The First Love Of Alipang Havens

Copperfox

Copperfox

Well-known member
~ ~ ~ This is my adaptation, and continuation, of what was a promising roleplay, "Homeschoolers in Highschool." It centers around the chief character I played there, and is authored now by me; but I have invited input from those who played in the old thread with me, as to how I should portray their former characters. I begin, though, years before any of the "onstage" events of the roleplay.


PROLOGUE: THE INVOLUNTARY SAVAGE​

DECEMBER 2000:


A brown-skinned boy, with more scars on his body than there were trees in his view, followed the stirring of tropical grass, offering a chance of something to eat.

There were more than a hundred homeless or poorly-watched children in this tropical slum area on the major island of Luzon in the Philippine Republic; but only one in this neighborhood routinely carried a downward-curved parang knife. It came from a junkyard--rather, the steel part of it had been there, with the hilt splintered away. The boy had found material to wrap the tang of the blade, so the knife could be used again. He had never harmed any human being with his salvaged parang, except in self-defense; but the weapon had killed quite a few.....

Snakes, like the one he had cornered now. With the sturdy forked stick in his left hand, he soon had its head pinned; then his blade chopped through its neck. The same blade would skin it, after which he would eat it raw--sharing it with two of his friends who had no better provider.

This was nine-year-old Alipang Dumagat, son of Mateo and Yolanda Dumagat, elder brother of Esperanza Dumagat. But the others had all died about two years ago. Near the end of 1998, when the boy was barely seven, his mother had sacrificed her life to save her husband when a Philippine brown cobra had bitten him; she had sucked out enough of the venom to keep him from dying--but had died herself as the venom entered her blood through a decayed tooth. Her sacrifice had been made for an unworthy man--who took to abusing his children, finally killing his own little daughter for fun after beating the boy senseless. The authorities had put Mateo Dumagat to death for his crime; but the bereaved Alipang, with no relatives living nearby, had slipped through society's cracks, becoming a bitter young survival machine.

The best times he had in this period were when he obtained day labor, carrying buckets of crushed volcanic rock to be used as fertilizer. What he earned, he shared with his vagrant friends. While he struggled to live, he had a lock of his mother's hair to remind him of the two loved ones who watched him from Heaven; and sometimes he could hear Mama and Esperanza praying for him: praying that God would give him a new family.

If this were ever granted to him, Alipang promised Mama and Esperanza that he would be worthy of their prayers, and would be to the new family the good son and brother he had tried to be for them while he had them.

But he still had two more years of horror and misery to endure before the American missionary family named Havens would come into his life. This, after the wife's heartbreaking infertility had led to an odd compensation. An eccentric and impulsive couple known to the Havenses, bearing the unusual surname of Jakekens (three syllables, derivation uncertain) had been letting Cecilia Havens frequently babysit their blonde daughter; and then they had suddenly skipped the country, leaving word that Eric and Cecilia Havens, a very respectable couple, should have custody.
 
Last edited:
Watch out, though, Bethany; now love and compassion are showing up!

TWO YEARS LATER:


Cecilia Havens, whose dentist husband was serving as a World Vision medical missionary in the Philippines, had had a remarkable dream. In it, she and her husband Eric had been in the jungle, following a trail of blood, thinking there might be some person hurt and in need of help. What they found was a wild pig, gashed with many wounds, ugly and savage and desperate. Cecilia had been terrified of the animal in the dream; but Eric had walked right up to the pig, touching it directly on its dangerous tusks--and at that touch, the pig had turned into a Filipino boy, who appeared the same age as the Havens' eleven-year-old adopted white American daughter Chilena. Then the boy had run straight to Cecilia and hugged her, crying, "Mother!"

At some point, Eric also had a dream, not immediately recognizable as related to his wife's dream. What Eric dreamed of was a full-grown Filipino man, expertly riding a horse at a canter, armed with a pulley bow, shooting arrows at big, dangerous beasts.

That same identical Filipino as a boy, in the waking world, was now sitting in one of two chairs in a Philippine National Police station, his face dull with despair, his hands cuffed and his ankles shackled. In the other chair sat Dr. Havens, who had earned much local goodwill with his donated dental services...who had become aware of this orphan boy's case...and who spoke fluent Tagalog.

