Christmas is a special time of year for many people, and for Luz it was even more special this year because her employers in Muscat had allowed her to take her two year accumulated holiday for two months around Christmas. She was so excited because as well as being at home with her husband and her daughter Eva for Christmas for the first time in several years, she was finally going to meet Eva’s American boyfriend, Mike. Luz knew about Mike’s relationship with Eva from their talks on Skype, but she was looking forward to actually meeting him for real.

Luz had only arrived home to Manila on 23rd December, so the meeting with Mike was set for the evening of 24th. Luz loved the traditional Christmas Eve or Noche Buena as it is called in Philippines. First, there was a meal at home, followed by Mass in the local church. Eva had prepared the meal of lechon, queso de bola, and leche flan, with hot tsokolate to drink. For many Filipinos, this would be quite a small meal for Noche Buena, but as Luz and her husband only had one child, Eva, this was enough for the four people who would be present for the meal, including Eva’s boyfriend Mike. Luz was really looking forward to the Noche Buena meal with her family for the first time in years, but unfortunately, this was not going to be the perfect Noche Buena she had looked forward to for months. Luz’s husband was an engineer with Meralco, the main electrical supply company in the Philippines. As the company had to try to maintain power 24/7, some engineers had to be on duty and others on call at all times. Luz’s husband was on call that Noche Buena when his cell phone received a text message about a power outage near the Ninoy Aquino Airport. One of the substations had gone off grid, and the fear was that this could trip a power outage at the airport itself, so he was needed urgently to help restore power to the substation and prevent the airport losing power. This happened just as the family was about to sit down to eat the meal that Eva had prepared. Luz’s husband apologized for having to leave them, but he insisted that they should continue with the meal as normal. He thought that he would be back in time to join them at the church for Mass.

The meal tasted wonderful to Luz, even though her husband was not present. With only three of them eating, Luz soon learned a lot about Eva’s new boyfriend. He was a recent IT graduate from an American University, and through family connections, he had been offered a job in Manila. It appeared that his uncle had married a much younger Filipina wife and he had opened a factory in Manila to export dried fruit to USA, Europe and Australia. The business was successful, and Mike’s job was to be responsible for the company website and e-commerce business, as well as everything to do with the internet and social media. For a geek like Mike, this was the perfect job. Geek was the best way to describe Mike. He was 22 years old, he was tall, thin and he wore glasses. He did not appear to be a sporty type, but Luz soon discovered that he regularly went to the gym and that he kept very fit. However, it was not possible to see that he actually had a very lean and fit body because of the loose, baggy t-shirts that he always wore. Luz was reassured by Mike’s appearance because she had been worried about Eva having an American boyfriend. What she had worried about was that Mike might try to force Eva to have sex with him but, seeing how harmless Mike appeared and hearing his soft way of speaking, Luz felt better. Mike was very attentive to Eva and he had helped her to serve the food for the Noche Buena dinner. Luz allowed herself to relax and to eat food that she had not tasted for more than two years. She especially liked the lechon and she drank a lot of the tsokolate because it was not possible for her to eat pork in Muscat, and the taste of the tsokolate made her think of the many Noche Buena meals that she had enjoyed as a child.

By the time the three people had finished eating, it was time to go to church for the traditional Mass. Mike had agreed to go with Luz and Eva even though he was not Catholic. The three arrived just as the Mass was beginning, so they were forced to sit very near the back of the crowded church. Luz sat with Eva on her right, and Mike was on Eva’s right. Suddenly, Luz frowned a little as she thought that she could see Mike’s left hand placed on Eva’s right leg and stroking up and down slightly. Eva did not try to remove his hand, which made Luz wonder if she had been right about the kind of person Mike was. However, she forgot about her fears because suddenly she began to feel unwell.

Luz realized that she should not have eaten so much roast pork and drunk so much tsokolate because her stomach was not used to such rich food, especially as she had not eaten it for years. She felt that she was going to be sick and she knew that she needed to go outside and get some fresh air because the heat from the candles and the huge crowd of people made the church really hot. Luz whispered to Eva that she had to go out, and Eva immediately told her that she would go with her. As the mother and daughter rose to leave, Mike also rose and left with them. Luz tried to tell him that he should stay, but as he was not Catholic, he said that there was no point in him staying. The three people walked outside and went to the side of the church where there was a small exit that was not used apart from if there was an emergency. There was a small porch in front of the door and a bench inside the porch. Luz sat on the bench and Mike and Eva stood in front of her.