The Clown of Santo Cristo
By: Noel N.
Villarosa
30 December
2019
He had
feared that sadness will take away lives. As if timber chopped down to the
ground, young and old have gone in a hopeless fighting on the brink of death. In
his simple mind, he was curious on how to make people enjoy life. He was always wearing a contagious smile that
communicates to everyone to confront fears and turn it into a good possibility.
Wherever he went, he witnessed hardships, conflicts, devastations, and loss.
Sometimes it echoed close to his ears, “find a lost soul and bring him/her back
to real home.”
The Clown
of Santo Cristo was literally not a clown gestured with baggy clothes, large
shoes and a big nose. He was not a clown to perform funny faces and movements
but contoured himself to liberate someone from distressing situation. He was
not for theatrical but most often visible on residential, parks, hospital, and
graveyard.
The Clown
of Santo Cristo grew up in a conflict-torn place with different religious
views. He usually preferred to stay locked up in his room when everybody was arguing;
he tried to avoid caught between crossed fires of debates. One thing that
changed his way of thinking was the cry of every child battered by
conflicts—shocked and traumatized by the restless gunfire. He promised that he
would be a constant companion should one need to be heard and comforted.
When there
were moments when people were running, he immediately understood the heartbeat
of fear and their eyes were telling that a danger awaits. His presence will
always listen to stories, no need to dictate on what else to be done, he simply
needs to be there to help heal the flaw and fickle of time. The test of the
first instance to prove his compassion for helping others was when he saw a
small child desperate to reach with all his will the toy that has fallen in the
drainage. He held the child’s one hand and his hand served as an extension until
the child reached his beloved toy. The child displayed an overwhelming joy when
he retrieved his toy, the smile reflected his complete satisfaction. From that
day on, the clown has promised that he will peek through darkness to scatter
light like sunlight giving new breath in life even for just a moment before
they realize that suffering like waves never stop coming that they will need to
row gently. The clown promised that he will help assuage their pain, to provide
his shoulders to cry on, to make them laugh in the face of insults,
disappointments, and threats. To scream out loud their agony, in able them to
release their feelings for he believed that tomorrow has still a rainbow to
glimpse on.
Sto. Cristo was once a quiet and serene
place had now become a battlefield between government forces and the extremist
group. At a young age, the little clown was with other kids spreading joy and a
feeling of belongingness in the backdrop of violence. The little clown would be
their tour guide for safety and away of threatening danger. The little clown
succeeded in bringing the oppressed back to the normal world of reverie and
amusement.
The clown grew up with empathy and
responsibility to human beings. As proof of his extraordinary traits, some have
lived to tell his great exploits.
The air suffused by the smell of gun powder
and abandoned cadaver. It was a sign that the prolonged war has ended which has
to proceed in embarking to a journey of new life. But what is left was
unimaginable, with so much devastation not only to property but also in many
innocent lives.
The missing children. The wrath of war left many families separated
and lost from their loved ones. On the occasion of celebrating the feast of the
patron saint of Sto. Cristo, the clown saw a small gathering of parents, being
curious and well known for his being friendly and a habit of mingling with the
crowd, he found out that those parents were grieving for their missing
children. The clown immediately assessed the situation and gathered whatever
information he could use in finding those children. One thing he assured that
those children were still alive and just being somewhere displaced. The clown
was mostly visible in public places showing the pictures of the missing
children. Before the day ends, he passed by a convent who do voluntary work for
charity. He met Sister Anita. Sister Anita was in charge of teaching catechism
for children. Sister Anita has the admiration for the wonders of the world that
she feared of war and when asked how she handles children desperately seeking for
a true family—she honestly will say, “I always pray for them and offer my arms
for their protection.”
The clown had showed to Sister Anita the
pictures of all the missing children. “Did you get a chance to meet one of these
children?” the clown asked.
Sister Anita shrugged her shoulders and
said, “Sorry sir, I have little recollection of the many faces of children whom
I met, but if ever I will see any of them, I will inform you.”
“I hope you’ll be able to recognize one of
them, as their parents were desperately longing for them for a long time now,” the
clown pleaded.
Sister Anita made assurance to the clown
and replied, “Let me tell you one occurrence that happened many times. One day,
as I was with other nuns and not dressed in our religious insignia, as we were
having a light saunter in the park, a lady noticed us and asked if we were all godly
sisters.
