THE MYSTIC CABLETOW
It was exactly five in the morning of October 24 when our phone rang and at the other end of the line was Alou, our daughter-in-law. Her voice crackling with bitterness, she asked if there is a way we could help her. Four days before, the lion tamer said that she saw the stepfather of our daughter-in-law being broadcast on TV as having been slain with a bullet hole on his head, apparently a subject of a summary execution by unknown assailants for reasons the lion neither knew nor cared about.
In her narration our daughter by affinity said that she and her mother had just arrived from the wake, where an hour before, they were unceremoniously shooed away by the relatives of her deceased stepfather out of Arlington Chapel apparently also dissuading them to attend the noontime burial. And the reason is simple- the relationship of her mother with the deceased has already turned sour a few years back and the husband was already having an affair with another girl. Furthermore, it appeared even the parents and his relatives have already accepted the change in relationship thus dumping our daughter-in-law’s mother to the sidelines. She also narrated that while she and her mother managed to keep their sorrows to themselves, she believed that not allowing them to attend the burial would be the last straw for after all, the deceased and her mother are, for all intents and purposes, still legally married. To top it all, it appeared the police authorities of Pasig City are partial to the relatives of the dead since the father is the barangay captain of the place and it was the police themselves who dragged them out of the Chapel.
Can the aging lion, therefore, help?!
With the lion tamer acting as combined telephone operator and private secretary, she dialed VW Philmore Balmaceda’s cellphone and not getting any answer tried his landline phone instead. As luck would have it, it was Philmore who answered whereupon the lion immediately grabbed the handset, uttered the equivalent words of the grand hailing sign and in cryptic message related the problem wondering out aloud if he could help. Getting a positive reply, the lion tossed back the phone to his tamer and instructed her to relay to VW Philmore the details of the needed help and the telephone number where our daughter-in-law may be contacted.
Wires burned between the phones of Philmore, our daughter-in-law and ourselves, and sometime later, another number was added, that of the Eastern Police District. VW Philmore was able to contact its head, Bro. (Gen) Valenzuela, who tasked SPO2 Matias to attend to our daughter-in-law’s predicament. In fine the lion also talked to SPO2 Matias who gave the assurance that he and a certain Capt. Arriola are already bound for the Arlington Chapel to insure that her solemn request that they be able to accompany the remains to the burial site in safety be granted.
Noontime passed in silence but by four that afternoon, a call was received from our daughter-in-law. Appreciative in her thanks, she narrated that Capt Arriola and SPO2 Matias saw to it that the car they were riding on immediately follow the limousine where the coffin is laid to the consternation of both the barangay captain and the deceased’s attaché (this may not be the appropriate word but it sure is better than the vulgar word “kabit”) And her dear mother felt satisfied, for although their marriage was already thrown to the rocks and is already labeled as estranged, she was still able to send her husband off to his final resting place.
And what has this short article got to do with the tenets of the Craft?
But haven’t you noticed, the paths of Bro. (Gen) Valenzuela and the lion have never crossed before?! How else can one brother ask help from another except by use of that unseen but unbreakable Cabletow that binds us Freemasons together!!
PS:
Immediately after the call from our daughter-in-law, Alou was received, the lion posted an email via the Internet saying:
Brethren:
Any brother who has contact with Bro. (Gen.) Valenzuela of Eastern Police District, please relay my sincerest appreciation for extending his assistance to my daughter-in-law, Alou Galarosa and her mother by sending Capt. Arriola and SPO2 Matias to Arlington Chapel, thence to Pasig Cemetery on the occasion of the burial of her stepfather, Gomer Concepcion on October 24, 2004.
The length of one’s cabletow can still reach Bohol.
Many thanks also to VW Philmore Balmaceda of Juan Sumulong Lodge No. 169 for making the help possible.
It was exactly five in the morning of October 24 when our phone rang and at the other end of the line was Alou, our daughter-in-law. Her voice crackling with bitterness, she asked if there is a way we could help her. Four days before, the lion tamer said that she saw the stepfather of our daughter-in-law being broadcast on TV as having been slain with a bullet hole on his head, apparently a subject of a summary execution by unknown assailants for reasons the lion neither knew nor cared about.
In her narration our daughter by affinity said that she and her mother had just arrived from the wake, where an hour before, they were unceremoniously shooed away by the relatives of her deceased stepfather out of Arlington Chapel apparently also dissuading them to attend the noontime burial. And the reason is simple- the relationship of her mother with the deceased has already turned sour a few years back and the husband was already having an affair with another girl. Furthermore, it appeared even the parents and his relatives have already accepted the change in relationship thus dumping our daughter-in-law’s mother to the sidelines. She also narrated that while she and her mother managed to keep their sorrows to themselves, she believed that not allowing them to attend the burial would be the last straw for after all, the deceased and her mother are, for all intents and purposes, still legally married. To top it all, it appeared the police authorities of Pasig City are partial to the relatives of the dead since the father is the barangay captain of the place and it was the police themselves who dragged them out of the Chapel.
Can the aging lion, therefore, help?!
With the lion tamer acting as combined telephone operator and private secretary, she dialed VW Philmore Balmaceda’s cellphone and not getting any answer tried his landline phone instead. As luck would have it, it was Philmore who answered whereupon the lion immediately grabbed the handset, uttered the equivalent words of the grand hailing sign and in cryptic message related the problem wondering out aloud if he could help. Getting a positive reply, the lion tossed back the phone to his tamer and instructed her to relay to VW Philmore the details of the needed help and the telephone number where our daughter-in-law may be contacted.
Wires burned between the phones of Philmore, our daughter-in-law and ourselves, and sometime later, another number was added, that of the Eastern Police District. VW Philmore was able to contact its head, Bro. (Gen) Valenzuela, who tasked SPO2 Matias to attend to our daughter-in-law’s predicament. In fine the lion also talked to SPO2 Matias who gave the assurance that he and a certain Capt. Arriola are already bound for the Arlington Chapel to insure that her solemn request that they be able to accompany the remains to the burial site in safety be granted.
Noontime passed in silence but by four that afternoon, a call was received from our daughter-in-law. Appreciative in her thanks, she narrated that Capt Arriola and SPO2 Matias saw to it that the car they were riding on immediately follow the limousine where the coffin is laid to the consternation of both the barangay captain and the deceased’s attaché (this may not be the appropriate word but it sure is better than the vulgar word “kabit”) And her dear mother felt satisfied, for although their marriage was already thrown to the rocks and is already labeled as estranged, she was still able to send her husband off to his final resting place.
And what has this short article got to do with the tenets of the Craft?
But haven’t you noticed, the paths of Bro. (Gen) Valenzuela and the lion have never crossed before?! How else can one brother ask help from another except by use of that unseen but unbreakable Cabletow that binds us Freemasons together!!
PS:
Immediately after the call from our daughter-in-law, Alou was received, the lion posted an email via the Internet saying:
Brethren:
Any brother who has contact with Bro. (Gen.) Valenzuela of Eastern Police District, please relay my sincerest appreciation for extending his assistance to my daughter-in-law, Alou Galarosa and her mother by sending Capt. Arriola and SPO2 Matias to Arlington Chapel, thence to Pasig Cemetery on the occasion of the burial of her stepfather, Gomer Concepcion on October 24, 2004.
The length of one’s cabletow can still reach Bohol.
Many thanks also to VW Philmore Balmaceda of Juan Sumulong Lodge No. 169 for making the help possible.
Comments
VW Jun,
All's well that ends well. Hurray for Masonry. With this story, one appreciates the significance of the cabletow.
Bro. Jimmy