Second Encounter with the Zafra-kind

A Zafra fan goes to the book launching of TW7STED. She brings 6 Zafra books with her (her three other books are already signed). She had to buy another one to be allowed to go near her idol. She thinks, “I have completed the Twisted Cycle; another Zafra book is too much. The organizers of this event are taking advantage of my Zafraism. But what the heck…” She proceeds on buying J. Zafra’s collection of short stories. With seven books at hand, she gathers herself together as she faces her Twistedness.

Jessica Zafra: ...so all these books are for you?

Fan: Yes mam.

JZ: 'You still studying?

F: No, I'm already working. (Oh, please don't ask where...)

JZ: Where?

F: (Shit!) At Hallmark (the makers of the thing you refer to as “insipid greeting cards”)

JZ: Did you know that Hallmark is the sister company of Anvil?

F: (and of Woman Today and of National Bookstore and of Powerbooks and of Tower Records…. One thing we have in common is that we are pawns of one Chinese family) Yes, I just learned about it.

J: I hope you're not the one writing those greeting cards.

F: No ma'am. I just edit them. (and plan them. I can't write them--I am not gifted with sufficient mush to write them!)

JZ: Do you still have greeting cards in Filipino?

F: Yes. We are the ones who translate them.

JZ: Do you have cards written in different dialects like Cebuano...

F: No.

JZ: You should come out with those...

F: (Ano daw? Tama ba pagkakarinig ko?!?)

JZ: ...even in small...

JZ & F: ...quantities.

F: (Big deal. We both know what the word “quantity”)

***While I’m at it, I’d like to thank Ara for informing me of this event; Charlene for sharing my anxiousness from the office to Powerbooks and all the way through the line; and finally, Leng for telling me what to do when my brain was on idle mode—brought about by fanaticism—and for capturing it all in photos.