The great sautéed bagoong heist

My mother cooks the best sautéed bagoong. It’s so good I cried when the jar she gave me disappeared from our dining table that time a masseuse came over and we had boneless bangus, green mangoes and the bagoong for dinner.

That night, after my massage, the masseuse hurried downstairs without waiting for her payment. I followed a few minutes later, wondering why she was in such a rush when she used to wait for me to pay her before she left the room.

When I went downstairs, I met her just outside the dining area. Maybe she went for a bathroom break, I thought. I was too sleepy to wonder about why she went downstairs instead of at the 2nd floor like she normally did.

The next morning, I went downstairs to get my jar of bagoong. I had just received it the previous day, used up about 6 tablespoonfuls, and I expected it to be on the dining table where I left it. It wasn’t there!

I asked everyone in the house if they noticed my jar from Mommy. Most said the last time they saw it was at dinner the night before.

And then it hit me. No wonder the masseuse has been acting strangely. She must have been planning her bagoong heist all the time she was massaging me!

I was so sad, I was in tears when I called up my mom to tell her the jar she gave me got stolen. She promised me another the next time she cooked. She also told me my late husband asked for one more when they met in town. He said I was despondent over its loss.

The masseuse never got in touch again, unlike before when she would text regularly to inquire about our next schedule. I met her twice accidentally, she couldn’t look me in the eye.

This October, my mom had a stroke and was in the ICU. She was discharged after a few days,