"He was caught serving as a gang mule, smuggling shabu," a policeman explained in English, using a Filipino term for the methamphetamine brought into the Philippines by Chinese gangsters. "We know he was forced to do it; the real criminals don't want to get a death sentence from the Special Dangerous Drug Court, so they try to stay anonymous and invisible. He won't be punished in any event. But we've been questioning him for whatever information we can obtain."

Eric nodded. "When you've got what you can get out of him, I'd like to see if I can help him."

The officer lifted an eyebrow. "Help him how much? He's too old to be adopted."

"Not if God helps the adopting parents." Eric felt a momentum building in his spirit even as he said this. But of course, he needed to talk to the boy. Switching to Tagalog, he began:

"Alipang Dumagat? That's your name, right? My name is Eric Havens. I'm an American, and a dentist--you know, a doctor for people's teeth."

He was surprised when this introduction caused the boy to look up at him with sudden interest, saying, "You make teeth better? I wish you had been here four years ago; you could have saved my Mama from dying, and then my sister would have lived too." But he did not elaborate further, so Eric went on:

"The police here trust me, and they told me how you were forced into a gang that used you to run their errands. They told me of all the wounds you got in their gang initiation. You must have been very brave, to bear all that pain."

The boy spoke again. "Sir, my ancestors were Moros on Mindanao; pain in the body means little to us. But there is worse pain: the pain of everyone you love dying, and being unable to save them." His articulate speech impressed the missionary dentist; inside the hardened slum dweller there was a mind rich in both intelligence and feeling.

Eric laid a hand on the boy's shoulder; the boy flinched, but then visibly forced himself to suppress the alarmed reaction. "I'm sorry if a man touching you upsets you," said Eric mildly. "I'll try not to touch you again unless you say it's all right. I also know something about your father..."

Now there was fire in the boy's eyes. "I have no father, I _never_ had a father! Only a beast who cared for no one but himself, and who _murdered_ my sister because he _enjoyed_ hurting people weaker than he! But he's burning and screaming in H-ll now, and I'm _glad_ he is!"

Alipang Dumagat meant every word of this, with all the force he gave it; but he was unprepared for the American stranger's response. Instead of striking him and warning him not to speak ill of any adult...the American dentist was... shedding TEARS. Never in his life had Alipang known any grownup male human being to weep with compassion for the nightmarish life an orphan boy had lived; but this white stranger was doing exactly that.

It was a beginning.

The beginning of complex events which would fulfill Eric and Cecilia's God-sent dreams, transforming the homeless and embittered Alipang Dumagat into the adopted and loved Alipang Havens. He found he was looking at having _two_ sisters: besides Chilena, there was a younger girl from China, now answering to the name of Melody. Cecilia clearly had a temperament just as warm and generous as her husband.

A further step in establishing Eric's paternal virtues came when Alipang, and a lady from the child-welfare service, were guests for supper at the house rented by the missionaries. Any doubts Alipang retained about his new father vanished when it was time to dish out the food. Eric Havens waited for everyone else to be served before he took a single bite. This gesture, unprecedented in the orphan boy's experience, propelled the Christian dentist almost to demigod status.
 
Last edited:
"Instead of striking him and warning him not to speak ill of any adult...the white dentist was...shedding TEARS. Never in his life had Alipang known any male human being to weep with compassion for the nightmarish life an orphan boy had lived; but the stranger was doing exactly that..."

Gosh! that just... touched me. Keep it on, professor! I like it :)
 
FIVE MONTHS LATER (still in the Philippines):

"I comed home and I sleeped all over the night."

"Not quite, Al," said Chilena softly. "It's 'I _came_ home and _slept_ all night.' You don't have to say 'over' with 'all' in this one." They were sitting under a papaya tree reviewing his English conversation skills.

