QUESTION NO. 4

Define reality. . . . .

TONIO AND THE BLUE LIGHT

Entry No. 3

Because of the incidents, Tonio was more determined than ever to succeed. He took poverty as a curse that he must break free from. He worked doubly hard.

At four, he would have already waken-up to distribute newspapers at stalls. By six, he would walk to the office where he worked as a messenger and as a janitor. He would also sell candies and cigarettes at the basement floor to to augment his income. By 5 pm, he would then be selling aside, from candies, balut, penoy, and other native delicacies. On Saturdays and Sundays, he would take out garbage for the rich, act as a gardener, or take any odd jobs that he might find. By the time he was thirty, he had saved a decent amount of money to start a small sari-sari store that he thought his future wife could manage. Somehow, he felt secure.

However, whether it was fate that played dirty tricks on him or it really was a curse sent out to haunt him, his simple dream was extinguished in an instant. Selling cigarettes and balut and penoy one night, basket at hand, he did not notice a speeding car as he was about to cross a street. It him hard on the right leg. It almost crippled him. It was a beautiful luxury car, one that Tonio dreamt of owning one day. Luckily, someone saw the incident and rushed him to the hospital. It was Dr. Gonzalo, a scientist that would help him change his life forever.

Dr. Gonzalo did more than just save Tonio's life. His right leg was almost crushed. He now needs a splint for support to help him walk. The money he saved wasn't even enough to cover all the hospital bills. He was thirty, finding another job with his condition would prove to be very difficult.

Dr. Gonzalo came to the rescue. He offered Tonio a job doing household chores. He also shouldered the rest of the bills that he needed to pay.

The good doctor lived in a mansion beyond the outskirts of the city. Tonio later found out that Dr. Gonzalo was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He also learned that he was not a medical doctor but a physicist. On his house he has a lab, which he seemed to work on night and day. Inherently an academician, Dr. Gonzalo had devoted his life researching and discovering. Being super rich, he did not have to work at all. Plus, there were grants coming from different institutions that enabled him to work freely. Night and day, Tonio would hear weird noises coming from the lab.

Knowing very well his situation in life, Tonio tried to return the kindness the scientist have shown him. He served him loyally, making sure that his meals were hot, that his home was well kept, and that he was at his disposal if ever he needed him. A friendship found on servant and master was soon formed. Tonio was allowed to live with the doctor and was trusted with some of the secrets of the house.

During midnight, when Tonio would bring food to the lab, they were able to talk mostly about each other's lives. Most of the time, the scientist would tell him about the wonderful machine that he was working on. It was also on one of these talks that the scientist found out about the famished past he had, the way he worked hard to reach his dream, then falling over and over back again to poverty. He also told him about his being a volunteer orphan. When asked by Dr. Gonzalo what his greatest dream was, he said that it was to become rich. No matter what Tonio did, he could not help but entertain the thought of being more than well to do.

For almost twenty years, this has been the life of the two. The scientist devoted his life building this mysterious machine while Tonio served him faithfully. They were both past fifty by this time. Then one day, Dr. Gonzalo called Tonio inside the lab. Here, the scientist asked him a very serious question: a question that would change his destiny.

The machine seemed to be finished although there was one final step that was needed to be done. It needs to be tested on a human to see if it works. Being the prototype that it was, there were no guarantees on the consequences posted. There was also no assurance on the safety of the subject. The machine Dr. Gonzalo had spent countless moments with is a time machine. It is now finished with the final step waiting.

Dr. Gonzalo explained all of this to the now ageing Tonio. He asked Tonio what his biggest dream was and how he could make it possible to come true. Tonio had flashbacks of his youth. Thinking that finally he would be able to cheat the miserable life he had, he agreed that he would test the machine with himself if the scientist would help him device a plan that would eventually make him rich.

Tonio reasoned that since they were both old, they could not be held liable to any consequence the disturbance of the time frame might produce. They also reasoned that they were dying and the risk Tonio would take would be little as compared to this amazing discovery.

Both of them then worked on the plan. Tonio was to be transported back to the time when he was still twenty-four. There, he must observe himself for one day to find out if the machine had really transported him back in time. Dr. Gonzalo provided a cash check, written on an old checkbook, worth one million pesos. Tonio was to slip this check to his past-self. Tonio's dream would finally come true.

By the third day, Tonio must go to the park inside the city and sit beside a bench to wait for a blue light. This would be his gate to come back home to his own time. The plan was as simple as that. The bargain included the money that Tonio knew he wouldn't enjoy, but his other self would. And this bothered him. Because of this, he made a plan of his own.

When the day of the plan arrived, Tonio went to the lab dressed in a fine suit Dr. Gonzalo gave him. After wishing each other luck and hugging like old friends do, Tonio went inside the machine. There he sat and waited. A few minutes later, a blue light appeared. He felt strange sensations swimming across his body. He felt he was being deformed.

After what seemed to be like an eternity, Tonio woke-up. He was at the park where Dr. Gonzalo told him where he would be. Scrambling to get-up, he brushed the dirt from his suit and started to walk towards the office he used to work at, exactly twenty-eight years in the past. It was early morning, about six-thirty.