The Last Pair of Pants

"Come on! Buy me! Buy me!” The light gray pair of pants called out to the elderly man with a cane, who was intently inspecting every clothing that was hung in that corner of Men’s Essentials store.  It was almost dusk, and the pair of pants had been depressed the whole day.  He was just told by his seller that if he won’t be purchased on that day, he would be put on discounted sale.  He never liked to be put on sale because he knew what it means – his value just depreciated.

“You’re going to be one splendid pair of slacks! The president of any nation would be glad to wear you!” He remembered his Tailor telling him, as he smoothened every edge of his cloth, and slowly handled the machine to tie up his loose ends. 

And oh how he believed his Tailor so much!  He trusted him with his every fiber; that he had been made into a unique and comfortable pair of pants every man would love to wear.  But it’s already a year since he was put on display on Men’s Essentials, and still nothing had even looked at him. 

“Hey! Come on now Madam! Buy me, for your husband!” He called out again to a stout lady with a heavily made up face.  But she never heard him.  Instead she checked on some long sleeves that were hung beside him.  After a while, she’d picked a checkered blue one, and proceeded off to the counter.

He was devastated, as he mournfully thought to himself, “Isn’t she even going to buy a partner for that?”

The clock was ticking, and the store would be closed in two hours.  His time is limited, and he was ready to give up hope.  But somehow, a still, small voice assured him, “Don’t despair, you are still valuable to me, no matter what happens. Just always remember that it is I who made you.”  The pair of pants looked around for his Tailor, for that was his voice, he was so sure of it.  But the Tailor wasn’t there. 

And then the pair of pants remembered that when he was still on the process of production, it was something the Tailor whispered to his creations every time he sewed them. They were his words of love sewed along their every thread, as they prepare to face the challenges of the business world.  Whatever happens, their value never depreciates in the eyes of their Tailor.

While the pair of pants was lost in these thoughts, he felt some soft hands touching him, and the smooth edges of his folds.  He looked up and saw this gentle-looking young lady, smiling down at him.  He began to get excited!

“Oh! My father is going to love you!” She exclaimed, as she held him out before her eyes, checking him for some creases, or holes (but of course there were none).  She removed him from the hanger, and tried to see him in full-length, and smiled every time she turns him around.  “Yes, you’re just right for my father.”

“Are you going to get it Ma’m?” The store attendant asked her.

“Yes, definitely! I’m sure my father would love this!” She repeated, more to herself than to the attendant.

“I’m sure he will, Ma’m.  Is it his birthday?  I have no doubt it will become his favorite!” the attendant smiled brightly, perhaps because he was glad he would have sales on that day.

“Oh, no, no… It isn’t his birthday.  Actually, he just called me up yesterday and he said he wanted some new pair of pants.  He said his old ones no longer fit him.  You know, my father doesn’t usually do that, you see.  I never remembered him asking me to buy pants for him.  So when he asked me this, I couldn’t wait to come here and choose for him!”  The young lady couldn’t contain her joy, and so she laughed.

“Wow!  He must be needing it for something!”  The attendant replied, as he slowly folded the pants, and placed it inside one of their bags.

“I don’t know.  But perhaps, because my father always travels, a lot.”  She explained, even though she wasn’t sure if the attendant would care for that bit of information.  “Oh yeah, I’d buy some shirt to pair with this one too!”

“Sure Ma’m! By all means!  Here, have your pick!” The attendant excitedly urged the young lady, as she followed him along another line of hung short- and long-sleeved shirts.

In the course of their conversation, the pair of pants was silently relishing and savoring the joy of being purchased!  “At last!”, he exclaimed, “the moment I’ve been waiting for is already here!”

It eventually turned into a daze of lining up in the counter, riding a messy and smelly public transportation, and being carried along a stony and grassy pavement.

“Father! I’m home!”  The young girl excitedly called out to her dad!  “And look what I’ve brought you!” She ran to him and hugged him tightly. 

“Hello Anak! Wow!  You’ve bought my request! Thank you so much for this, my love!”  And then he kissed her on the cheek, and ruffled her hair.  “Come on, let’s have dinner.  Your Mother really prepared this for your arrival!”

“Really! Wow!” She was more jubilant as they proceeded to the mess hall.  “Hi Mother! I’ll just buy you your dress next payday, ok?”  She jested, as her mother lovingly kissed her back after they hugged. 

“No problem dear, my dresses can still survive until next millennium.” The elderly Mother replied and laughed along, as they shared together their food on the table. 

“Father, I want you to wear that one today, ok?  Just so I’d be sure it did fit you!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, my love.  I’m sure you’ve chosen well.  I’m going to love this!”

The small family was very busy with their excitement that they didn’t notice the celebration of the pair of pants.  They would actually never notice it, in any way.  It was all the pants’ moment of glory, his to cherish, his alone – now that he has arrived home.

EPILOGUE:

A day after the pant’s arrival, the Father got sick, and a day later, he died.  He never got to wear the pair of pants in any of his earthly travels.  But the family decided that in the father’s burial, he would be wearing the new slacks – his last pair of pants.  In all the pant’s dreams, he could never believe that his ultimate purpose was to prepare someone for his first and last travel in going to the better place.  But the best part of it was meeting his own Tailor there: and he was welcomed to his final home.

/LCA, 20September2011,

In loving memory of my Father, Rev. Efren H. Azarcon.

“Oh, how I miss you so!”