Dear Ika,
I am thankful for your letter of March 15th. We appreciate your prayers, and you and your sons will of course be included in our prayers as well. Here in Manila things have been busy. Julita will soon be graduating Ateneo, and we have been renovating the house in preparation for her graduation party. Some of our walls are for the moment no longer standing and last night a typhoon rain battered the plastic tarp the workers had put in place for protection. You can imagine my surprise when I awoke this morning to find the living room flooded! I am certain the weather must be nicer for you in Los Angeles.
It is with concern that I read of your boys’ declining studies. Perhaps Gabe’s biology grade can be dismissed as an aberration—one which must be punished, of course—yet the case of his older brother appears most serious. It came as a surprise to me that Tomas was expelled from Saint Dominic’s, particularly given that he is accused by Father Ryan of committing violent behaviors. I still recall Tomas as the quiet and handsome boy who visited us here in Manila as a child. With his American father’s blood he has the mestizo looks of an actor. No doubt if you had remained in Manila, as I had warned you to, he would have fared well and you would not now have so many worries. Here Tomas would have known what it means to be a Laurel, its responsibilities and expectations. In fact, if he had shown any delinquent propensities I would have certainly spoken severely with him myself, and made communications with his teachers. My circumstances and connections have improved since you left the Philippines, and I believe that I could have averted his expulsion.
In fact, I suspect that in writing me you may have hoped that I could communicate with his American teacher, Father Ryan, as he had formerly served as a chaplain here in Forbes Park. I will try, yet as I have no other connections in Los Angeles, I am not hopeful in this regard. I can only advise you to attempt to gain admission for Tomas into another Catholic school, a stricter one if that is possible in a place like California.
Also, you must be careful whom you let him befriend. I find it particularly puzzling that a Filipino boy such as Tomas should choose to spend his time with poor Mexican children when there certainly must be nice American and Asian children of successful people in Los Angeles.
May I suggest that you consider bringing Tomas and Gabe here to Forbes Park for a visit? I know that you do not like to take my money for plane tickets you cannot afford, but we would be most pleased if you were to change your mind.
We will be praying for you and your sons always.