“Surprised by her asking, I asked on how she
figured it out.
“The lady replied that she observed how we
comported ourselves with dignity and grace at that moment.
“Invigorated by her admiration to nuns, I
thanked the lady, many people will approach us in many ways—be it for help or
spiritual guidance, so in many cases, we are always in touch with people and
somehow we could gather some information about the missing children.”
As Sister Anita walked the cloister, the
clown felt something deeper to know in her personality, a challenge to explore.
Sister Anita decided to take her
habitation in a more secluded place where she confided when spiritual impasse
aroused. She spent in silence, lauded and venerated God every morning. She was
mostly could be seen in every corner of the street to proselytize one’s
particular faith.
The clown visited the police station. He
encountered the blotter section of the police station intermixed with different
class of people, mostly low class citizen being the complainant or being
accused of the crime. The most unpleasant to see were those juvenile being
abused by some lawless element of the society. Some teenagers were involved in
some troubles or handled by syndicate to be an accomplice of the crime. The
clown approached the officer in charge of the blotter section and saw the thick
leather-bound record book.
“I am following up the case of the missing
children, any latest case update?” the clown politely asked.
The police officer opened his notebook and
replied, “From time to time, parents were insisting to give them information,
but we still don’t have a substantial evidence that will lead to their
whereabouts.”
The precinct’s phone was ringing off the
hook and another visitor arrived that loaded more concerns to the officer in
charge. The clown left the precinct and visited house to house on children’s
parents.
The clown addressed his questioning with
one mother, “When was the last time you saw your child?”
“It was 3 in the afternoon and she was
playing outside, I was gazing at her but in that brief moment that I checked
what I was cooking, upon return my child suddenly lost at my sight. I searched
around but she was nowhere to be found,” the mother replied.
The clown made his way to another parent’s
house and asked the same question. The mother replied, “My daughter was in the
school and when I went to pick her up, she did not show up, even her teacher failed
to give me a clear information.”
While most of the missing children were
gone mysteriously, there was one child confessed openly by the parents had run
away and sulked somewhere else. The mother pleaded to the clown to search for
her missing child, “Please help us to search for our child who was gone
missing, I felt that it was not normal for our child to go on prolonged sulk,
she should be coming back on her own accord. I have already informed my friends
and relatives that my child had run away, and if by chance they would see her
to notify me rather than thinking she was out and about. I hope my child stayed
with a friend or close relatives just for hanging out to vent.”
The clown had finished his interview with
the parents and gathered information which could be useful in his quest for the
missing children. The clown took a deep whiff of the morning wind. The clown
knew that Law Enforcement will shun the use of divination. The clown was always
motivated to help others by any means and for him it was highly regarded the
effectiveness of map dowsing where the laws of physics was applied with proper
harboring of important details of date, time, and geographical location—the
missing person could be located using the Y-shaped twig or two L-shaped metal
rods. The clown claimed no magical power but it all comes down to his
intuition. It has become habitual for
the clown to be attached the soil. The clown loved sitting on the ground or
walked barefooted to allow those negatively charged free electrons to enter his
body. The clown used to interact between the electro-magnetic fields under the
earth and through his blood to connect with a thing or living things that
released energy fields. He used the traditional Y-shaped twig and his intuition
to absorb the positive energies.
The clown held his Y-shaped twig and as the
motion of the pointer or changes in direction was supposedly in response to
what he asked during the process of dowsing, it will either flick up as a ‘yes’
response or flick down as a ‘no’ response. The clown mostly had seen wandering
around from the children’s house as starting point to see the turns and twists
of the twig.
The clown asked questions while holding
the Y-shaped twig, “Is this the path that will lead to the missing children?”
The twig flicked in positive response. The clown asked the right questions that
will lead to the right answers. In just following the trail dictated by the
twig, the search ended up in a curved road with copse and big trees obscuring
the view ahead. The clown decided to continue his search for the next morning
as darkness will make his search impossible.
