(Continuation) MANG KIKO: Stop blaming Wharton. It’s an American culture that began with tycoons like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie during the Industrial Revolution — power, monopoly, greed.
JESSICA: Okay, okay. Under the old paradigm, Apple dove like a kite without a tail. After 20 years, they begged Steve to return and restore the company. And he did. That was when his iPod was born. It was designed to please the customer.
MANG KIKO: Hmm. The birth of moral enterprise.
JESSICA: This iPod is a millennium milestone. It merges all past technologies into one. All of a sudden, you can listen the whole day to your music collection in a park, or on a bus in traffic. It’s a cosmic nova explosion.
MANG KIKO: Correction, Jessica. It’s not so much a technological milestone but a spiritual one. Steve brought happiness and inner peace to millions, not just some tiny electronic box. He did not just make my day; he makes my life today. He is a spiritual superhero. Listen, it was nice meeting you. (He hands back the earphones to her. By this time, a new crowd was piling up) I gotta go.
JESSICA: It’s yours.
MANG KIKO: You’re kidding.
JESSICA: I’m dead serious.
MANG KIKO: I don’t even know how to use this.
JESSICA: Do you have grandchildren?
MANG KIKO: A twelve-year-old grandson.
JESSICA: Studying in the best school?
MANG KIKO: Yeah.
JESSICA: Ask your grandson to teach you the basics so you can play it. If you want to put on your own music later, he can download it from the computer.
MANG KIKO: Download?
JESSICA: Grab the music from the internet.
MANG KIKO: He can do that? Any music?
JESSICA: Yup. Any music under the sun.
MANG KIKO: Wow. Can he get Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday…
JESSICA: Nat King Cole, Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin.
MANG KIKO: Oh, you know those oldies?
JESSICA: I know everything, gramps — Broadway, jazz, classical, you name it. I’m an obsessed collector. I have 120 gigs of music in mp3.
MANG KIKO: Speak English.
JESSICA: I have a collection of close to 200,000 songs, and growing. At any time, I put 2,000 songs right in there (pointing to the iPod) and change it every month.
MANG KIKO: Wow. I can’t take this. It’s worth a fortune.
JESSICA: A small fortune, gramps. A couple of thousand pesos. But I can buy three of these. I earn good money.
MANG KIKO: How about your collection?
JESSICA: I have a backup at home. You can’t refuse, gramps. It’s yours.
MANG KIKO: (Jessica places the iPod in Mang Kiko’s hand. The train approaches) Wait, wait. When can we have coffee?
JESSICA: Are you asking me out on a date?
MANG KIKO: Yes.
JESSICA: Here’s my card. (She hands him a business card and runs towards the opening doors of the train). (Screaming) Listen to Lisa Ono and Eva Cassidy.
MANG KIKO: (Reads the card) Jessica. Oye, espera. I am Mang Kiko.
JESSICA: Me voy, Mang Kiko. Listen. Thanks for inspiring me, gramps. I’ve never met someone so old and so young all at once. You made my day, I mean my life, just as Steve made yours. You are some gramps, Mang Kiko. I’ll text Steve and say hello for you. (She vanishes into the train.)
The train leaves. Mang Kiko is alone. He puts on the earphones, but can’t play the iPod. He gives up and puts it in his pocket.
MANG KIKO: (Talking aloud to himself in the empty station) Lord, thanks for giving me Steve and Jessica and getting me out of my darkness. They, I mean You, make my day. You make life. God bless you. Oops, I mean, you’re God, so You bless me. Lisa Ono, Eva Cassidy, my new found friends. Thanks again.
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