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I SAW LORETTA again after about five years. I was walking leisurely along the pavement off Makati Supermart where the fountains splashed too strongly sometimes, wetting the stone benches with its mists. I saw her walking the same probinsyana walk, gawky, bow-legged and all, her feet sporting what seemed to be her favorite type of footwear – dark-hued sandals baring her long bony untrimmed toes. She was pregnant again – how many times had I seen her pregnant before? – wearing a maternity duster which did seem strikingly natural on her, and tugging along a girl who must have been between eight and ten.