Continuation of Golden Girl by Quijano de Manila...
THE BRAWL was rather embroiled, but here's how Nora's mother tells it.
When Timi Yuro was last in Manila, Nora was part of her show at the coliseum. Nora met her childhood idol and Timi was impressed by the young singer.
All of a sudden Nora and her Auntie Belen showed up in Iriga. Mrs. Aunor told Nora's mother that Timi Yuro had taken a fancy to Nora and wanted to take the girl to the United States; Timi Yuro felt sure that Nora would click there. Timi Yuro's mother also liked Nora very much and wanted to know if she could adopt the girl. That was why Nora and her Auntie Belen had flown to Iriga, to tell Nora's parents of the offer.
Nora's father and mother said they could not let Nora go to America; the girl was too young to be separated from her family. And letting Timi Yuro's mother adopt Nora was, of course, out of the question. Mrs. Aunor said that Timi Yuro and her mother were very insistent and might not take no for an answer. Maybe, just to stop them, there should be a document showing that Nora could not be adopted because her aunt and uncle, the Aunors, had already adopted her.
A lawyer that Nora's mother hurriedly consulted advised against signing such document. But Mrs. Aunor said it would be merely a paper to show to Timi Yuro. Anyway, added the lawyer, such a paper would have no legal value; no child could be adopted if both its parents were living.
So, Nora's mother signed the paper that was supposed to be only a pretense that the Aunors had adopted Nora.
Late last year, after Nora went to work for Tower Productions, she began to feel she should be with her own folks. She had been living with the Aunors for two years and she felt unhappy about her family not being together. She was in Manila, her eldest brother was in the army, her parents were in the province.
"One reason I felt happy about earning more," says Nora now, "was that I could bring my family together."
When her mother came to visit, Nora told her about wanting to bring all the family to Manila, so they could be reunited. They could rent a house; the youngest boy could go to school in the city. Nora's mother told Mrs. Aunor about Nora's plan. Mrs. Aunor said why rent a house when they could live together in the Aunor house. But Nora's mother didn't think this was a good arrangement: two families under one roof. It would be better, as Nora wished, to get a separate house for her folks.
Mrs. Aunor, according to Nora's mother, then declared that Nora could not be taken away from the Aunors because they were her legal guardians, they had adopted Nora, and they had the document to prove it: the paper signed by Nora's mother. This provoked a scene. There were angry words and bitter recriminations. Nora cried that if she was to be the object of dispute she would rather give up her career and just go back to Iriga. In the end she and her mother walked out of the Aunor house.
They rented an apartment in Cubao. Nora's brothers and elder sister joined them there. But her father would not leave Iriga.
One day, her mother accompanied Nora to an appearance on Fiesta Extravaganza. Nora seated her mother in a corner of the room. "You just stay there, Mamay," said Nora. Then she went off. Presently she came back with her Auntie Belen, who she seated beside her mother. "Now, you two watch the show from there," said Nora, with her impish smile. And off she went to do her number, leaving her mother and her auntie sitting side by side. The sisters at first didn't speak a word. Then their eyes met. On the instant they burst into tears and fell into each other's arms.
The reconciliation of the two families is not yet complete, but Nora won't stop until she has reestablished harmony between her two matrons: the Mamay she loves so much and the auntie to whom she owes so much.
HER STARRERS for Tower Productions, smash hits at the box-office, have turned Nora into a superstar, the superstar of the moment. She has broken the color line in Philippine movies...
TO BE CONTINUED.