Siga-siga Meets Calypso

In honor of what would have been the 67th wedding anniversary on March 19 for Ben and Dulce of the Children of the Pearl series, I’m sharing a story—a brief, written snapshot—of the moment they first met. It’s an anecdote Ben wrote in one of his red notebooks. I edited it for clarity and fleshed it out for your reading pleasure.

A little backstory. The scene: classroom, University of Santo Tomas, Manila. The dress Dulce wore on her first day in college featured a vivid print and a voluminous, 2-tiered skirt. (Not quite like the image on the right, but close.) She looked so Carmen Miranda, who can blame Ben for calling her “Calypso” and falling in love?

Here’s the story now:

“…during my 2nd week in College of Arch (Architecture)…in walked a girl—curly haired, face white w/ powder. Red red lipstick. Wide skirt! Calypso! I breathed out softly. She was 2 weeks late registering. …so began the courtship. Whew! A lot of 2-foot-long roses. Her mother didn’t like me. “Go home! It’s late!” whenever I went to visit. She didn’t like me, it was obvious. I [borrowed] an uncle’s motorcycle [to impress her]. I didn’t even know how to drive one, but I said I’d figure it out. Funny thing happened—when it was time go home, I couldn’t start it! I had to walk to the [nearest] grocery to call my uncle. He arrived an hour later to rescue me. The motorcycle made so much noise, it woke up Calypso’s neighbors. Her mother really didn’t like me after that.”