Desperate Housemates...

As I came down the stairs, I could already hear "House" playing yet again on our DVD.

Aaah, Julienne's home, I thought to myself.

There was Jules, sitting on the couch, eating her trademark unsalted peanuts and beans.

"Mornin' sunhine," says she, without looking away from the TV.

"Hi cupcake," I greet back.

I sit next to her and grab some of her food.

"Where were you for the past three weeks?" I asked casually.

"Oh, here and there," she says just as casually, "I have a couple of pics.

The couple of pics turned out to be about at least two hundred.

"Where's this?" I ask about the pic above.

Without looking at the picture I was referring to, eyes glued still to the TV, she answers, "Agusan Marshlands. I was there for about a week."

I didn't even ask what she was doing there.

"How about this one, where was this?" I asked.

She still didn't look, but said, "The one where I was in the raft? Some river in the Visayas..."

"Hmmm..." I say, cause I really couldn't think of anything to say.

"I brought you some pasalubong," she says quietly.

"Yehey! Gimme gimme gimme!" I laugh out. I love pasalubongs.

She pulls out a bag beside her and gives me a plastic bag full of...

"Kamote?" I ask, stunned.

"Yes... kamote," she says casually.

"Gee... thanks," I manage to say.

I sit there looking at the TV, with a bag of dirty kamote on my lap.

"They're special kamote," she says after five minutes of silence.

"Special? What do you mean? Don't tell me their some sort of hallucinogenic kamote which causes flatulence and visions of flying monkeys?" I ask, feeling perturbed.

"No, silly," she says with a ghost of a smile on her lips, "Check out the last picture in that bunch."

"It's you... doing manual labor... waitaminute... don't tell me...you...you," I stuttered.

"Yes, sunshine, I planted those kamote. I reaped what I sowed," she says blandly.

I sit stunned.

"I'm awfully touched by this, cupcake, but... ummm, I..." I don't know how to say it.

"You don't eat kamote, don' worry, I know," says Jules.

I sit there saying nothing.

"That's why I bought you a box of Krispy Kremes. They're in the fridge," she says, finally looking at me, smiling.

I run for the fridge.

Yummm... krispy goodness.... sure as heck beats kamote.