Although it had been her own dream that foretold Alipang's entrance into their life, Cecilia had been afraid of him for a long time, especially afraid for blonde, pretty, emotionally delicate Chilena's sake, as well as little Melody whom they had adopted from China shortly before coming to the Philippines. Afraid at first that in his frequent sudden rages, the wild boy, extremely strong for his size, would injure his new sisters--but in fact, he never hurt them at all, nor threatened to hurt them or Cecilia. When he went crazy, it was always against his new father; and even then, he always ended up clinging to him and begging forgiveness, which Eric always gave.

So then Cecilia's fears had assumed a new form, which in fairness to her was not altogether unreasonable. What if, upon starting to mature, and knowing that Chilena was NOT his actual sister, Alipang were to start having feelings for her which would be completely normal if not related by law, but impermissible once the sibling relationship had been created? This, both parents had prayed about often; and Eric had undertaken to make sure, very tactfully, that Alipang understood what was and wasn't possible.

But Alipang gave no sign of wanting Chilena to be anything other than a sister to him; and after an uneasy beginning, the boy and both of his sisters had bonded with all of the wholesome tenderness their parents could have hoped for. It needed no supernatural revelation to see that Alipang had transferred to these girls his love for his departed sister Esperanza.

That he was highly intelligent was indisputable; but he still needed plenty of psychological support. Because of this, Cecilia, already homeschooling Chilena, intended to keep it up with Alipang too, after their soon return to the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
 
SUMMER OF 2004:

Taking off in a jet--indeed, even being inside ANY airplane--was an astonishing new experience for Alipang. The departure from his native land had been preceded by more vaccinations than he had ever experienced; jabbing with needles didn't bother a boy who had been beaten, cut and burned in a forced gang initiation, but he resented the one that went in his hind end as an indignity.

They detoured back to China, because they were picking up still another baby girl who had been tossed on a roadside as a direct result of Beijing's one-child policy. It was already planned that this newest addition to the family would be called Harmony, to go with Melody. One reason why the Havens were taking on a fourth adoption so soon was that, with Chilena now having an age peer in Alipang, they wanted as nearly as possible for Melody to have the same thing.

Melody was pleased with this plan overall; but she unwittingly embarrassed her parents in the Shanghai international terminal, when she looked around them and then said loudly, "Mommy, there's too many _Chinese_ people here!" *

This, however, did not prevent the adoption from preceding; and sixteen days after landing in Shanghai, Alipang found himself bound for the United States with three sisters instead of two. For much of the time on the airline trip, Chilena quizzed Alipang and Melody on the names of the states of the union.

Cecilia finally told Alipang about her dream of him as a wild boar. He took no offense; "If I could really have changed into one, neither I nor any of my homeless friends would ever have been forced into smuggling drugs."

Eric did not mention his dream of Alipang as a full-grown big-game hunter; he didn't know what to make of that.




~ ~ END OF PROLOGUE ~ ~​


* Based on a real incident with one of my own Chinese nieces.
 
Last edited:
Ginny_JillPole said:
"Instead of striking him and warning him not to speak ill of any adult...the white dentist was...shedding TEARS. Never in his life had Alipang known any male human being to weep with compassion for the nightmarish life an orphan boy had lived; but the stranger was doing exactly that..."

Gosh! that just... touched me.
Click to expand...

*is too proud to admit the same thing*
 
PART ONE: NEW FACES IN OLD VIRGINIA


At a ranch-style house on the outskirts of Smoky Lake, Virginia, beautiful fortyish Elizabeth Tisdale watched her four daughters, fatherless by reason of abandonment, caring busily for the family's growing menagerie of pets and four-legged visitors. The latter category currently comprised two yearling Morgan horses, whose owners had brought them to Mrs. Tisdale to be given low-pressure early training at being led with a bridle. The income Elizabeth would earn from this would help keep the Tisdales' heads above water. The twins Susan and Sharon, oldest of her offspring, were graduates of Smoky Lake East High School; but there was not yet money to send them even to Doverwood Community College within reach of home. Not with Harvey Tisdale enjoying a new life in Argentina with a tango instructress.

Amid making friends with the yearlings, Elizabeth glanced at her youngest, 13-year-old Kim, who was playing with her tawny kitten Leo. Kim was no great burden when it came to clothing expenditures; she favored thrift-shop grunge. But it was a shame that her _reason_ for this preference was what it was.

