Chapter 9. Call Home

9

Talking about mom and Ramon with David that day made me missed them. That night I went to the phone booth to make a call home. I called my old house number, nobody picked up. Then I called Ramon's cell phone. After waiting for two rings with my heart thumping in my ears, I heard Ramon's husky voice answering the phone. I got so nervous; I just switched it off on impulse. 
 
My heart was beating madly... I took long breaths to calm myself down and then I dialed Ramon's number again. This time when he picked up, I didn't switch it off but I kept quiet. My voice and courage to speak got caught in my throat. I just kept breathing silently, slowly. "Hello.... hello... anybody there?" Ramon asked, sounded a little annoyed. 

"Aaa.. ak..." was all I could say. There was a long silence. It was as though that much of my voice was enough for Ramon. 

 "Emma?" he asked slowly. "Is that you?"

 I nodded, not realizing he can't see me, he could only hear me. My eyes were welling up... a funny feeling ran inside of me; a mix of nostalgia, long-nes, excitement and happiness.

"Emma... where are you now? We haven't heard from you for months, Mom is missing you so much... I miss you so much!" Ramon said emphasizing on the "I". "Haven't you had enough of your traveling? We want you home, there are so many things we wanna tell you, so many things we wanna hear from you." He kept rambling, not letting me to say anything.

 "Ramon… I miss u too" I said finally before I calmed down and spoke like normal people, not like a retarded dumb.


We spoke for nearly an hour; Ramon got engaged, he was to be married in 3 months and he wanted me to come. He said he sent me e-mails and never heard any reply. Well, in my defense, I haven't got the chance to check my mails in months either. 
Ramon now works at the hospital at the city nearest to our small town, it is an hour drive there but the pay is good and Ramon is up for a promotion. In the evenings when he comes back, he has his own clinic for the town people. Ramon says he charges as less as he could, as they are part family. 

When I asked about his fiancé, he said she is a doctor too, not a surgeon though. He said sometimes she reminded him of me; she is a free spirited woman with dreams of traveling. He said he knew we would get along. Her name is Sherry and she is part writer. He told me that she makes these beautiful bangles off used tin cans. She sounded splendid but I’m not so eager to meet her. I guess it was the jealousy that she is with my brother and she would take most of his time and he wouldn't be thinking of me that much anymore. 

 Rico is dead. A love triangle thing; one of his wives shot him after finding out he had an affair although he was already married to 2 women. I guess everything has its limits, even love. Randy, his son, is the one running his business now, he was different from Rico, and he was an honest guy. 

Mom's diner is still there; it was running so well, Ramon and mom decided to expand the place. Ramon said his reception is going to be there. Then he told me how my friends from school were doing. I can hardly remember them though. He said almost every guy had gone out of the town to go get jobs in big cities and the girls were either married or traveling and living their dreams like what I'm doing. 



Not so much to my surprise, Mom is dating my old principal. Ramon had a hard time telling me this so he waited until every other thing was out. When I asked if they were going to get married, Ramon said that mom and the principal were both liberal people, they don't believe in marriages. They are living together though.

I told Ramon about my travels and my adventures. Although, I did not tell him about David, I didn't want him to worry like how all other elder brothers do. 

I had to hung up after 45 minutes, my money was running out. 

 That night I slept a peaceful sleep, I dreamt about mom, Ramon, the diner and my small town and I realize how much I missed being home.