The clown made his way to the hospital for
someone to visit. As he passed along the emergency ward, he saw Sister Anita
which seemed to be in anger and arguing to the hospital staff, as the clown
moved farther away to the ward, he thought that it was normal for a nun to
become angry sometimes. The following
day, the clown visited the convent and met with Sister Anita—he greeted her and
asked if she had a chance to see one of the missing children. Sister Anita in
that particular instance had shown irrational behavior, she was abruptly
processing opinion which has become perplexed and her rapid speech was hard to
understand. The clown had noticed that Sister Anita had sudden outrage and
becoming more short-tempered during her disquisition. The clown politely left
the convent and went house to house for each children’s place to repeat the
same procedure of using the dowsing technique, he wanted to confirm if it will
lead to the same curved road with copse and big trees. All he knew was his
intuition was properly communicating with the energy that surrounded him. The
first, second, and the next to the last house all led him to the curved road.
The clown decided to do the last retracing of the children’s footsteps. The
clown went to the flea market to buy something. Along the stall of used
clothes, the clown managed to see Sister Anita with a handful of used clothes
where she was haggling to swap into new sizes of clothes and shoes. The clown
was puzzled as to where the nun would be sharing it. The next morning, the
clown continued his dowsing among the last batch of houses, the trail still led
him to the curved road. The clown forged ahead into the dense forest. He had
his twig confirming which way to go. After a long trek, the clown reached a bamboo
hut which was dotted around big trees. The clown furtively moved closer into
the hut, he heard an adult female voice, “This clothes for you, this shoes for
you, put them on to bring out a glam on you.”
Then a young voice replied from inside,
“Thank you, Sister Anita, this is a lovely dress.”
“Only I cared for all of you,” the adult
female responded. The clown suspected that the one young voice was not alone
but with someone else. The adult female spoke again, “Outside is no longer
safe, only within these four walls of the hut is your safe haven, there is
still a war outside, your parents might have abandoned you and they might have
died from crossfire and heavy bombardment. I will provide everything just
believe in me and don’t go outside as the militant group may take you.”
From behind the bamboo walls, the clown
peeped through the slats and saw the one behind that adult female voice—it was
Sister Anita. The clown was mystified as what he had witnessed, the searched
ended right there and he could not find answer as what impelled Sister Anita to
take into custody those children without their parent’s consent. The whole
cosmic marvel of time and reality was now at the mercy of the clown’s perfect
timing for rescuing those children. The clown waited until Sister Anita left
the place. At that moment, the clown thought of ways to convince those children
that he would do no harm but will rescue them from Sister Anita. When Sister
Anita had left, the clown immediately entered the hut and convincingly talked
to the children, “I have come to save you from Sister Anita, she is not in the
right mind to hold you captive here, your parents are looking for you, they are
all still alive contrary as to what Sister Anita has told you, let me bring you
all back home.”
One child refused to obey, “We don’t know
you, may be you are one of those bad person who killed our parents.”
The clown showed one picture of that child
with her mother beside her, “This is your mother, she just talked to me and
asked me to bring you back to her.”
The child felt sincerity over the clown’s persuasion,
then cried and embraced the clown. All other children now believed the clown
and they gathered around the clown as their rescuer. The clown managed to
handle the situation, he led the children out from the hut and into the trek
covered by dense forest. When they reached the main road, the clown asked for a
ride from a passing truck. All the children safely hopped in the truck for a
ride to their place. The clown gave the children candies as his simple treats.
The brainwashing of Sister Anita created a psychological impact on these
children--on the way home, the clown was touched seeing those innocent and
tuckered out children.
The children reunited to their parents and
it was an overwhelming joy that gleamed on each face. The clown reported the
egregious deception and shenanigans of Sister Anita. The clown through profound
investigation about Sister Anita had discovered that she was suffering from schizoaffective disorder.
The very reason she had shown irrational emotions and behaviors with series of
depression and mania. She could not control being in the state of feeling great
she do not want to end, repeatedly denying of any problems that exists,
harbored in her mind that life shall always be wonderful. Sister Anita was
lovely and sympathetic but deep in her personality was an awful secret that
harbors guilt and seclusion. The Correctional Institution for Women had taken
into custody Sister Anita and from there she underwent medication and
psychotherapy that can help manage her mania disorder. The authority disclosed
the case as solved--the clown considered it as one moment to be collected among
odd facts and feats.
