Prophecies and Coffee Shop Fantasies

Are we signing off?

We were at the tollgate paying a 75-Peso toll fee en route to Ortigas when Mom out of the blue blurts out this question to leave it floating around the air-conditioned atmosphere of our SUV. The night before, we had watched this special on TV about a supposed code in the Bible where one can see past, current, and future events inscribed into the world’s bestselling piece of literature. The most shocking inscription of all (as the narrator of the show theatrically recounts with thundering music in the background) is that which tells of the annihilation of the world through a meteor collision in the year 2012. Which means we’ve got seven years to go. It seems, the end of days have begun.

I knew better than to let such warnings rattle me – my take on it is, if it’s true, then it’s true; if it’s going to happen, so be it. But there’s no use worrying about it. I was, however, quite surprised at the realization that the “prophecy” narrated in the show coincided with a strange “prophecy” I had previously made about myself.

I told Aldous once that I had a feeling I would die at age 26. It just came out of my mouth then, I don’t know how or why, and even stranger is how I felt quite convinced about it. I wasn’t scared about it, and surprisingly seemed quite accepting of that “fate”, if it was indeed to be mine. Being born in September 1985, I did a little math (I do as little math as possible – I’ve never been fond of it) and realized that I’d be 26 in 2012 for eight months and eight days. A shiver ran down my spine at the realization – I might bite the dust at 26 after all, and as it turns out, I’m taking the rest of humanity with me as well.

It is Easter Sunday today, when Catholics like myself commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With such thoughts of rising from the dead largely prevalent in such a day, it’s no surprise that I’m not worried at all about the mysterious tallying of the aforementioned prophecies. In fact, my trip back to Ortigas from Batangas with my mother was generally comprised of me daydreaming of my future, and in it I imagined myself opening a cozy coffee shop in the province. It won’t be a franchise (hell no!), but it’d be a coffee shop like no other. I was thinking of naming it Lost Luna’s, but I thought that might be too vain, so I thought of naming it Crazy Coco, but it sounded too darn cheesy (don’t you think it does?) so I went back to Lost Luna’s. I’d be the resident DJ of the coffee shop – no one else would be allowed to play a CD in the shop’s player but me. I’d play these virtually unknown but amazingly beautiful songs and all the customers would be begging me for a copy. There’d be a bookshelf filled with second-hand books that people can borrow (no cheesy romance and mystery novels though – like the music, all literary works will be handpicked by moi…it’s my fantasy coffee shop, okay? If you object, make up your own!) Every group of customers will be lent a deck of cards, a chess set or a scrabble set to play with during their stay, if they wish. In each of the tables there’d be a piece of paper that changes everyday, which would contain quotes and sayings from philosophers or great authors, or just random, anonymous words of wisdom that are words of wisdom nonetheless. There will be bits of beautiful lyrics printed on the tissue paper (“Sleight of hand and twist of fate / On a bed of nails she makes me wait” from U2’s With or Without You; “If room enough for both my drowsy spirit shall fall / Bold waves tumble to the season of my heart / Where you have offended my faith and my trust / Until all is lost into the beauty of the day” from Jason Mraz’s After an Afternoon). There’ll be poetry readings and acoustic nights. Everyone will be friends with each other. The line between customer and barista will be blurred. It will just be a haven for music-loving, poetry-reciting individuals seeking for a caffeine-induced high. The coffee shop will be so successful, so wildly well-known that one day, from a trip to Boracay, Jason Mraz will hear about it and will come over to do a set and sing “Sleeping to Dream” and “After an Afternoon”, and I’d be extremely delighted and die of excitement and unparalleled bliss. Then the meteor will probably decide to come around. Surprise, surprise, amidst all the caffeine everyone has forgotten that it is the year 2012, and it is the end of the world as we know it.

This has been Daene Luna, signing off in style.