Shop-All-You-Can

Imagine this.

One of the owners of the Greenhills Shopping Complex is your godfather. And as a Christmas treat, he asks you to go around the Greenhills Tiangge area on a weekend and choose all items that you fancy. Anything and everything that you like. Just get them and you don’t have to pay for anything. Your ninong will gladly take care of it.

I can just imagine how my wife would react to such an arrangement. I bet she would have had multiple orgasms just thinking about it. She would probably need two, no, make that three assistants, to help her carry all the clothes, shoes, accessories and home furnishings she would pick up from the different shops.

But my wife isn’t so lucky. She doesn’t have a ninong who is like that.

You know who’s the lucky bastard who received such a treat? It’s AJ, my dear three-year-old nephew.

Well, firstly, it wasn't one of his ninongs who offered him such a gift. It was his Tito James. And James isn’t exactly an Ortigas who owns Greenhills. But it comes quite close. James is an officer with the Greenhills Shopping Center. And he is a god among the tiangge tenants.

So last weekend, Tito James asked AJ to get whatever toy, clothes, shoes and all other stuff that he likes that can be seen at the various tiangge stalls. James would take care of the payment of whatever AJ gets.

Various stall owners were even offering expensive toys, shoes and clothes to AJ. But AJ turned them down. No, he didn’t like those stuff, especially the clothes. His lola owns a shirt factory, why would he care to have some more clothes?

After a few minutes of roaming around the different shops, AJ was ready to go home. Face was gleaming with happiness as he held in his two hands his prized steals – a yoyo and a plastic balloon set.

A kid’s happiness, truly, cannot be bought with expensive gifts.