The
Sickly Child. The
clown visited a town known for its vast green sanctuary garden for growing
different kinds of culinary herbs. It was a cloudy morning while he walked in
the drizzling rain, damping his skin over a chilling atmosphere. He came across
a child looking out of the window and had a soften smile on his face as if
longing for someone. The clown held up his head and put his best smile to show
his presence. The clown greeted the child with his one hand held up waiving to
the child. The child responded with a smile.
“It looks like the rain will still going
strong, can I take shelter inside your house,” the clown asked.
The door creaked open, and a grinning
mother welcomed him to come in. The clown introduced himself to the lady and
opened up his concern to the child, “Your son looks like lonely and feeling
lost.”
The lady responded, “He lost his dear cat
all of a sudden, I just lighten up his mood by saying that his cat might have
stuck high up on a tree and was afraid to come down. But my little boy just
fell into silence and depression. I felt that it was like his first encounter
with death of a loved pet which he considered as part of the family. He felt
heartbroken in losing his cat. He remembered his cat to greet him first in the
morning and his first to look for comfort and companionship when feeling sad. He
felt guilty as he failed to keep his cat safe.”
“I would like to help your child go through his grieving process, do you
have a picture of his cat, and maybe I could help in searching,” the clown
insisted.
In response to the kind offer of the clown, the mother accepted his
offer and gave him the picture of the cat. “My little boy fondly called him
‘Kurt,’ the master of communication,” the mother continued.
Right then and there it seemed so clear for the clown the rush of finding
the cat. The faint smile that the boy projected was all he could think of. So
eager that the clown moved from place to place for searching, he come across a
garden full of catnip that all he knew for certain that cats will respond
through inhalation of its chemical called Nepetalactone. It was capturing the
cat’s attention that creates a feeling of euphoria that they will intend to
stay on that place. While analyzing the facts, the clown decided to enter the
garden, it was an antique garden, the right place to ponder. The plants grown
there led to sneaky suspicion that might reveal that someone has something to
do with the disappearance of the boy’s cat. The formless doubt begun to form a
clear picture when from the slightly opened door showed some lab animals for
medical research and some like furry animals being stuffed with foam or wool.
The clown believed that the occupants were a taxidermist and were selling the
mounted animals to museum including hunting trophies. The clown heard from
another room the sound of meows and purrs which dragged his feet to enter the
room, and he saw different kinds of cats being encaged, just enough to
recognize one cat which belong to the boy. The clown immediately took hold the
situation and slowly grabbed the cat in his arms and rushed outside. The clown
excitedly returned the cat to the boy which brought happiness to the boy. The
clown reassured to the boy that his cat will no longer roam somewhere as he
promised to plant in their backyard the catnip plants. Every day, the boy could
offer the fresh leaves to his cat to stimulate lively feeling. Aside from this,
the clown also built a cat-friendly litter box to meet the cat’s needs. The
clown also set up a puzzle feeder to integrate playtime and putting treats
inside the puzzle as a reward to his cat. Before heading to another place, the
clown left a good advice to the boy, “Since your cat is a master of
communication, you should always understand his body language as a way of
communication, and you should know when he wants to play or whether he wants to
be left alone, it will create strong bond of trust between you and the cat.”
The clown had reported to the authority the garden place having a taxidermy
business and lab animals. It should be investigated whether it was operating
legally or not and there could be more missing pet inside the lab that needed
to be returned to the rightful owner.
The Headstone Epitaph. The clown would
once in a while visited the cemetery, he had this strong fondness of wandering
around the cemetery and read details written on every headstone he would passed
by. He was looking for the oldest existing carved gravestone and an epitaph
which could incite him to ponder more about the dead person. There was one
gravestone that attracted his attention, headstone with inscription that reads,
‘I died searching for my abducted child.’
“What a notable message inscribed on this headstone, it is very clear that
until his death he was not reunited with his child, a very sad tragedy which he
intends to be constantly living up through his notable words to relay strong
message that life has somehow passed but not this way that someone is missing
as he cannot accept his child is not standing by his grave to mourn,” the clown
expressed.
