Kissing John Travolta
Part 1
Angelica and I were on our way to Stuttgart to celebrate the eve of the New Year when the Benz of a Filipino T and T (Tago ng Tago or literally an illegal alien) we were riding in went off the autobahn. It was deep winter and we were traveling without snow tires on our way to the party. Then, we almost hit a snow drift. The car spun around before coming to a stop. We sat there dazed for a couple of minutes, until Angelica had the presence of mind to hit Benjie on the head with her evening purse. I don’t know whether it was the adrenalin rush of the accident, the bump on his head, or the three rosaries I prayed, but Benjie got us safely to Stuttgart with plenty of time to spare before New Year’s Eve.
I saw him the moment I entered the room, dressed in skin tight faded jeans and a body hugging shirt, striking a pose right out of Saturday Night Fever. “And who do you think you are, John Travolta?”, I asked. I didn’t blink when he replied “Ja, how did you guess?” “Easy”, I replied, “the invitation said it was a costume party.”
“And who are you supposed to be?”, the blast from the past queried. “Angelina Jolie”, I answered haughtily “ and I’m looking for my Brad Pitt.”
I made a beeline for our hostess Mimi, a gorgeous Pinay mestiza married to a German-Pinoy named Alex. Somewhere in the room I suddenly heard someone shrieked merda. It was a latin-looking girl dressed unmistakably as J Lo who was smooched by Hamir the Egyptian, under the mistletoe.
“Remind me to stay away from that thing.”, hissed Angelica into my ear as she scampered as far away as she could from the mistletoe. From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Benjie loitering in the vicinity of the “kissing” ornament. He was sipping some German white wine, ready to pounce on a helpless somebody, no, make that anybody.
From across the room, John Travolta and I eyed each other like two hungry wolves circling their prey, waiting for the other to make the first move. Angelica, ever observant whispered, “I sense a definite attraction between the two of you, girl.” Hmmm, it was a very interesting tableau.
Mimi dragged Angelica and moi to meet the boys at the party including John Travolta. We conversed, shallow cocktail conversation termed oberflaechliche Unterhaltung, about random topics on nothing and everything. “Strange,” I said to myself “no one really bothered to introduce themselves.” It was just 11 o’clock, one more hour to go before the New Year. I already got the beginnings of a headache shifting from English to German to smatterings of Spanish and French and even Taglish.
The mostly cold buffet spread was inviting and we were hungry. Angelica and I wished it was more of the Media Noche fare from back home but we made do with the delicious German potato salad, kaese and more kaese ( cheese) and sausages or wurst of every description. I nibbled on the blutwurst I normally wouldn’t eat and was mildly surprised at how tasty it was.
J Lo and a friend dressed like Beyonce joined us at the buffet table, chattering in Spanish. Friendly bunny Angelica said hello and before you can say voila, we had two new girl friends. J Lo was Assunta Minilho from some South American country, Chile, I think. Beyonce was Erika Pronstroeller, the niece of Josie. “Oh My God”, Angelica and I shouted in a chorus, “ You’re Pinay too!”
Assunta and Erika were classmates at some prestigious hotel and restaurant school in Salzburg together with Erika’s brother Nacho. “And is this Nacho here as well?”, I asked, curious about other Pinoys in the party. Erika pointed at John Travolta and Assunta said possessively in German . “Er ist meine liebling.-He’s my darling.”Angelica and I exchanged knowing looks- aha, so they’re a couple eh?
to be continued
Lied des Tages
Listen to the song and download:Ich+Ich- Vom selben stern[From the same star]
