Meet John Lee. It is debatable if that's his full name, or his first name which happens to be a compound name, but that was how he introduced himself. This initially timid man with slightly jaundiced eyes is a street vendor, peddling coconuts (buko in Filipino) along the corner of General Luna Street and Makati Avenue.
He's not your noisy type of vendor, broadcasting presence with a horn or booming voice like the more ambulant ones. John stands unassuming by the street corner, waiting for customers he know will come. His strong piercing eyes foreshadow a confidence brought about by a sense of business savvy not normally expected from one with that office address.
John positions himself beside the fishball stand, enjoying a healthy 70%* hit rate from those crowding the frying pan for their late afternoon snack. Random vehicles regularly screech to a halt by his stand, motioning for a cup of buko juice, which sells for P10, a pittance for a large amount of healthy freshness. All of this translates to an empty cart and a full wallet, as evidenced by the four remaining coconuts in a wooden bin full of chopped husks - and to think the clock had struck three only 10 minutes past.
A good day, such as this one, would normally net him around Php 1000 in profits. A bad one shaves off half the income, which translates to Php 15,000 - Php 30,000 a month. Not too shabby, considering the depths to which some people would descend just to earn minimum wage.
Having done this every day for the past four years, John is well-versed in the art of the coconut. His large bolo started idly tapping away at the unopened while he started to educate the ignorant city-grown simpleton with a camera. The rounder the coconut, the more juice it contained, he explained patiently. Holding up a relatively small one, he went on to say that it actually had more in it than the much larger yet sharper-edged piece sitting beside it.** He took on an almost reverent tone as he further explained that coconuts are subject to moods as well. One must not take the fruit from the tree before it has reached a certain level of maturity, lest the tree bear a grudge and lessen its yield for that month. A coconut tree will give approximately fifty coconuts in one month but when angry, it can be lowered to around twenty.
He finished his little lecture as abruptly as he began it. A quick downward hack of the bolo to embed it in the chopping block meant that the processing of my order of four coconuts was over, as was the classroom session, but a friendly smile told me that he enjoyed the conversation. I earnestly thanked him, both for the coconuts and his time, and told him that I'd be back next week to give him a print for which he had so gamely tolerated my lens. At that, those those jaundiced eyes lit up, and the smile grew even bigger as he waved me goodbye. I smiled and waved heartily back, laden with 4 juicy coconuts, and walked on my way.
*70% at least during the time I was there. About 14/20 people who ate fishballs also bought his buko juice
**Note: I bought those four remaining coconuts. He was right.
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