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This piece of speculative fiction written in 2007, part of the virtual anthology Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler, is a narration of Mike's life as a 47-year old field investigator losing more and more of himself quite literally as he lives through an apocalyptic scene: almost all accessible water, contaminated by an enzyme and cannot anymore be cured. With a drug that when added to the water can impede the rapid breaking down of body fat and muscle only by a little, he becomes aware of the future, both of the world and his own, and what it holds.

Let's review.

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F.H Batacan's short story Keeping Time revolves around Mike and his interactions landing in a brand new city to fulfill his work after flying from country to country assessing the water problem. A problem that cannot be solved as the contaminant, an enzyme made initially to help those struggling with obesity and heart disease among others, has spread almost throughout all water sources.

In briefing his colleagues, other members and partners of the organization he works for of the situation of the Asia Pacific region in Manila, Mike sees himself as an angel of death, "arriving on the scene only to tell people what they already know, confirm what they already suspect." He then finds himself struggling to make sense of the reality he and everyone faces while trying keeping his composure as he meets with his boss and good friend, before this is interrupted as he meets a woman named Marisol.

The conflict is very much obvious the first time you read it, a global crisis befalling everyone (Human Vs. Nature/Natural Forces). We see how the characters either respond to or accept this conflict, with others continuing to work, and others looking to not be alone as the world has a few years more left. But this becomes sort of an umbrella with underlying commentary on the struggles of the natural and consumer world, as well as a person's own. There is an external physical conflict but also an internal psychological one we'll be talking more about later on.

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Let us first set ourselves in the story’s when and where.

After the world has been hit with a massive, even deadly, manmade calamity, Mike finds himself in a hotel of another country, the country he grew up in. Visiting for another ministerial conference of the World Health Organization  or WHO— the organization where he's a field investigator for— he talks everyone through the water problem with his photographs and footage, statistic, first hand accounts, and lab results from his many work trips (seventeen to be exact). The consumer world and its constituents in the pharmaceutical field tried solving a problem without knowing how to and costed the world and its people. We are told how people have been sick if not already dead while those trying to reverse the "solution" are also struggling to hold on. Mike' story focuses on these events.

Other places of the story has him bouncing from the hotel, the WHO headquarters, to his boss' home, and back to the hotel. Still all set in the same time period, no fast forwards or anything, a very sequential telling of the story by the narrator shows Mike and his exchanges in the city where he's at. Very much troubled by everything that is happening, we find out how this came to be through what Mike shares with us.

We see how Mike's mind likes to work as he works and doesn't. In the third person limited point of view, his ways of thinking, as the narrator talks about how he sees others seeing him, is very much poignant in the story and can tell quite a bit about him and his character.

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Let's talk about Mike.

Because of the way he sees other people seeing him, something I've mentioned earlier, we see (so much sees I'm sorry) but again, we see how he cares very much about how he looks and presents himself. Something he wasn't used to with his weight being a big factor in choosing the clothes he would wear. He's become sort of careful about this because after loosing all the weight he's lost, he has liked the fact that he gets to look how he likes, neat. When facing a bunch of people, like those in his briefings, or even just those around him, he talks about how they "comment" on his figure. The tellings on his wife and family in regards to his appearance is also discussed by Mike himself through the narrator and so we get to know him in that sense. We get to know the way he views himself and his physical image.

Now, when it comes to how Mike feels as a character, he feels somewhat lonely. With his ex-wife dead and her having no children to leave with him, he's alone. This is where the irony of it all comes in, the irony of what Mike is experiencing. It appeals to me so much. Though he is alone and quite lonely in huge parts of the story, having been judged and even left, everyone has become dependent upon him. He works for WHO, a field investigator at that, and has been very fat so the water hasn't been affecting him so much so this makes him a reliable candidate to be the keeper of time. Quite unfair if you ask me. We'll get into that in a while.

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Peter is, an idol I would say.

Very dedicated, passionate, but not in the unkind way. He is someone I think Mike looks up to. Someone, amidst the alone Mike we would usually see, is someone who he gets a long with and someone, when giving advice, is going to be taken seriously by him.

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Mysterious. A lot of huhs arose coming across her in the story.

Though I could tell she's strong, very much unfazed and doesn't seem to feel challenged by the hardships she has faced from then til now. With the situation on one person trying to caclulate her BMI after sex and going unbothered, and not being able to attend a funeral because of work. I admire her and her character though there's a lot I don't know.

Quotable quote that didn't really come from her but made her character stick out to me since it was she who mentioned it, "The fat shall inherit the earth." Hits right close to home. (Again, later I'll discuss this)

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Keep time. And by keep time I mean keep it going. The world has been quite unfair to Mike. He didn't deserve to go through what he's gone through but he's going through it anyway. And he has to kind of bear what everyone is going through too. People will be mean, people will be greedy, and even if you aren't one yourself, you'll get to suffer the consequences whether you deserve to or not. We really can't do anything about the world being what is is, but as it unfair, let us be the keeper of our own time, finding meaning in what makes us busy without being lonely well because, this'll just add more meaning to it. In an apocalyptic world or not, strive not to be alone, by keeping people who can give us great advise about what's key or tell us it's not too late to try and learn how to make smoke rings and keeping their time too.

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With references to the Bible, angels, and talks about "inheriting the earth," its context fit the characters and setting so precisely as those in the story are almost fully Filipino and live in the Philippines. Many of us here practice the Catholic faith, and growing up in an all-girls Catholic school, I has learned some of its ways and so I was able to recognize parts of the theme told just like the Second Coming of Jesus. If you aren't Catholic, that's fine by me! Let me try to explain in the way you'd understand.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is unknown to man, but what we do know is that judgement will be made and those who are righteous will be brought with him to the Kingdom of God. The hope (or despair, as they can seem so alike as said in the F.H Batacan's story) is there, but also fear and whatever else goes along with it. Like I said, there are parts of the theme I have linked to it,  but not its entirety.

Mike, is like Jesus in this scenario because he was sent by Peter to continue his ground work after everything that has happened. He has been trusted to do this, in the hopes to bring people with him (as in to survive the world) even though we all do not know how much time they all have left. Time being a factor that we know little about links these two  figures— Mike and Jesus—together. Though he can also be classified as a righteous man being brought to heaven, but in this case heaven is a chance to not be alone. He has done very well despite the ills he has experienced both physically and emotionally, fulfilling his work and being thoughtful with his words, etc. and now is given the chance to live in "heaven," or live in the company of others. I hope you see the parallelisms. Let me know if you'd like to clarify anything, you can reach me through my accounts down below!

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Let's break it down.

We kind of already get what the story is about at the beginning. The last line in the first page of the website? Ring any bells? Let me refresh you if your memory in case you forgot, "He might as well remember himself like this. It will not last long." The world is unfair and we can dwell on it for so long and make it even more unfair by giving ourselves up to it. But when we do what we can with what time we have, well then we're keeping our time. Keeping it running, keeping it valuable.

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How can we keep time when we struggle so much in this unfair world?

Who would have thought people struggling with their weight and how they feel this is excess are the fittest to survive. After being talked about practically all the time because of this very thing, and not in a nice way if I may add, this is a very honest view of the world today.

Mike, in the 47 years he has lived, only got to take care of himself when the world started to end. It isn't just because of the problem he's had with his weight and how he sees himself, but it also because others have made it such a big deal for so long it messed up how he spends and keeps his time. To keep time running, and to keep it valuable, there are people we can look to who find us worthy of their time. Let's not waste it since not everyone gets a chance like our main character.

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