The clown noted the name carved on the headstone, and the date of birth
and death. The clown headed to the nearby church who managed the cemetery
records. Someone said that cemeteries were excellent sources of genealogical
information. The name in the headstone was a good source in locating other
relatives and other family information. The records revealed that the entombed
body used to live in the city before moving in the province of Sto. Cristo. The
deceased had one daughter and the records revealed his family information. The
clown even though not aware of the whole story will start a mission to search
for the child and to bring her standing before his father’s grave. Based on the records he gathered, he
discovered that the child was around the age of 5 when abducted. The clown went
to the immediate family and introduced himself to the family.
The clown asked brief description of the missing child and abductor,
“How was the child abducted? Any descriptions of her clothing, and did you see
any suspicious prowler around the vicinity? Any person who had last seen the
child?”
An uncle replied, “The child was last seen by a neighborhood, they told
that our niece was watching a graffiti artist and when the artist was gone and
so was our niece. The neighbor saw that the artist was bringing one of his
unsold painting of a father and a daughter watching the sunset from the
breakwater and my niece as if by magic independently followed the artist. My
niece was wearing a pink woollen cardigan with JK inscription on it, her own
mother crocheted it for Julian Kitty, and this was her picture when she was 5
years old and she was missing 6 years from now, perhaps still recognizable when
compared to this picture. She has a port wine stain on her neck. Both parents
left the city and returned back to Sto. Cristo to forget the sad memory of
their child. Her parents died because of depression that weakened their health.”
The clown pursued many tips, and went wherever he could find crowds, he
relied on his ‘Indago Felix’ by connecting relevant information to his intuition.
His journey has taken him to places he could never have imagined, he witnessed
many children worked on hard labor farms, challenged the danger in digging and
mining, begged for alms on the street, worked on packaging factory, and
undesirably working as domestic workers in private homes. The sequence of bad
images have dinged into worries upon seeing the many faces of child labor. The
clown hoped that the child was not drafted into impossible terms. The clown
looked where there were events of painting graffiti even in the dead of night. The
graffiti artist might be roaming around to victimize another child. One day when the clown was walking along old
walls of the city, he saw kids from a children foundation cleaning up the park
as part of their community service and in broad daylight, he spotted a graffiti
artist doing his task. The clown noticed that one kid from the foundation
walked away from his group and approached the graffiti artist, seemed the child
was attracted to what the artist was painting.
The clown observed closely and from afar he saw the artist seemed
talking to the child and suddenly packed up his things while the child
voluntarily followed him. The clown mistrusted the situation and in knee-jerk
reaction followed the artist and the child. The artist and the child turned into
the alleyway and rode to a car on standby. The clown followed the vehicle until
it reached a pier and transferred into a small ferry boat. The clown hired a
small fishing boat to follow the ferry boat. The ferry boat landed on a small
island, a secluded place where only few knew. The clown to be stealthy without
looking suspicious has told the fisherman to delay their docking, and when time
dictated more convincing, they docked the boat and told the fisherman to wait
until he arrived. The island encompassed of tangled mangroves on the seafront, he
saw a hut with bamboo fenced, a clothesline which dresses belong to children
aged 5 to 12. The clown thought that those children were kept away from play
and other activities as the place was very quiet. The clown moved silently into
the hut, and from the wooden slat door revealed children of different ages, and
he recognized one girl with a port wine stain on her neck and upon comparing it
to the picture that he was bringing, the girl looked the same and that could be
the girl as described by the uncle. The clown heard footsteps coming from
upstairs, the artist bringing the portrait of a father and daughter watching
the sunset from the breakwater. The artist appeared in front of the children
and told them that someone will take care of them to make them a healthy child.
The artist had lured children to stay in his place with the promise of giving
them everything they want. As it was obvious to see that they were provided with
good foods, clothes, toys, and a promise that they will be brought to Disneyland.
Children were gullible and innocent. They can be manipulated. From another
room, someone came out wearing white coat, seemed to be a doctor or laboratory
technician bringing a box of medicine. The white coated person who looked like
a foreigner brought out an injection and tried that to one child.
