I thought Achi was humoring me when she said that Pa would’ve been proud of me during the Battle of the Bands night. In my dreams, reuniting with Pa always happens in the far future when I have time to get my shit together. I figured that when I grow up, I’d find my way to become someone my parents could be proud of.
But sitting on our family’s favorite couch, butchering a Filipino Christmas classic—I guess I never thought that my dad would enjoy spending time with the version of me now.
The two of us stop laughing when we hear footsteps coming from the area near the bedrooms.
I turn down the machine’s volume and the melody plays in the background when Achi steps into the light.
Her eyes go straight to where our dad is sitting.
“It really was your voice.”
Finally, my sister can see Pa too.
33
This moment right here? This might qualify for plot twist of the century.
No one in their right mind could’ve ever guessed that both Ilagan sisters would getthisworked up over prom. For a while, I thought that my sister seeing Pa and her joining in on the plan would be a good thing, a more likely win-win for everyone.
Then I remember that she isimpossibleto work with.
Prom and Pa’s fortieth day are scheduled this weekend, and we can’t even decide what dress to get Ma to wear for prom.
“You want Ma to wearthatto Saint Agnes?” Achi gawks at me when I show her one of the options I picked out.
“It’ll look good on her figure,” I insist.
“With that cut, they’ll seeallof her figure.” She rolls her eyes at the gown’s very classy open back and points again at the mannequin in the long-sleeved dress covered with feathers. “I really think we should go with that one.”
“Have you ever been inside the Saint Agnes gym? Ma is going to sweat right through that dress.”
Throughout Christmas break, my sister dealt with Pa’s situation in different ways.
There was denial: “How did you do this? Through the computer? Some new AI thing?” Achi said while patting down Pa’s body like she was airport security.
Anger: “I can’t believe you kept this from me! If the ghost of a dead parent appears, it’s understood that you should tell your sister!”
And the last stage that’s been going on ever since:
Indifference.
Achi has been acting stranger than usual since Christmas. When Pa asked if we wanted to watch the fireworks during New Year’s like we used to do, Achi turned him down and said she’d rather stay inside and avoid the smoke. Even when Pa asks her about her job, Achi never goes into psych mode, and replies with mostly one-word answers. I keep having to confirm with Achi if she actually sees and hears Pa since she’s sure not acting like she does.
So that leads us here, trying our best to not kill each other while we re-create the most magical prom night for our parents. Achi actually proved useful in that aspect since she proposed to the admin that our prom needed more parent chaperones and volunteered Ma for the list.
I really feel it in my gut that prom is the solution to everything. Getting crowned prom king and queen seems like the epitome of my parents’ high school love story. If that all comes back to Ma while she’s “chaperoning” our prom, then she should be able to see Pa.
And we can go past Pa’s timeline of forty days.
Yet to re-create a night that changes everything, Ma really can’t wear a dress that makes her look like a sweaty ostrich.
Pa butts in and tries to act as the mediator again. “Nika, maybe you can reach a compromise with your sister,” he suggests. “Plus, your mom looks good in anything.”
“I can handle her,” Achi says curtly, then moves on to ask the shop attendant if they have a newer version of the dress in stock.
At first, I was trying to give my sister the benefit of the doubt and thought that she’s still processing seeing Pa again, but this is just rude. She keeps avoiding eye contact, following me around whenever I leave her and Pa alone for one second.You would think that she’d be a little more excited to see our dead dad back.
Hours later, after the staff at the store loses all patience with us, Achi and I still can’t agree on a dress. We ultimately decide on letting Ma choose, and having the losing dress (most likely the ostrich monstrosity) returned.
