Janelle: Ugh! My keys are missing again. I swear, the dwendes in this house are getting playful. Maybe they’re bored.
Marco: (laughs) Or maybe you put them down somewhere weird like you always do?
Janelle: Excuse me, I’m very organized. And besides, yesterday my bracelet disappeared for three hours. Then it magically reappeared on my bedside table. Explain that.
Marco: That’s easy—you forgot you left it there.
Janelle: No! I checked that table like five times. Five, Marco. A human couldn’t have moved it without me hearing. So obviously it was the dwendes.
Marco: Obviously? You think tiny invisible creatures are rearranging your accessories because… what? They’re bored with Netflix?
Janelle: You laugh now, but my lola always said dwendes like to play tricks if you don’t greet them in the mornings. And I forgot to say “tabi-tabi po” yesterday. Coincidence? I think not.
Marco: Janelle, everything can’t be explained by folklore. Sometimes things go missing because our brains get distracted. It’s called inattentional blindness—your brain literally filters out stuff when you’re stressed or multitasking.
Janelle: Well, my brain needs to stop filtering out my keys. I need those.
Marco: Remember last month when you thought your phone got “taken” by “the little people”? And it turned out it was inside your ref?
Janelle: That was one time! And it made sense. I was looking for cold water, placed my phone down for a second, and forgot about it. But my bracelet? No. I would never put it on the bedside table. It’s too messy there.
Marco: Your whole room is messy. That’s why you think the supernatural is reorganizing things.
Janelle: Don’t insult the dwendes. They don’t like being mocked.
Marco: Oh please. If they’re real, they probably left years ago because of the noise from your K-drama marathons.
Janelle: (laughs despite herself) Okay, that one’s fair. But come on—you’ve never had something disappear and later reappear in an impossible place?
Marco: I have. But I assume I misplaced it. Humans make mistakes. We’re forgetful. We’re not built-in GPS trackers.
Janelle: But there are so many stories—neighbors, cousins, my lola, half the barangay! Are you saying everyone is just forgetful?
Marco: Honestly? Yeah. Forgetfulness is a universal phenomenon. Believing in dwendes is cultural. It’s how people made sense of the unexplained back then. It doesn’t mean it’s literally true.
Janelle: But the stories feel true.
Marco: Feeling true and being true aren’t the same. Like how you felt sure your dog could understand Ilocano.
Janelle: Hey—Mango reacts when I say “Umay ka ditoy!”
Marco: Mango reacts to everything. He reacts when someone sneezes.
Janelle: Fine. But I still think some things can’t be explained. And until science finds proof that dwendes don’t exist, I’m keeping my mind open.
Marco: You can keep it open, sure. Just don’t blame mythical creatures every time you lose something. Sometimes the culprit is just your left brain taking a coffee break.
Janelle: Maybe. But just in case… (faces the room) Sorry, dwendes, if I blamed you wrongly. Please return my keys.
Marco: (shakes head) You’re impossible.
Janelle: Ding! Oh! My keys are in my pocket. Huh.
Marco: See? No dwendes needed.
Janelle: Or maybe they put them in my pocket to apologize.
Marco: Nope. Not having this conversation.
Janelle: (laughing) Fine, fine. But you have to admit—it’s more fun blaming dwendes than admitting I’m forgetful.
Marco: Okay, that’s true. I’ll give you that.
Science Vs Superstition 
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