In this story by Estrella Alfon, a hard working Filipino servant girl works for a mistress who is a heavy drinker and often verbally and physically abusive. She rejects a local man who says he loves her, and is infatuated with an “angelic” cochero who once helped her after a fall. After a particularly brutal beating, she runs away to look for the cochero, who she fantasizes is in love with her. She finds him, but he doesn’t remember her. Seeing things more clearly, she returns home. Themes include social class, innocence, workplace abuse, humiliation, perseverance, fantasy, violence, enlightenment. More…

This confronting story by Estrella Alfon explores one of a parent’s worst nightmares: the sexual abuse of a child by someone they know. An after-school tutor, loved and trusted by his two students, “loses control” and soils the dress of a seven-year-old girl he had placed on his knee. The major theme is the “magnificence” of the mother in confronting and humiliating the man. Set in 1950s Philippines, a secondary feminist theme is gender reversal and empowerment – the need for women to fight back against male mistreatment. Other themes include innocence, motherly love, child abuse, betrayal, absentee parenting (the father). More…