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The Tragic Ballad of Maestro Bondoc |
By Luis T. Centina Jr.
(This flash fiction appeared in Homelife, the Philippines' Family Magazine, in 1976.)
For Maestro Bondoc, it was a part of his daily routine to put his fellow teachers down. This course was his cacophonic ballad, his promotional venture, his mark of success. He had that childish glee of playing atrocious pranks in social gatherings, which afforded him a sweepstake of joy and a feeling of heroism. To the rest of his colleagues, Maestro Bondoc was a scourge of God, and everybody avoided him like a plague.
This happened in the barrio school of Macatunac where Bondoc was the schoolmaster. Through wily conspiracy with dirty politicians, he was able to hogtie a syndicate of teenagers who plucked more strings to his already off-key ballad. His subordinates tolerated him because they had no other choice, and to him their silence meant submission to his whims.
Added to the misfortune of the barrio school were Bondoc's sons who inherited all vices from their father and added their own. A daughter schooled in arrogance served as the flower of evil in Bondoc's family circle, a wife with a nasty temper made the tragedy complete. One brainstorming session with the principals in the district, the supervisor decided to do something. Bondoc's transfer was the main agendum of the meeting. Result: Bondoc was "promoted" as Boy Scout Coordinator in order to wipe out his influence. Bondoc was transferred, all right, but he took a turn for the worse. Although his egoistic fever reached sky high, his followers were reduced to outraged boys sulking in their pants.
Twenty years passed. A withering Maestro Bondoc one day was shocked to read that the children of his fellow teachers whom he had once aimed to destroy had now risen to national prominence. This was too much for an envious man who could not tolerate anyone to surpass him. He stroke every key but found only uncertainty and frustration. His hair turned from grey to white and his veins throbbed with futility. He was suddenly an old man, a dirty old man who deserved the epitaph of D.O.M. in the more contemporary jargon.
Maestro Bondoc died hanging from the Judas tree, his fellow teachers now too famous but too far away to learn of his death and to mourn for him.
This happened in the barrio school of Macatunac where Bondoc was the schoolmaster. Through wily conspiracy with dirty politicians, he was able to hogtie a syndicate of teenagers who plucked more strings to his already off-key ballad. His subordinates tolerated him because they had no other choice, and to him their silence meant submission to his whims.
Added to the misfortune of the barrio school were Bondoc's sons who inherited all vices from their father and added their own. A daughter schooled in arrogance served as the flower of evil in Bondoc's family circle, a wife with a nasty temper made the tragedy complete. One brainstorming session with the principals in the district, the supervisor decided to do something. Bondoc's transfer was the main agendum of the meeting. Result: Bondoc was "promoted" as Boy Scout Coordinator in order to wipe out his influence. Bondoc was transferred, all right, but he took a turn for the worse. Although his egoistic fever reached sky high, his followers were reduced to outraged boys sulking in their pants.
Twenty years passed. A withering Maestro Bondoc one day was shocked to read that the children of his fellow teachers whom he had once aimed to destroy had now risen to national prominence. This was too much for an envious man who could not tolerate anyone to surpass him. He stroke every key but found only uncertainty and frustration. His hair turned from grey to white and his veins throbbed with futility. He was suddenly an old man, a dirty old man who deserved the epitaph of D.O.M. in the more contemporary jargon.
Maestro Bondoc died hanging from the Judas tree, his fellow teachers now too famous but too far away to learn of his death and to mourn for him.
