The dream suddenly woke her up. It was so vivid that it brought back all her childhood memories. Everything was flashing through her mind now as she remained in bed just languishing in those memories. She was so amazed at how her long term memory was so clear, albeit her short term ones were…she already forgot what she was thinking of. So she began to retreat to her past, to her childhood in San Marcelino Street.
The property was large enough to contain 4 houses, 3 medium sized ones, and one big main house. In those days it was called a compound.
Located in one of the old parts of Manila, it used to be where the old ‘de buena familias ’(good families) lived. San Marcelino Street was as familiar as Taft Avenue although not as busy. It was a more private residential than commercial area. San Marcelino was the original site of the famous Rustan’s Department Store, which was a block away from where she lived. Rustan was synonymous to high-end fashion and merchandise and still remains one of the premier stores of Manila.
If you walked the streets of San Marcelino you will eventually reach what was once Manila’s municipal cemetery built by the Dominicans during the Spanish colonial period, and in later years, morphed into a recreational garden called The Paco Park. As children, she and her cousins used to go there and scare each other because of the gaping vacant tombs that lined the walls of the cemetery.