Lola Bats story 1: Lolo Bats and the white horse

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I have been planning to write down Lola Bats' stories and I'm starting doing so now to keep her memory alive. She passed away after 102 years of showering her family and friends with wit and humour. I will miss her a lot. 

Lola Bats loves to talk about my grandpa, Lolo Bats, who died when I was five years old. He used to go fishing on Taal Lake. One day, a long long time ago, a storm arrived while he was fishing. This was even before World War II so nobody had cellphones yet; hence, he had no way of notifying the family that he was okay or if got into trouble. He didn't return home when he was expected so the family thought that he had succumbed to Nature's fury. And so my ancestors started praying a novena for my grandpa's soul... and not for his safe return anymore.

But then, there was Lolo's beautiful white horse. This horse was quite vocal, particularly in greeting his friends.

So when Lolo's horse started nickering, the prayers were interrupted. Someone the horse knew was coming. Slowly, out of the darkness, a shadow was seen walking towards the house. People thought that it was a ghost. But it turned out to be my grandpa, alive and well! He took shelter in a cave to weather out the storm; hence the delay going home.

What happened to the horse, we used to always ask Lola. She said that the horse was probably taken by a Japanese officer during World War II. My dad didn't even meet this legendary horse!

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