One Time an Old Dude was Hitting on Me and I Liked It

Yeah but hear me out first.

I always love a good conversation. I don’t care who you are or what you’re doing as long as we have the same vibe the moment we’re talking then we’re good. We could go on for hours and in the end feel like we’ve shared something valuable. Something worth remembering. Like the time lolo tried to have a chat with me.

It was a normal day as I was waiting for my train to arrive for school. I was late, I was finishing up my requirements for graduation and I hadn’t slept properly in the past few days. Given that my university doesn’t have any dress code, I was wearing a very unflattering pambahay-ish shorts, shirt and flip flops. I wore my forever-dependable sunglasses as well to camouflage all of my insecurities for not a single type of makeup was on my face. To make it short and simple, I looked like I just got out of bed. The combination of excessive caffeine and terrible loss of sleep gave me strength to not care at all though.

So when I saw the train at a distance, I automatically got to the platform where the special coach for females and senior citizens would stop. Used to everything being done routinely, I didn’t notice that an old man was standing next beside me. Since he was a senior, I gave way so that he could enter the train first.

He was a familiar face. Riding the train everyday gives me a certain sense of community. Same faces going to places they had to go to. Doing their own businesses as I did mine. And in the three years of that type of familiarity, I realized I never had a decent conversation with someone out of my connections. I always notice him for being so jolly. I am not checking him out, the title is misleading. I repeat, the title is misleading.

Anyway, as I was saying, he has this light demeanor where he’s always smiling, doing small talk with the girl in charge at the ticket booth, saluting at the security guard and greeting random people who randomly has eye contact with him. Oddly enough, it’s easily noticeable whenever he’s not there. So on that day he approached me and said good morning. I said good morning back.

Lolo: San ka papunta, iha?

Me: Sa school po, lo. Kayo po? (wasn’t expecting he’d start a conversation with me.)

Lolo: Sa school din.

Me: Nag aaral pa po kayo? (a somewhat stupid assumption, I know. Give me a break I haven’t slept in a while)

Lolo: Ay hindi. Nagtuturo ako part-time. (he chuckled and gestured playing a flute to make me understand. He had some kind of a wind instrument hanging on his neck as well.)

Me: Ah. Kaya po pala ang galing niyo magpatugtog ng flute. (he always plays while waiting for the train).

Lolo: What’s your name, iha?

Me: Trish po. Kayo po?

Lolo: (Says his name but I forgot L I’m so bad at remembering names). Madalas kitang mapansin pag nandito ka sa stasyon. Ang gaan kasi ng aura mo.

Me: Talaga po? (I was so flattered given that I felt so ugly and stressed out that day.) Si lolo talaga, bolero.

Lolo: hahaha. Pasensya na. Mahilig lang talaga ako magbasa ng tao. Hula ko zodiac sign mo, Sagittarius.

Me: :O Opo. Hahaha paano niyo po nahulaan?

Lolo: Talaga? Akala ko magkakamali ako. Mukha ka kasing free-spirit. At parang ang strong ng personality mo.

*I smiled for a second not knowing what to say. Man, of all the guys who approached me, this dude was definitely getting my attention. Haha!*

Lolo: Sagittarius din kasi ako.

Me: Kaya ho pala magka-vibes tayo, lo.   

The entire train ride, we were talking to each other. He was in his mid-70s. He told me short stories about his youth in Manila. He gave comparisons on how it was before to how it was at present. He told me he sings before and how he loves music. I asked him was that why he was so good at playing his wind instruments. To my surprise, he told me it was a new hobby of his – just months old. He just got a hang of it then decided to play at the mall and teach kids part time.

He confessed that at first he was also doubtful because of his age. He was already old, he emphasized. But he loved what he was doing and though it did sound too cliché and rainbows and butterfly-ey, it was the plain and simple truth.

And in that chaotic, crowded moment (both the train and what’s happening inside my head), I was inspired. His jolliness was contagious. He was the one with the “light aura”. For a stranger thrice my age to approach me and impact my day in some way, that is why I liked it so much. And I cannot forget it. Too bad I didn’t have a camera at the time and I regret it so much for forgetting his name but the whole conversation stays with me. Now I just had to write it so when I’m 70 years old, I’d be able to get back to this and remember again.