Sudden Fiction: Dozing off in Tokyo


I was late for Daisy and Johnny’s church wedding. This was first for Johnny, but not for Daisy. Her first husband stop showing up even before their son was born. She was two months pregnant when they got wed in a civil rite. Good for her, it was annulled even before her son turned five. There is no divorce in our country.

There were very few people in the church. It was a very simple wedding, with Daisy wearing a very laid and short white dress. But she had very big beautiful green roses decorating the altar. It cost her a lot, she said. What struck me was that the hosts they were supposed to receive as a newlywed couple were still in the altar. That couldn’t be. Every church wedding ceremonies give communions to the newly married couple. In a catholic church, that’s the highlight of every sacrament, except when either the rite is for dead people or babies.

I told them that the wedding couldn’t be over yet. I asked them to wait for me before they take pictures. I went to the parish office. There was an African priest. I was complaining why my friends weren’t given communion. He said, the one who held the ceremony was a visiting priest and came from a very conservative order. He didn’t want to give communion for reasons he didn’t explain. Probably, I thought, my friend wasn’t a virgin bride.

I didn’t know it took me that long to get back to the church. They haven’t started taking pictures, but a charismatic group were preparing to start a gathering already. I was feeling very sorry for daisy. We didn’t want to leave the church without any memorable shots. So, we decided to join the congregation, and hoping we can have our photo session once they are finished.

But daisy didn’t seem very happy to join them. She was singing louder and dancing wilder. It wasn’t fit for charismatic group. But they didn’t mind her, she just danced her heart out.
The singing and clapping ended. And as the lead minister started reading the topic for the gathering, something about not being ready when the end of time is already there, I didn’t get it all fully, the main door of the church was pushed by something or someone wide opened. I saw a man. Was it a man. He was eleven times taller and bigger than the average man. He seemed to be made up of mud. With strong winds, he was rushing towards us. But he blasted to thousand of pieces before he got in.

The door closed in again. It got too quiet inside, I myself didn’t know whether I was afraid or too stunned at the giant mud man. Then someone went out of the church, and came rushing again. There was an apparition of Mama Mary outside, he said. I haven’t witnessed any, but I was too skeptical to just believe in what other people see. I went out. At first I thought I saw a big outline of a giant figure. It was so bright and glowing, I had to shield my eyes. But when I looked at it again. I didn’t see Mama Mary. I saw an outline of an Egyptian warrior. I could see his hair and skirt, and he appeared like a giant liquid figure rushing towards me. I ran back inside and scampered at the back of the altar looking for a place to hide. The Egyptian guy scared the hell out of me. I looked for cabinets and started moving out all the blankets inside, praying that there was a space big enough to hide me. But all the cabinets were too small. I couldn’t get inside. I was crying. Somebody hide me, I was yelling for help.

One altar boy came to me. He said I should go home because many miracles had been going on outside. That’s what he said, miracles. I hurried home. I saw the streets littered with snow drops. There is no winter in my tropical country.

And I saw my family outside our apartment. They were inside a dilapidated van. My mother was nursing one of my nieces. I asked them, why are they outside? I told them to get inside the house where it was safer. My mother told me that it was impossible. It was only then I realized that our four-storey apartment were all skeleton. She had sent my sisters with their families to go to the country side. I saw Grace, the second to the eldest one, and her husband pushing a big carriage of all green-leaf vegetables. Benny, her husband, whose family is into farming, was looking for his bags of seeds.

I ran after them and pleaded to stay. I would look for a place where all of us can be safe.
I ran and ran as far as I could, looking for a place for my family. But everywhere I went, all houses had been crashed down to the ground. There were floods everywhere. The sky was filled with clouds bursting not with water, but snow. It was a very miserable state, but there could really be a miracle. I didn’t see any dead body of people lying around. And I wasn’t afraid at all. I was even sprinting up against a speeding mobile car.

When I got back to my family, I saw my father and husband looking for canned goods that might had been washed in the flood. They said, according to the Bible (like news), it would still take more days so they had to look for more food. I said, water is more important. They said, they had kept some water, with little strange things swimming in it too. Like the many dead animals floating in the flood. I didn’t look very long at them. I would surely throw up if I started realizing I was with them in the same depth of the flood.

I went to my mother. She was in the flood too. With one of my nieces again, I thought, who was standing atop a floating pillow. My mother jokingly pushed her towards me, but her floating pillow went passed me. I tried to get her to me, and saw her face. She was about two years old. With no hair yet. But very healthy arms and fair skin. She kind looked a lot like me when I was her age. Bald head. Sheepish smile. And she was waving back to me, as her pillow brought her to a place farther and farther. that was my pillow. My husband kissed me to come back from dozing off. I was back in Tokyo. (end)