Notes: Under the Santol Tree

Without the help of Mai Licayan, this story, as well as all the others, probably would not have flourished like they did. I travelled halfway around the globe to meet her in Cebu. Unfortunately, we only got to spend four days together. Fortunately, that was plenty of fuel for my writing fire.

And...she's one heckuva muse.

She was a constant reader (and a voracious one at that), reading each story within 24 hours and urging me on to the next story, curious as to what would happen to Gemma next.

A lot of the visuals are taken directly from experiences during my short time with Mai. Still, the stories from inside the Jeepney were taken from my time in Makati, near Metro Manila. I begged my host Eiselle to ride the Jeepney, and she reluctantly agreed. She preferred taking the taxi and having me pay the fare.

The stories from the Cruz house come directly from my time with Mai's family at their house. The pagav (gazebo) is where Mai and I enjoyed a fishy lunch together - bone in and all. Her parent's house was quite a bit farther from the beach than my story, but Gemma's brother Pidro was stolen directly from Mai's brother Ralj, who I only got to meet for a short while.

I had a friend from Cebu named Gemma and I really liked the name, too. Mai and I had a brainstorming session for the family surname. Finally, we decided on Cruz. Ironically, the first Miss Universe is named Gemma Cruz. One day, hopefully, I'll get to send her a finished copy of this work, including illustrations, binding, and publication.