It is now 10:30 a.m. as i post this blog. It is a beautiful morning.. though it is Friday the 13th…
I wonder, as I sip from my coffee mug… why do people fuss so much about Friday the 13th…
When I was in college, I had this unforgettable experience about this dreaded day. I was on my second year at the University of the Philippines in cold Baguio City (country’s summer capital). My classes then were only from Mondays thru Thursdays, and I would regularly go home on Fridays to spend weekends with my family. Actually, it was a requirement from my parents… (lol), so I had no choice but go down home while I envied my dorm mates who would go to gimmicks on Friday or Saturday nights.
One particular Friday, my roommates convinced me to put off my trip home for the following day. “Sure you won’t want to travel on Friday the 13th, you could have bad luck”… I remember them saying. Um…okay, their banters did work well so I called to inform my parents that I won’t be home till Saturday morning.
Well, that Friday the 13th wasn’t at all horrible. I went to a late night movie with my roomies and - boy, did I enjoy some degree of freedom!
Next morning, I dragged my bag to the bus station, queued for my ticket and took my favorite seat near the driver’s. I was carrying an old fashioned overnight bag - one of those Samsonite types, with hard casing and all, and since I wanted to have more leg room, I decided to place it in the luggage compartment overhead.
When going down from Baguio, the worst part of the road would always be the zigzag where the driver would have to maneuver the bus in Z patterns - literally! Now, that’s truly dizzying. I tried to remain as comfortable in my seat as possible, although several times I was nearly knocked off as the driver managed the sharp curves.
Then it happened…. we were on that steep portion of Kennon Road where the Mighty Lion found a land mark, and where tourists would usually stop for some picture taking on the concrete mane of the lifeless but imposing lion head. Another bus on its way up was painstakingly straining itself through the slope, and it appeared the driver was hardly in control. Our driver figured we might have a head on collision with that bus, so he immediately shifted gear and turned the steering wheel to almost almost 180 degrees that nearly made us hit the rocky mountainside. My fellow passengers were in panic, some of them were screaming. I saw luggage along the aisle going in all directions… then…. bog! ouch! something hard hit my head… and I suddenly saw stars… (even the moon, I guess…) Ohhh….the overnight bag fell from the compartment and landed directly on me!
So there… Friday the 13th or not… when ill fate comes, it comes.