Philippines

A man going through a messy annulment tries to gain the upper hand in a settlement negotiation with his estranged wife, but all he has to barter is his beloved Toyota clunker. A pregnant overseas Filipino on a plane ride home struggles to keep herself from giving birth in the lavatory, so she can give her baby up for adoption. A middle-aged woman traumatized by a childhood experience is on the verge of creating her true self as a sociopath. A shut-in plagued by mental illness holes up at his run-down residence with his handgun and prepares for the worst, when a mysterious “Utility Man” arrives at his door and offers to clean his yard for free.   

In the title story, three high school buddies, now in their forties with their youthful days well behind them, are in a wine bar catching up on each other’s love lives and careers. Out of nowhere, a black hole appears beside their table, threatening to upend their assumptions about reality and existence. Should they engage it, even at the expense of a good time on a Friday night?  

By turns funny, sad, and simultaneously funny-sad, these and seven other stories of anxiety, existential dread, disconnectedness, and malaise seek to capture what it means to be a midlife Filipino navigating through the absurdity of contemporary life.

Author: Israfel Fagela
ISBN/ISSN: 978971542958-0
Category: Literary; Stories
Copyright: 2021
Pages: 100pp
Size: 6x9
Type: PB/SP