Baeline, alias Betsy, next up from Kim in age and a sophomore at East High, turned from feeding the hutch rabbits to assess her little sister's oversize babydoll dress and combat boots. Quietly, almost apologetically, she said, "Kimmy--"

"Don't add the Cocopuff part," the younger girl interrupted, her thick dark hair tossing as she faced her fairer-haired sister.

"Kim, then. Do you have any idea _how_ pretty you're getting? I mean, top to toe pretty?"

Hugging Betsy to confirm no hard feelings, Kim said, "You're a flatterer. But flattery from you is safer than flattery from the sharks."

Betsy hugged her back. "In middle school? They're not _that_ bad, Kimmy."

"Ounce of prevention," muttered Kim. "The combat boots stay."
 
Last edited:
>> For this scene, imagine you are hearing the title theme from the movie "Flight of the Intruder."

The water inlets in the vicinity of Norfolk Naval Base limited the number of roads passing through that vicinity, which routinely meant horrible traffic jams. But a newly retired Naval officer could pick his time to drive this gauntlet, rental trailer and all, when the traffic was light. Having obtained online work as an industrial security consultant, he would be able to live and work in a small town, thus leaving behind the congestion, and other things.

Land...causeway...land...causeway...much like the alternation between times of living his own life, and ending the lives of terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere. But one time coming home, Lieutenant Wilson Kramer of the Navy SEALS had found out too late about the attack on his rear echelon. The enemy had been a poofy desk jockey, the enemy's objective Mrs. Kramer...and the casualties were Wilson and his six-year-old son Quinn.

"Daddy, what if Mommy can't find us in Smelly Lake?"

Wilson surprised himself by smiling at that. "Smoky Lake, son, like smoke from a fire. Quinn, do I tell you the truth?"

"Yes, Daddy, you do."

"I hope you always remember that, pal. The truth is that your Mommy doesn't _want_ to find us. What she wants is to play every day with her new friend, and not have to bother about us." The case of desertion and even serious child neglect had been clear, leaving Lorraine Kramer with no visitation rights to Quinn, and not a cent of alimony. In fact, Lorraine had been fortunate to avoid prison time. But her keyboard warrior had a plush defense contractor's job, and would provide for her lavishly--in the safety and security that Wilson and his comrades had bought for them with a different price than money.

Quinn didn't cry; he had already cried enough while his mother was ignoring him for the sake of her fun, well before his father had returned from the last combat deployment. He simply asked, "Why are we going to Smoky Lake?"

"Because a friend of mine and his wife, Eric and Cecilia Havens, will be there. Eric's a little older than I am; we both lived in Richmond when we were boys, and he was kind to me when most bigger boys weren't. I always stayed friends with him. His family was in another country for years; but they're coming back to America, and they let me know that Smoky Lake is where _they_ plan to live. So that's where you and I are going to live, too."

"Is he a Navy SEAL too, Daddy?"

"No, son, he's something a lot more scary: he's a dentist. He was in the Philippines--I've told you about the Philippines, a place with islands and jungles--taking care of people's teeth when they were too poor to get a dentist for themselves. None of his children are the same age as you, but I'm sure they'll be friendly to you when we see them..."
 
Last edited:
There is no short way to fly from the Philippines, or from China, to the eastern United States. But at least from China one can follow a great-circle route, past Japan, Korea, Russia and Alaska: shorter than the Hawaii route.

Flying across the Pacific was largely at night for the Havens family. They would be processed into the United States at the airport in Seattle, to cross the continent after a little recovery time. Alipang, understanding about time zones and jet lag, tried to stay awake all the way, thinking to make the shift in sleep cycle all in one shot; but his body overruled him, sending him to--

--a jungle, much like Luzon. It seemed to Alipang that he stood at the edge of a miry swamp; and from the swamp came cries for help. His birth mother and sister were alive again, but stuck in bog holes and sinking. Moreover, his new mother and new sisters were also stuck and sinking. All of them were too far apart from each other for him to help more than one of them before the others perished. He froze, unable to choose.

