And yes, the instructions for brewing tapuy and sake must have come with the first handfuls of unhusked rice grains that sun god Amaterazu O-Kami transmuted from sunlight and handed out to soil-tillers eons ago. So we imbibed lessons and the giddiness from having a drink too many, the starch-turned-alcohol burned bright into the brain, knocked us off. As if felled by a bolt of sunstroke…
Walang kuryente sa ganoong liblib na lugar—ni wala ngang mobile phone signal na makarating. Walang radyo’t TV. Ilawang de gas lang ang pantanglaw sa gabi. Sa Metro-Manila at iba pang mga kanugnog na lugar, pawang telebisyon ang nakaluklok sa dambana’t altar— iba’t ibang balita’t anuman ang bubuhos sa kahabaan ng prime time.