“This won’t hurt, promise after this, you will feel strong and healthy, if
you passed this test, you will be with me in Disneyland,” the white coated man
said. The child seemed to be unconcerned of what kind of side effects that
might happen. The clown easily
understood what was happening inside the house, what he saw sent fear and sunk
deeper in his mind that those children were held up for purpose of clinical
trials by multinational company for testing new drugs. They were conducting
unethical clinic testing for abducted children to avoid getting informed consent
with parents. These clinical trials have been circulating mostly to developing
countries. The clown thought that the situation needed to be taken seriously
because those test can cause death as those children were vulnerable to harm. The
clown had forged a plan. He thought first of destroying all the medicines
inside the storage and tried to delude the two abductors by bogging down the
diesel generator, this will make the two abductors be busy in fixing the
generator set, as the event happened the way the clown planned it, it gave him
a chance to get those children out of the confided house. The clown brought the
children to the city hall to trace their parents and be reunited to their family.
The clown reported the whole incident to the authority and told them where to
find the abductors. The clown brought the girl with a port wine stain to his
uncle. The uncle was speechless upon seeing his niece after missing for such a
long time. The clown suggested that the
child be brought to her father’s grave to fulfill her father’s dreams. The
child stood there and wished that his father was happy in another dimension.
But there was something that overshadowed the empty time and space—she felt her
father’s memory formed a connection where words could not be expressed.
A Knight Descended. Time had changed, many had gone and finally
returned home. The clown was totally unaware of how he had aged and body
deteriorated. The clown loved to pamper himself by stargazing, while outside, he
noticed a young boy also staring the night sky with the thousands of stars that
he could wish for. The clown had noticed that the boy was crying. The clown
couldn’t bear to see the child in such a state, and so he approached the little
boy and from the boy’s story, the clown found out that the militant men had killed
his parents.
“That bright star always captured my
attention, I wished I could name that star with my parent’s name,” the little
boy said.
“I understand you want that star to be the
mirror of their lives and to feel their presence all the times,” the clown
reciprocated. “I remembered when I was young, same age as you are now, I was
mostly fascinated of simple things to be amazed by the horizon where I can see
the moon and the stars, and I looked up in the sky to catch a glance of the
most brightly star.”
“I think it’s impossible to name those
stars with my parents’ name,” the child stated. “I remembered, I was with my
parents, the first time I saw a falling star, for me it was inspiring even for
a short time.”
“I wish I could help you, but let me know
your parents name and their zodiac sign, let me see what I can do,” the clown
promised, gently rubbing the boy’s head.
The clown was so eager to figure out how
to make the boy happy again. The clown hated waiting so he decided to name star through online registration, this was the
only way to acquire a star by adopting it, though unofficial, it was still a good
idea to reward the boy with virtuous pride. The clown had registered for a
binary star for the boy’s parents and they issued in return a printed
personalized star registration certificate indicating the exact location of the
boy’s star. And a moving message, ‘Shine brightly and never dies’ was printed
in the certificate. The clown brought this to the little boy.
“Accept this as my gift for you in memory
of your parents,” the clown stated.
“Is this real? My parents name already
assigned to that star. I am deeply moved by your kindness, how can I able to repay
you?” the boy insisted.
“There is nothing to worry about, I am
happy to see you being proud of your wish come true, I am old now and sickly,
at least I am relishing all of the moments in sweet reverie,” the clown
expressed.
The little boy approached the clown and gave
him a big relieved hug. “Thank you, may I know your good name Mister?” the boy
asked.
The clown stopped for a moment to contemplate
a rainbow arc. The clown uttered, “See that rainbow? Do you know how those
parallel stripes of different colors appear? I am like a sunlight deflected
into different colors, just like a friend who comes out to lend a helping hand
for someone’s misery. You can call me, Clown of Sto. Cristo, the people who
knew me were used to calling me that name and I preferred calling that way,”
the clown explained.
Many years had passed and like many others will reach an end. It was a
gloomy morning unfolding, the wind swayed in the direction nobody can choose. A
shadowy cloud that lurked above was totally inconceivable as the panoramic view
of the field turned into unforgettable stage play where everything that was
visible needs to scroll their vision for navigating the views. One can feel a
rhythmical throbbing of the nature but darkness enveloped a room where time has
ended layering another journey for the clown. The wind whispered the coldness
of sorrow that wrapped a lifeless heart of the clown. A knight had descended
from his horse after a long journey. All his heroic deeds will be forever in
the heart of people who knew him.
Posted also in: https://www.wattpad.com/842708861-the-clown-of-sto-cristo-part-1-the-missing
