Dusk falls, quickly followed on its heels by darkness. It is that time of evening when the fruit bats emerge, for Cubao is fruit bat country, perhaps because there still are trees here, though not as lush and as diverse as those in the New Orleans Garden District. The most common fruit trees in Cubao are mango, tamarind, mabolo, and kamias. The bats are not at all averse to artificial light. It is more appropriate to assume that it is sunlight they are averse to. I can see them from the windows of M.'s cafe. They hang from the branches of trees illuminated by the mercury and halogen street lights, then flit from tree to tree like dancing ladies dressed in kimonas with butterfly sleeves.