The semi-psychotic man was hovering over the compound trash bins again this morning. I walked up to him and asked him why he intermittently shouted "Hang! Hang!" at no one in particular. I never pussyfoot around people, I prefer confronting them directly.

At first he told me a roundabout story about people living in small houses. Under my astute questioning he eventually said, "Pasensya na po, sir, may tama ako." He said that his erratic behavior began when he took up a devotion to the Santo Nino, the Black Nazarene, and the Blessed Virgin.

Much later, when he walked out the main gate, he resumed shouting to ether once more. Since I was near him, his shouting was clearly "Ha? Ha?" and not "Hang! Hang!" as I first heard him from inside our house.

"Ha? Ha?" is this man's continual call for help, like a soul in torment. It is as though he is constantly calling out to his gods and saints, waiting for them to respond to him and not receiving any kind of answer.