For a time we rented our Pandacan house and lived on Guipit Street, near the Arellano Law College. We rented an apartment, stayed on the second floor, and rented the ground floor to a couple who were both teachers. The place was called Plaza Guipit, with a fountain and a church nearby.
My stepmother, Isiong, and our half-brother, Enty, lived with us there. I was then a 2nd Lieutenant, MPC (PA), Headquarters MAC, Camp Crame.
Tony was then 5 years old but he was smart enough to rent his push-and-pull cart to kids for five cents, just to ride around the fountain of Plaza Guipit.
One day I asked Tony to return library books to the Arellano College library nearby by just describing to him how to get there. When he returned, I asked him if he found the Library. He not only described the stairs he took but the number of steps on each of the stairs leading to the Library and leading to the College Hall.
The couple downstairs had no children and they just loved to play with Tony. Mrs. Salazar, a Grade I school teacher, used to take Tony along to her school as “SALING RUSA.”
She found our Tony to be smarter than the rest of her 7-year-old pupils. At the end of the school year, she passed Tony to Grade II. Praise the Lord. The required age for Grade I was 7 years.
One day during meal time, Pat looked for Tony. She found him under a car being repaired handing tools to the mechanic.
Betty could not be found by Pat one day during noon meal. A madre sister said that she saw a girl sleeping inside the church! It was Betty.
There was a fire close to our apartment. Pat got Tony and Betty out of the house with my carbine hanging on her shoulder. I put on my uniform to prevent looters.
We returned to Pandacan after I graduated in 1948.
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