Miriam

De: Jacob Kilgore

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Background:
Miriam began the day I met a girl for a date in the Indeogwon subway in South Korea (I was a teacher there). She was a Filipina of very small stature. Smaller than a dwarf, and thinner too. She could tell I was shocked; probably nothing new to her. And as she held my hand I was worried people in my neighborhood would think I was a perv holding hands with a student. I brushed off the feeling and we conversed. She told me she was small because when she was young in the Philippines her parents went to a big city so they could make better money for the family. Tragically, the money was sent to her aunt whom did not feed or take care of her properly, and so she became malnourished.

Synopsis (SPOILERS, but seeing what this entails may intrigue you):
Miriam is the story of a girl similar to how my date described herself when she was young. It is clear to the priest visiting their bahay kubo that her aunt is not taking care of her. He lets her know it is no secret.
Miriam meets Hernando, a younger boy, though taller than her small frame. He has a bag with fried shrimp and chocolates he snatched from his kitchen he wants to deliver to his dad who has been fighting the Japanese during this time of invasion during World War II. On their way, they run into their three other friends Pablo, Bartlome, and Fabian. While off in chase within the jungle, the “Frisbee bomb” loudmouth Pablo left behind in his backpack exploded.
This is where the story takes a psychedelic/fantasy turn and includes many elements of Filipino myth and also things that are completely outlandish. Miriam lives a life of unjust cruelty, and it is manifest in story form as demons and other bizarre creatures under equally unjust and absurd higher powers.
As Miriam rises from the moldy, stinking mat she sleeps on, she sees her aunt covered in piles of numerous insects while asleep. Within the jungle she sees demons fall upon the graves of soldiers. She makes her escape to a jeweled tunnel just as the whip-tongued demon Koga speaks to her. It was he who drank from her while she was in her mother’s womb (her aunt’s explanation for why she is small). Miriam escapes to a golden door that seems to open by itself.
Inside, a seemingly immobile skeleton awakes and it turns out to be that of the friendly dwarf Eikki. He teaches Miriam about the rules of this universe, and suggests they seek out an old friend for a solution to the invading demons.
Eikki creates a spirit bubble (he is a ghost) and takes Miriam on a ride across the galaxy to a planet called Lampolee in which creatures who look like mountain-size manta rays soar without much thought in suicidal collisions across the great sky. One such a creature is Eikki’s friend Baboo who speaks with the tone of a dog’s squeak toy in this helium atmosphere, to Miriam’s amusement. He tells them of a massive demon-eating worm that is confined in the hell within Earth’s moon.
Miriam gathers Hernando and Bartlome, the only ones besides herself who will likely be innocent enough for the demons in the hell to not be allowed to harm them. Past all sorts of comical and horrifying sights, the friends push through with Eikki’s help and rescue the worm. The worm grows in size and devours demons, finally growing to the size of a school bus before it devours a great number within Miriam’s village.
In the end, Koga grips Miriam by the throat and is punished for it by a multidimensional, geometric demon for breaking the rule of harming innocents. Miriam then tells it how ridiculous they all are and how they are not fit to judge anyone.
Later that night the friends recover and enjoy their peace. In the sky a plume of fire erupts out of the moon, for Hernando was attacked within it. That is their punishment for harming an innocent. It is clear that Hernando’s family will take Miriam in now that her aunt has been killed by the invaders. At last she won’t have to sleep on that moldy old mat.