A news item appeared in a Manila daily that eleven blind couples were married in a mass wedding at the Christ the King Parish in White Plain, Quezon City.
This new led to the recollection of mute couple that lived in Tondo long before the outbreak of the Pacific War.
Domingo and Leonila, both mutes, lived with their two children in the upper floor of their two-story house in Tondo.
The couple owned the house and had the lower floor rented to two families for extra income. Domingo worked as a clerk in a private firm while Leonila remained as a homemaker.
The couple’s two children Liza and Henario, aged 14 and 12, were not mute, much to the surprise of all. They used sign language to communicate with their folks. The youngsters were both students in a private school and they had no problem with their studies.
The story around Tondo said that Domingo was not mute when he was a child. One day, he went to Manila Bay with his friends for fun in the water. When he reached home, he was dead tired so he ate a hearty meal and went to bed immediately.
By midnight, the lad developed a high fever which his parents though was just indigestion, tiredness from the sea haunt or the warm evening. The parent applied home remedies and let the night passed through.
The following day, Domingo’s fever was gone but a couple of days, the parent noticed that their son had lost his speech and hearing. Despite medical treatments, Domingo remained a mute.
Domingo’s wife Leonila was born mute from normal parents. Despite her physical defect, Leonila grew up to be intelligent, well-poised woman. A witch doctor claimed that Leonila’s parents were bewitched but medical experts debunked this. No trace of muteness was found in Leonila’s kin. Domingo and Leonila met each other when they were students in the school for the deaf and blind.
When they got married, curious neighbors speculated that their offspring would be mute, but other disagreed.
One late night Leonila was in labor pains and asked Domingo to call a midwife to deliver their first baby. The whole neighborhood was agog with betting over the infant: mute or not.
“It’s a girl of normal weight and crying out loud. Most likely the baby can hear too” announced the midwife when she was on her way home after delivering the baby.
“If you can not tell if she can hear, I lost only half the bet”, one bettor philosophized.
“When you were born, my dear man, no one can tell at birth if you will have hearing deficiency”, retorted the midwife who was irked by all this betting.
Two years later, Leonila had their second child, a boy and like the first child, he was normal in every way. So the good couple and their normal kids lived together blissfully. Domingo has a good paying job, the children were in a good school, and Leonila doted on their offspring, Liza and Henario. What more could a family ask for.
A year before the Pacific War broke out, Liza was a senior in high school. A winsome girl like her mother, she had many suitors but she took a shine on one admirer and they went steady.
When Liza’s boyfriend met her parents the first time he accompanied her home, he was dumbfounded upon learning that Liza’s parents were mute. He broke up with her the next day and Liza’s other suitor’s also lost interest in her when news about her parents spread.
Liza’s younger brother, Henario, at 15, was tall, good looking and honor student. But he also suffered setbacks when he went courting.
When he took his girlfriend home, the girl’s father confronted him.
“Henario, is it true that your parents are both mute?” the girl’s father demanded.
Henario hesitated but found courage to reply. Yes, Sir, they both are.” And he immediately left the place in shame. That interlude cut short his budding affection for the girl of his dreams.
After the Pacific War, Domingo sold their property and the whole family left. Nobody knew where they went and the entire Tondo neighborhood was left with deep remorse for the loss of this very quiet, cultured family.
What a shame……….