Cigarette Butts

The mid-morning wind blew the cigarette ashes rolling on the grass to the foot of the acacia tree. Between the firm woody roots out of the ground, countless cigarette butts rested in peace.

“The mayor?” yelled Joni upon entering the gates of the municipal hall. “Already there in his office?”

Sevio shook his head, a cigarette cocked in his mouth. He puffed smoke.

Joni stopped next to Sevio. He set his right foot over one huge woody root of the acacia.

“You want one?” Sevio offered a packet, tucking out one stick of Marlboro.

Joni plucked one stick out, put it into his mouth, and ignited with Sevio’s almost-burned-out cigarette. He puffed insatiably, creating thick smoke across his face. As though he hadn’t smoked for a year. “What time will he come?”

“The same as usual, at noontime.”

They waited for two hours, emptying the packet and leaving the cigarette stubs on the foot of the old tree. Had the acacia been a person, he might have complained about the trash they messed around him.

The Toyota van engine broke out as it got through the gates. The black hood shields glittered against the sunlight, mirroring the leaves overhead. It pulled in front of Joni and Sevio. The door beside the driver’s seat opened. A stocky and fair complexion man in Barong Tagalog climbed out uneasily.

“Good morning, mayor.” Sevio and Joni both greeted him.

The mayor did not answer. He showed them a serious look. His face seemed he got the entire world’s problem. “You’ll be driving me today, Joni. He’ll be with my daughter?” He waved to the person in the driver’s seat.

Joni forced a smile. “I’m always glad to serve you, mayor.”

The mayor walked away. Sevio followed him, tossing the cigarette stub behind. It rolled in the air. The smoke spiraled and gone in the air. The stub landed and found its family and relatives.

The mayor entered his office. Before closing the door, he instructed Sevio to watch out for his daughter outside. He sat at his table and checked the papers on it. He stood up, threw back the papers, and went out to call his secretary.

A woman in a lavender blouse complemented by a dark blue mini-skirt stopped by his office. Her smooth legs shone as she passed through the beam of sunlight that seeped in through the windowpane. Her butt stood out as she straightened up. Her V-necked blouse highlighted the cleft of womanhood. She was a package of a beautiful duck.

The mayor’s expression changed. He bit his lips while staring at her. His eyes lingered on the V-necked blouse.

She smiled at him enticingly as she groped the knob behind her and locked the door. He then moved to her eagerly and touched her shoulders.

“I like your outfit today,” he said, casting a leer to the two mountains that would be explored anytime.

“That’s what you always say.” She smiled.

He kissed her on the neck, his hands squeezing her butt.

She pushed him away. “Don’t be too hasty. We’re in your office. Tonight you’ll have me again,” she whispered.

“I can’t,” he protested. “I will go to barangay San Carlos this afternoon.”

“Then you can have me tomorrow night.”

He just grinned and grabbed her and kissed her again. Unable to resist, she gave back the kiss. Their tongues were twisting like barb wires.

They were having a good time on the sofa chair when the knock came on the door. The mayor rose and composed himself up. The secretary brushed the mess in her blouse and set down her mini-skirt. She immediately combed her hair with her hand. And, now she was sitting formally as nothing happened.

The mayor opened the door. A bald man with a sky-blue polo shirt came in, walked to the table, and sank into the chair. “You persuade councilor Rosal tonight. I need the money next month,” he said, crossing his leg over.

“Don’t be in a hurry.” The mayor walked around the table to his chair. “This afternoon I’ll be attending his daughter’s birthday. I will handle him.” He sat down. “You won’t come?”

“You know we’re not on good terms,” said the bald man.

Sevio’s head peeked in the door. “Boss, your Miss Leila is here.”

The mayor gestured his secretary to move out. The secretary did so. In a moment, a cheerful teenager came in.

“Hi, dad!” said Leila. She glanced at the bald man. “Oh, Ninong Gio, you’re here. How are you?” She bent to kiss the bald man’s cheek.

“I’m fine, Liela. How’s your school?” he said.

“She’s a topnotcher,” declared the mayor. “Of course, she’s my daughter. It’s in the genes.” He chuckled.

