Mari and I divided the hut into sleeping and cooking quarters and rigged the mosquito nets up on the supporting poles of the roof. Mari and Auri chose one corner of the hut as theirs, Ren and I had the children spread out in the other and Barbara made a comfortable sleeping space up in the bamboo rafters, from where she could look out to the sea and the stars at night. I went over our stores and found we had half a case of milk, eight eggs, a sack of rice, a little soap and some corn and sugar, a few boxes of matches and a little tea. We also had one hundred pesos which Mr. Lazaroa had given Ren at Goa. Barbara had bought a few candles in her bundle. Each of us had a change of clothes, but only the shoes we were wearing. We settled into our new home and waited for news.
The days were long and very monotonous. Soon after daylight we awakened, dressed and rolled up our mats to make space for day time occupation. Auri made tea and cooked a large pan of rice; this was our breakfast. The children had milk with soft cooled rice. Then we took turns bathing at the hole and washing clothes. Ren carried two kerosene cans of water slung on a pole across his shoulder back to the hut for cooking and drinking purposes. We dared not leave the beach in case we got lost in the forest or met anyone, so the time was spent swimming and lounging in the shade. If we saw a low flying plane all of us hurried into the trees until it had gone.
At noon, Mari cooked corn which was uninteresting, but filling, with it we drank water. The children had an egg with rice and milk. Afternoons were spent dozing in the shade of the hut and in the late afternoon we walked along the beach for exercise. By six in the evening it was quite dark, so at five o'clock Auri cooked more rice for us all and tea to drink, with milk of course for Paddy and Stiffy. Paddy was happy here. There was a beach to play on all day, the sea to splash about in, shells to be collected and fleets of leaf boats to sail in the pools. Stiffy wasn't so happy because he was too small to join Paddy's games and he missed his cool nursery and soft rice and milk was not the diet he was accustomed to. Poor little Stiffy. He was teething too.
At dusk, one of us lighted a smoke smudge of coconut to keep off the mosquitoes. I think all of us were thankful at night that another endless day of waiting had passed. Sitting in the warm darkness on the sand listening to the sea booming on the reef, I wondered just how long we could all live reasonably amicably together. I could hear Barbara crying to herself at night, and at times when she was unbearably sad, she made us all gloomy with her depressing views on our immediate chances of survival.
When we had been living on the beach for three days, the fisherman Macabao had mentioned came to see us and brought fish and eggs and calamancis (small round yellow citrus fruit, which make a delicious drink). Stephen could have juice again!! The man only spoke Bicolano, but through Mari they told us how sorry they were for us, damned the Japanese and said we need not be afraid of them. They stayed a while asking Mari where we came from, exclaiming over the children's blond hair and Ren's bright red wavy thatch. Then they left us, promising to come again in a few days with more fish and fruit. Knowing how poor they were, Ren persuaded them to accept money for any food they could bring us. What a feast we had that night. Fish and rice, calamance juice, and another topic of conversation. We went to bed more cheerfully; but, when everyone else was asleep, Ren told me he was afraid the fisherman might tell their friends about us, when they took their catch into Tabaco market.
The days dragged by. Only the children were happy. Impatiently we waited for Macabao to come. At last he came singing through the trees laden down with food and necessities for us. The news he brought was shocking. Manila was occupied, and all the allied nationals were interned in Santo Tomas University which had been turned into a camp. Brown was a prisoner in Legaspi, starved and ill-treated. Our Iriga friends were all in gaol too. The Japanese were in full control of Caramoan Peninsular. Most of the Chinese had left Legaspi but any who remained and refused to collaborate were tortured. Macabao said sadly there would be many unwanted Filipino/Japanese babies next year. Hundreds of Filipinos had left their homes in the surrounding towns. Pedro sent us his greetings, and told us to keep cheerful. San Rogue had been stripped of all its' treasures, our books and other things of no interest to the Japanese had been put on a bonfire in the garden. The Admiral was indeed living in San Rogue and according to Macabao, his women were wearing my clothes. He could not tell us any news at all about the war in Europe. The Japs had confiscated all radios and anyone found hiding one was shot.
Added to all this disturbing news was the fact that we had to move again. Macabao had heard that the Japs knew we were still on San Miquel and intended sending another search party after us. They had come to the hacienda the day after we left it and looked everywhere they thought we might be hiding, and reluctantly accepted Macabao's statement that we had left for the north some days ago. Threatening to kill anyone found hiding us, they returned to the mainland by launch. Macabao had come to arrange with our fisherman to take us across Casalogan Strait to Cagrary Island where he thought we might find somewhere safe to stay. We had no idea of the day of the week or time of the month and were astonished when he told us it was January 2nd. We had completely forgotten Xmas day. We decided to write the date down and tick off the days that followed.
Once again we stowed our belongings in another little boat. Pedro the fisherman didn't want to take us across the strait very much because it was frequented by fishermen and produce vendors going to Tabaco and he was afraid of meeting them. Ren suggested he cover us over with mats and if questioned say he was carrying a load of sweet potatoes for market. Meanwhile Macabao was talking to Auri and Mari earnestly, then he came up to me and said he had made them see it would be better for all of us if they stayed with his family until more peaceful times came. The two girls hugged Paddy and Stiffy as though they couldn't bear to let them go, called down the protection of all the Saints upon us until we should meet again, and stood tearfully at the water's edge as Pedro made ready to push off. Macabao called that he would find us in Cagrary soon and bring us news.
Pedro pushed the little boat into deeper water, jumped aboard, hoisted the bamboo matting sail, and heeling slightly, the little craft slipped out into the bay. Paddy, sitting once again between Ren's knees chattered excitedly about the fish he could see over the side, the waves lapping the boat and he wanted to know would there be any sand to play with, where we were going. Again Stiffy sat on my knee complacently surveying the sea or dozing or kicking happily. Barbara was upset at leaving San Miquel, the only link she had with her husband.
As the boat tacked across the straits, several boats passed and Pedro hailed the occupants cheerily and said he was on his way to Cagrary to sell sweet potatoes. Crouched under the mats we were very hot and very uncomfortable but as soon as it was safe we rolled them up and sat straight again. Nearly all our adventures seemed to start in sunshine and end in rain, and sure enough the clouds gathered and heavy rain began to fall and we were glad to hide under the mats again. About noon we arrived at Casalogan and Pedro steered the boat up a little creek to a landing place amongst the mangroves, helped us unload, wished us luck, pushed off and was heading for San Miquel before we had finished thanking him.