Lady Christine, Part 3

The Morning After

Here is the inscription on "Lady Christine"'s stone tablet, upon close scrutiny:

"LADY CHRISTINE (name of the statue)

ART PROJECT (NOT "___ PROTECT")
MRS. G. KELLY (name of the artist/sculptor who made and donated the work to the island)

___________________________ (name of the ship that the artist/sculptor arrived on, completely obfuscated, perhaps by the Americans themselves before they left the island; Carlo, was right, therefore, in mentioning that the statue was named after a ship, though not "Lady Christine")

1983 * 1984 (duration of creation of the statue)"

Carlo kept asking me questions as to how a "likhang-isip" could have a mind of its own and converse with us. I told him about personalities "created" by human beings, and how they eventually take on lives of their own because of the energy people send them over long periods of time. I said that the same process is in operation with folk creatures, personages like Santa Claus, heroes and heroines, saints, and gods and goddesses.

As to the manager who died of bangungot and the employee who took on high fever, they were probably due to get sick anyway, or else they hexed themselves with a grisly piece of fiction. After all, so what if someone fondles a statue, or makes fun of one?

It's only a statue.