His accursed father-in-body-only now appeared before him, laughing, "Failure! Weakling! Nothing you can do! Look at them drowning; and I'll tell everyone it's YOUR fault! You're no use to anyone, HA HA HA HA!"

Alipang wanted to kill the foul two-legged beast; but he was caught and held by--

--his golden-haired adoptive sister Chilena, her arms winding around him as she called him back to consciousness, using Tagalog for her first words to him. "Alipang! It was just a dream! Wake up! See, we're on the plane. You're all right, brother." Melody, in the window seat on Alipang's other side, added her own more childish reassurance: "No big snakes, Al-Al, no big snakes," referring to a past nightmare of his.

Back to normal, Alipang hugged and kissed Melody in appreciation; then, as far as the tight quarters of coach-class airline seating permitted, he and Chilena spent some while closely nestled in each other's arms, while he told her about the latest nightmare.

At last Chilena declared, "Only a couple more hours, and you'll have plenty of new things to distract you from bad dreams. We're going to go up the Space Needle while we're in Seattle!"

"I just hope I doesn't freeze on Seattle," replied Alipang, who had never been outside of a tropical climate until their brief stay in China.

"I'll help you keep warm," Chilena told him fondly, hugging him closer, which he returned.
 
Last edited:
Well, Hannah sweets, you helped make this what it is, by the loving personality you gave to Chilena when you were acting as her.


A warm hooded sweatshirt went far to make Alipang comfortable as the family went about seeing the attractions of Seattle; but he had nothing against also being warmed by Chilena's hugs. Especially at the top of the Space Needle--a different kind of height sensation from flying in a jet. He had never been this high in a building before, even in urban China. Holding on to his sister was reassuring amid the vertigo.

Half an hour later, he had occasion to demonstrate his love for Chilena in a very different way.

The family was on terra firma once more, walking in a park. Chilena was listening to Christian music on her I-pod....when two boy thieves, age 13 or 14, double-teamed her. One rushed at her and shoved her down to the grass, causing her to drop the I-pod; the second scooped up the device and fled with it in a different direction. It took her brother only an instant to realize that she wasn't hurt; but the offense was no more pardonable for that.

The punk with the I-pod was of no importance to Alipang; the one who had laid his filthy hands on Alipang's sister was the target for vengeance. He didn't cover fifty feet before the young Filipino streetfighter tackled him and brought him down face-first onto hard pavement.

But the concrete did less damage to the bully's face than Alipang's fists were doing an instant later. (This, after a punch to the stomach driving all the older boy's wind out.) Powerless as if ten thousand army ants had been stinging him to death, not helped at all by his larger size, the punk wailed like a baby from a mouth losing several teeth. But he was very lucky that Alipang no longer had his old parang knife.

Cecilia hurried to pull her son off of his quarry--and that was how she thought of it, her son a jungle beast close to killing its prey. In the first months, she would have been terrified to try to restrain him in one of his rages; but she knew now that she was sacred to him, and he would meekly submit to her grasp without resisting. Eric, also aware that Chilena was uninjured, had run down the other young thug and caught him without inflicting so much damage, only twisting his arm very painfully.

Alipang's quarry wouldn't be going anywhere now except on a stretcher. As soon as his mother let go of him, the boy raced back to Chilena and to another loving embrace. Their mother still was trying, after a year and a half, to fathom the coexistence in one boy of so much love and so much fury.

This incident cost the Havens family their scheduled flight to Virginia, and gained them a free trip to a police station. Fortunately, the two thieves were already known to the police as troublemakers, and there were several witnesses to the fact of who had first assaulted whom. In the end Alipang was not charged; but they did take his fingerprints...just in case. His parents could have wished a more auspicious entry into America for their son; but it was hard to answer his forthright question, posed in his native tongue: "What else could I have done--LET him hurt my sister and go brag about it?"
 
Last edited:
great story Joe! between this story, Rachel telling me about the RPG, Rachel's poem she wrote about it and her story about summer I'm starting to figure out the storyline........
 
Back
Top