A/N: Translations can be found as inline comments. Self-explanatory or translations indicated within the text will not be provided.

"Stupid Samuel" was the name that the barrio people coined and gave to a boy of ten with small hands and tiny feet, and with a face dotted by pimienta-sized freckles. He's also a pygmy, like his fellow villagers. But he's a different kind of pygmy, he was "Stupid Samuel" and he was proud of it.

Instead of taking his siesta, Stupid Samuel was now having his merienda, sitting under the growth of bougainvillea, near some cobblestones, eating the remains of his favourite fruits — avocados, papayas, star apples, and guavas — which he stole from the nearby palenque. He had forgotten to bring some peso coins out of the abaca box.

He also had forgotten to join the fiesta held this morning and eat there because he's too busy looking at one of the 3-D frames brought by some American tourists. He never understood what people saw in these pictures. He turned them upside-down. He placed them on the floor. He raised them up by the window, near the light. He pressed them close to his eyes. He wore his mother's glasses.

And he still could never figure it out. No wonder why people called him "Stupid Samuel."

Stupid Samuel had snapped out of his reverie only when he heard his neighbour's dog yelping. He never knew what breed it was, aside from it being 'local.' And then he couldn't tell whether it was male or female. Stupid Samuel never learned how to look.

His mother never taught him anything. She never showed him things that she deemed unnecessary to learn. For instance, she didn't explain to him that the donut-like structure near their cottage implied emptiness or hunger. Stupid Samuel, being stupid, only thought it just was a donut-shaped sculpture.

 -o-

Stupid Samuel was a sensation in his barrio. Tourists who sometimes passed by would loudly inquire about the boy who had no clothes on. "Oh, that will be Stupid Samuel," the villagers would say. When the travellers wanted to know the story behind the boy's nakedness, they would always have this answer: "We're trying to find out.'

It was in the year 1986 when the people in the village began trying to find out the reason Stupid Samuel did not wear any clothes. This trend had started one day when the Governor-General, who was once a guerrilla chief, visited the small town. There was a parade and a fiesta being held in his honour.

In the crowd was Stupid Samuel, stark naked as a newborn baby, wearing only his papa's sombrero, which was too big for his head, when the General, riding a kalesa, passed by. The General was incredulous at the boy's impertinence—or so he thought it was and stopped the horse-drawn carriage. He demanded from the child's parents the answer to the question burning in his mind. "Señor, Señora," he started and paused, first swallowing his anger. Then, with a wide flourish of his hand, the general queried, "What's the meaning of this?"

The father responded with a nervous laugh and the mother said, "Jesu Cristo! Forgive him; he's only a little boy. They don't call him 'Stupid Samuel' for nothing."

The General wasn't sated with this reply, and so he told his compadres to reward those who knew the answer with a sack of rice. Since then, Stupid Samuel became a riddle to be solved.

-o-

Stupid Samuel finished eating his merienda and was now looking up at the sky. The villagers once proclaimed that clouds had meaning. Some time ago, he remembered, the people were pointing at the sky and were saying, "Oh no! The sky is red! Virgin Mary is angry!" And people looked down and saw Stupid Samuel covered up with red spots and exclaimed, "Here's the cause of our tribulation! We must let him do his penitence!"

But Samuel's mother, who heard this, had spoken, "Stop! The boy only has measles." Stupid Samuel had been momentarily shocked and had been prepared to defend himself with his tiny fists. He had believed what the barrio people were saying. He considered himself too young and too naïve to understand and to see through things. He believed that "Only the wise could see."

It was now late afternoon, and the people woke up from their siestas. Through the small windows of their hut, they observed Stupid Samuel poking at or playing with something. Stupid Samuel turned out to be consoling a puppy abandoned by some American visitors. It was a fine dog, unlike his neighbour's. It was wearing a tiara and regal clothes. Stupid Samuel wondered why people did not leave them as they were, instead of dressing them up. To him, this was an oppression of identity.

So Stupid Samuel tried to take the ornaments off the dog, when villagers, who mistook the attempt for an act of torture, came out and yelled, "Stop, Stupid Samuel. Stop hurting the poor doggie!" And then together, from habit, and with a synchronized motion, they looked up at the sky and shouted, "Look! The clouds! They look like dinosaurs! And they are sipping tea from their teacups! San Juan! San Pedro! This is bad."

After leaving the naked Stupid Samuel behind, who was looking at them with innocent eyes as wide as saucers, the villagers fled the barrio, only to come back later, saying, "O Dios! What a mistake."

So??? What do you guys think of the first adventures of Stupid Samuel? Have you figured out that "Stupid" in this story isn't meant as a put-down, but more like a badge of honor?

Moral of the story: Don't believe everything people say about you.

Comment, feedback most welcome like first-ever reader DannBritts did down below.