It was a rainy day in August, and the frogs were noisy among the mushroom plants in our backyard. The house was quiet this night for Father had gone to the house of Don Mateo, the Spaniard who owned the plantation. Mother waited for him beside the stove, where the pot of salabat was steaming about a low fire.

When he arrived, Mother ran to him.

"You're very wet, Tomas," she said. " Take your clothes off and change, while I pour some salabat to warm you up."

"The Spaniard has no money to lend, ” said Father as he pulled out his undershirt." He bought 15 hectares of coffee land and paid the man who repaired the irrigation dam."

"Don't worry so hard, " said Mother." With God's help these difficulties will pass."

“ I need a man's help now, Tina,” Father said after sipping the ginger drink. " A man who could lend me money.

Mother's eyes opened wide, for it was terrible what Father said. She rose from her chair beside the stove and walked slow to the table near Father. She was heavy with her fifth child.

“Tomas," she said tenderly, " "have faith."

Under the bedroom, the ground was also warm ans dry, and there, Silver, that my carabao came after, slept Mother's peacefully words beside, Silver groaned long and heavy. It was his way of snoring. The chickens woke up and flapped their wings. One rooster crowed. 

Father heard the noise of the animals and suddenly he thumped on the table with his fist as if he made a great discovery. The teaspoon jumped inside the cup.

" I know! " Father said happily,“ I know it!"

He stood up and came to the corner where I was sitting.

" Crispin, " Father said," we'll sell the carabao! ”

" Oh no! ” I said, becoming warm suddenly. His words came like a brilliant flash of lightning after which I saw dark spots everywhere I looked. "No, Father-please, Silver is my best friend."

I went down the bamboo stairs to where Silver was sleeping. The carabao stirred when I touched his broad shoulders.

I tried hard to say what I wanted to say to him. But I couldn't find the words.

"Silver," I whispered finally, " Father wants me to sell you away."

The carabao moved and one of his horns struck an ipil housepost. Then he tried to stretch his front legs as if he wanted to rise, but I pressed my my head heavier on his back and he did not get up. 

Then I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and moving slowly toward us. It was Father. He sat down beside me on the hay.

"Son." Father said, "I realize how much you love Silver. I have watched you and him playing in the river and on the rice paddles. But as you know, your mother is having another baby shortly.

"You know, last year was a very dry one. We had a poor harvest. Even the coconuts had very few fruits. And Maria's mats are not selling at all. And now, a new baby means more expenses ㅡ food, clothing, midwife's fees, and other things besides."

I knew it was a crazy thought, but I wondered why Father, who had four children already, would need another. And this in exchange for Silver, who was the only carabao I had.

I raised my hand and looked firmly at Father, and said, "Why must we sacrifice Silver for... for a baby that we are not even sure would turn out good?"

"Crispin," said Father gravely, "when you grow older and you become a father, you'll find out the answer to that. I myself made such a sacrifice many years ago. No one knew of it but your mother and I."

Father kicked the loose ends of the hay closer to us so that we would have more hay to sit on. Then he sat down close beside me.

"Years ago, Father began, "your mother and I had our rice fields to till and the earth was good and kind. Your mother was heavy with another child, when one afternoon, suddenly the skies darkened and we say the locusts swarming over our fat fields. They came and went in a swarm for many days. Some of the men tried desperately to drive them away by whipping the black skies with large mango tree branches. Some started to burn their fields to stop the terrible wave of locusts.

"In the morning, the sun was pale and lifeless. But in the evening, the sky had an eerie rosy glow. I became sullen and nervous...

"I went to town frequently, selling one possession after another," Father went on. "The last thing I sold was the carabao that pulled the plow in the devastated fields."

"One night, your mother came to me, and in a few words, she asked me to sell the house and the tragic fields and move away."

"But I can't do that!' I said strongly. This is my father's house and we both love it very much."

"No, Tina,' I said, my voice still strong. 'I can't give up this house.

"Your mother did not argue. She simply walked to the window and looked at the dark night. From where I sat, I saw the world outside. It was like one dark, endless tunnel. Then I too looked out of the window and saw the dead stalks of rice plants, some fallen on the ground, some still strong enough to stand against the afternoon winds from the west. It was like a graveyard. I looked down at your mother and said, 'When did the midwife say the baby might come?"

"In a few days," she replied.

"We still have time. I said. We just can't sell the house that fast."

Your mother smiled.

"I sold the house two days later. I found a job at the Spaniard's plantation here in Barrio Remedios. During our first week here, your mother gave birth to our first son - a healthy boy."

Father patted me on the shoulder and mussed my hair.

"You were that boy, Crispin," he said.

I looked at him and saw the stripes of shadows on his face. The light upstairs was much weaker now. Then I felt the tail of Silver brushing against my back and I knew that he was awake again.

Then I saw Mother coming down from the stairs and she was holding the red and green plaid that she made into a blanket for me. She walked with great effort and I my arms and said, "Father, I'll... I'll make a sacrifice, too."