Happiest Boy in the World by NVM Gonzalez

Julio , who had come from Tablas to settle in Barok, was writing a letter, of all people, Ka Ponso, his
landlord, one warm June night. It was about hiks son, Jose, who wanted to go to school in Mansalay that
year. Jose was in fifth grade when Julio and his family had left Tablas the year before and migrated to
Mindoro; because the father had some difficulty in getting some land of his own to farm, the boy had to
stop schooling for a year. As it was, Julio thought himself lucky enough to have Ka Ponso take him on as
tetant. Later, when Julio's wife Fidela gave birth to a baby, Ka Ponso, whi happened to be visiting his
property then, offered to become its godfather. Afetr that they began to call each other compadre.

"Dear Compadre," Julio started to write in Tagalog, bending earnestly over a piece of paper which he
had torn out of Jose's school notebook. It was many months ago, when, just as now, he had sat down
with a writing implement in his hand. That was when he had gone to the municipio in Mansalay to file a
homestead application, and he had used a pen, and to his great surprise, filled in the blank forms neatly.
Nothing came of the application, although Ka Ponso had assured him he had looked into the matter and
talked with the officials concerned. Now, with a pencil instead of a pen to write with, Julio was sure that
he could make his letter legible enough for Ka Ponso.

"It's about my boy, Jose." he wrote on. "I want him to study this June in Mansalay. He's in the sixth
grade now, and since he's quite a poor hand at looking after your carabaos, I thought it would be best
that he go to school in the town."

...The kerosene lamp's yellow flame flickered ceaselessly. The drank smell of food , fish broth,
particularly, that had been spilled from many a bowl and had dried on the form, now seemed to rise
from the very texture of the wood itself. The stark truth about their poverty...

""This boy, Jose, compadre," he went on, "is quite an industrious lad. If you can only let him stay in your
big house, compadre, you can make him do anything you wish--any work. He can cook rice, and I'm sure
he'll wash the dishes."

..."I hope you will not think of this as a great bother," Julio continued, trying his best to phrase his
thoughts. he had a vague fear that Ka Ponso might not favorably regard his letter. But he wrote on,
slowly and steadily, stopping only to read what he had put down. "We shall repay you for whatever you
can do for us, compadre. It's true we a;ready owe you for many things, but your comadre and I will do all
we can indeed to repay you."

...Suddenly he began wondering hoe Jose would move about in Ka Ponso's household, being
unaccustomed to so many things there. The boy might even stumble over a chair and break some
dishes...He feared for the boy.

...Julio felt he had nothing more to say, and that he had written the longest letter in his life... He sat back
again and smiled to himself. About six o'clock the following morning, a boy of twelve was riding a
carabao along the river-bed road to town. He was very puny load on carabao's broad back.
Walking close behind the carabao, the father did not cross the stream but only stood there by the bank.
"Mind to look after the letter," he called out from where he was. "Do you have it there, in your shirt
pocket?"

The boy fumbled for it. When he had found it, he said, "No, Tatay, I won't lose it."

...Then Julio started to walk back to his house, thinking of the worl that awaited him in his clearing that
day...

...Jose grew suddenly curious about the letter he carried in his shirt pocket. He stopped his carabao
under a shady tree by the roadside.

A bird sang in a bush nearby. Jose could hear it even as he read the letter, jumping from word to word,
for him the dialect was quite difficult. But as the meaning of each sentence became clear to him, he
experienced a curious exultation. It was as though he were the happiest boy in the world and that the
bird was singing for him. He heard the rumbling of the stream faraway. There he and his father had
parted. The world seemed full of bird song and music from the stream.

The story of the world is an apple is about a boy Julio, who had come from Tablas to settle in Barok, was
writing a letter, of all people, Ka Ponso, his landlord, one warm June night. It was about his son, Jose,
who wanted to go to school in Mansalay that year. Jose was in fifth grade when Julio and his family had
left Tablas the year before and migrated to Mindoro; because the father had some difficulty in getting
some land of his own to farm, the boy had to stop schooling for a year. As it was, Julio thought himself
lucky enough to have Ka Ponso take him on as tetant. Later, when Julio's wife Fidela gave birth to a
baby, Ka Ponso, while happened to be visiting his property then, offered to become its godfather. After
that they began to call each other compadre. The characters of this story are Jose, the boy who always
wanted to study but needed to stop because they can’t afford it. Julio, the father of Jose. Ka Punso, the
compadre of Julio. I was so sad that Jose had to stop studying, but thanks to Ka Punso, Jose can still
study. The story was well written and it really show some situations that really happen in real life. One of
the examples is when Jose needed to stop studying because they can not afford it. Some Pilipino are
forced to stop their studies because they don’t have the enough money or their families can’t afford it
because they are poor just like Jose’s situation with his studies. There are also situations in real life that
you will have to offer your business to stranger, just life how Ka Ponso offered his business to Julio. For
me, the best part was when Jose can study again in his godfather’s place. I also can’t believe it that a
loving father could let his only son stay in his friend’s place so that his son would have a great learning
experience in education, just like how Julio and Jose’s situations.