even when Lou had migrated to the US and married an Irish-American.