Jade Wanderer | All About Life

One of my most vivid childhood memories about my late grandfather was the time when he bought me a new pair of shoes. As a 12-year-old who usually got scolded by grandpa on a near daily basis, his gesture came as a pleasant surprise for me.

After crossing a somewhat deserted street on our way to Fairmart, a popular local department store in Cebu, we found a policewoman waiting for us at the other side. The city government at that time recently implemented the “No-Jaywalking policy” by fining pedestrian violators with P50 pesos (a rather significant amount then) or placing them in a temporary holding cell if they didn’t have enough money in hand to pay the fine. And let me tell you that a whole lot of people in the hundreds got caught and contributed to the city government’s revenues.

Expecting my grandfather to pay the stiff fine, what followed made me realize for the first time just how crafty grandpa was. My grandfather by the way, usually wears a white polo shirt and dark gray slacks over his slightly stooped, lanky frame. He kinda reminds me of a chinese comic character, Lao Hu Tze, albeit with a pair of glasses and a watch chain dangling from his belt into his pocket.

“I’m sorry officer but we were in a hurry,” he told the policewoman. “I’m having some problems breathing and I can feel my heart palpitating so we’re on our way to see my doctor a few blocks from here. There was nobody else left to watch over him at home so I brought my grandson with me.” (I took the liberty to translate the conversation from Visayan into English)

Let me tell you that I was pretty amazed listening to my grandfather get us out of that jam. The lady officer in question quickly waved us along after which we then proceeded to the department store to buy that pair of shoes he promised me.

I found myself looking at my grandfather with a new set of eyes from then on.