Dreaming of Yellow Stars

By Katherine Gae T. Yamar

What if ten-year-old Tonton is the last boy on Earth – and his pet, Kaloy, the last dog? He wakes up one morning and finds himself and his companion trapped in his tiny bedroom of his half-submerged two-storey house. A killer typhoon washes out the entire village – perhaps the entire planet. His tender age of ten, his skinny brown body, and his inability to hear and speak – these personal attributes of his do not hinder him in surviving the wrath of nature. He frequently dreams of yellow stars whenever he yearns for his father, mother, and older brother who may have vanished in the flash flood. He finds another companion in the character of Enzo whom he rescues from a floating vehicle. Will the water subside soon? Will Tonton, Enzo, and Kaloy escape from the walls of the submerged house? And to Tonton’s dread, will he ever see his family again? Join Tonton in his silent yet adventurous world in this short tale about survival, friendship, courage, and hope, as he defies the forces of nature, believing that there will be a good end to all perils when he dreams of yellow stars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katherine Gae T. Yamar
• Release date: Feb 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301662661

Katherine Gae T. Yamar

I am a Performance Assessment Specialist, a teacher, and a writer.I started writing stories at the age of eight, inspired by the tales of the Grimm Brothers.I always refer to an idea or an inspiration to a story as “The Jolt” because once I have this idea for a story, it catapults in my mind until written.

Book preview

Dreaming of Yellow Stars

By Katherine Gae T. Yamar

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Katherine Gae T. Yamar

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

*****

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – When He Awoke

Chapter 2 – When He Saw Evidence of Civilization

Chapter 3 – When He Found Another World

Chapter 4 – When His Fear was Tested

Chapter 5 – When He Saw the Stars Again

Chapter 6 – When He Blamed the Bird

Chapter 7 – When He Looked through the Window

Chapter 1

When He Awoke

Tonton squinted when he felt a tongue licking his cheek. Although groggy, he was surprised to see his pet dog, Kaloy, in his small bedroom. Bewildered, he furrowed his eyebrows at Kaloy as he rubbed the dog’s cream-colored back.

Tonton looked at the open window. He was sure he closed it the night before he slept. The sky was gray and it was raining. He rubbed his eyes and blinked about three times until he got clear vision. It was indeed raining. Inches of raindrops poured from the melancholic sky. He could feel the cool breeze coming from outside the window that chilled his skinny brown arms. The cold stung his spine that brought his upper body shiver from waist to shoulders to head. He could smell the dampness of collected raindrops in puddles of mud. However, there’s one thing – actually, two things – he could not experience with the rain. He could not hear the pit pat of raindrops against the tin roof nor the rush of rain hurled by the weeping heavens. And he could not pronounce the right words to express the joy that the rain could bring like the thrill of running for shade while soaking wet. He could not hear his delighted cry that, which he was fully unaware of, sounded like the wail of a seal.

Kaloy walked back and forth while Tonton tidied his bed which was his morning ritual. First, he folded his blanket and the bed sheet. Then, he placed them and his pillow on top of a chest drawer which was situated beside the bed. Once the red-and-black-striped folding bed was bare, Tonton folded the legs in and the body into half. He pushed the folding bed in between the narrow space of the chest drawer and the wooden wall. Voila! The small bedroom instantly turned spacious.

Just a couple of steps from the cabinet hung a green curtain which served as the door. He pushed it out of his way, and walked towards another room just across from his. His parents were not there. He thought they might be in the wet market which was their daily routine. The two bedrooms were parted by a flight of stairs down to the first level of the half-cemented, half-wooden house.

Tonton glanced at Kaloy who grew more anxious. He waved his hand at the restless canine to go down with him. His stomach grumbled, and wondered what his mother left him for breakfast. Kaloy, however, ceased as it stared at its young master. Tonton began to tread the first step down, and thought Kaloy would follow anyway. He scratched his nostrils which sensed a foul smell. He thought his mother must’ve left a raw fish that was not yet cleaned in the kitchen. But the smell was more awful than that. When Tonton made his third and fourth step, he quickly retreated two steps when his toes felt cold water. Kaloy now stood at the top of the stairs. Tonton swirled his wrist outward for Kaloy to go back to the room. The narrow staircase was only good for passage for one person. He balanced himself by pushing his palms against the walls of the bedrooms on his either side. He stepped down again, this time gingerly. He bent down. His eyes broadened in horror to find the first level of the house submerged in a sea of flood. The white monoblock dining chairs, the rattan living room set, and the kitchen utensils serenely floated. Tonton looked back at Kaloy with a look of fear and astonishment. He then realized why the dog was in his bedroom when it was not even allowed to go upstairs.

Now that it dawned on him that the house was invaded by flood, he ran back to his bedroom towards the window. And there he was horrorstruck to find the vast village washed out by murky flood. He looked further at the horizon. He searched for the houses of his neighbors that were situated more than 500 meters from his nook. The houses that only had one level were barely seen except for the tin roof or at least a TV antenna.

He could feel his heartbeat throbbing against his thin shirt. The place was completely deserted. He could see no one from the top of the roof of the other houses. Not a