Liela smiled proudly. “Dad?” she pleaded. “I must go now. My friends are waiting outside.”

“Alright.” He opened his drawer, dug out a white mailing envelope, and gave it to her.

Liela took a peer in it and saw a bundle of one hundred-peso bills. “Thanks, dad.”

“I hope that’s enough. If you have a problem, call me.”

Leila embraced him. He patted her ivory arms.

“Sev, tell Gary to drive Leila and his friends to the city!” He hollered at Sevio. “Use the municipal van.”

At two in the afternoon, they came out of the mayor’s office. Gio headed to the municipal treasurer’s office, the next building, and the mayor went to where his nice black Toyota van was parked.

Joni was waiting under the shades of the acacia tree, making smoke circles in the air. Once he saw them approaching, he rushed to the van’s door and opened it for the mayor. Sevio got in from the next passenger’s door.

“Where are we going, mayor?” Joni asked after starting the engine.

“To Lauro’s house,” answered the mayor.

Before the Toyota van could get out through the gates, a wan and thin elder almost blocked their way. The mayor angrily shouted out the window. “Mang Lucio, what are you doing?”

Mang Lucio, his back hunched, came closer to the window. “I need your help, mayor,” he said with breathing gaps between the words. He put his tattered face towel to his mouth and coughed like a rusty motorcycle turned on after almost a century of preservation.

“How can I help you?” he asked because it was his job.

“I really need to have something to buy food and medicine.” He coughed.

“Okay. You go there to the municipal clinic and ask for medicine for whatever illness that you have. And for your food, you go to the agriculture department for something to eat.” He turned to Joni and tapped his hand on the steering wheel.

The van rolled off, leaving Mang Lucio at the gates under the scorching sun.

Mang Lucio was looking at the luxurious car, vanished as it turned right in the corner. He trudged to the acacia tree to savor the fresh cool air it was producing. He looked down disappointedly. He noticed countless cigarette butts around the foot of the old tree. He thought the cigarette butts were like the mayor, doubly useless. He thought of how the town folks had insistently voted for him, although they knew he was of no help to the town. The mayor had been in the office for three consecutive terms, but progress in town hadn’t been apparent ever since. He had won the mayoral race three times because of his wealth. He had bought every vote. And, who do you think would ever pay for and suffer? The town folks themselves.

“A politician who is always voted to serve his countrymen, but does not do his responsibility, instead prioritizes his personal interest and focuses only to those things which benefit him, is nothing but a cigarette butt,” he muttered those words as though someone who is going to vote was listening to him. He coughed and spat sputum to the cigarette butts.

The van raced along the cracked cement road of the town and braked by the steel gates of a bungalow surrounded by great walls. It was a luxurious house owned by a business owner who also operated gambling in town.

A helper who had a froggy face ushered them into a dimly lit room. The gamblers’ curses and mahjong chips were popping around the humid air. A thick smoke curled up against the fluorescent light over the gambler’s heads.

A tall man with white hair on the sides of his head stood up and welcomed the mayor. “You’re late, mayor.” He tilted his head down to the players. “Give a seat to the mayor.” One player got up and offered the chair to the mayor.

“So, what’s our bet?” said the mayor once he was seated.

“As usual, a thousand-peso per green chip,” answered the tall man.

The mayor took a glimpse at Sevio who was carrying a black pouch. Sevio unzipped the pouch and drew out five bills of one thousand pesos. The smell of the new bills made the mayor more than willing to play.

They began the game. For every round, the mayor would take one cigarette from Sevio. When the round finished, he would throw the unfinished cigarette to the floor and crushed it with his black glimmering shoe.

The tall man, named Lauro, won all the green and white chips on the table. When the last green chip from the mayor was paid to Lauro, the mayor got up frowning. “We will go now. No luck today.” The mayor looked at his watch. “It’s almost two.”

The mayor climbed into his air-conditioned Toyota van and woke up Joni sleeping in the driver’s seat. He puffed his cigarette once more and dropped the cigarette butt on the cement road. They wheeled over, mashing its ember to death.

Author's note: Please continue in Part II