He Never Knew What Hit Him

It was one of those days, when it got so hot and dry you could actually taste the dust inside your mouth even at night.

Jones was on his way home after a terribly disastrous day. He had been severely reprimanded by his superiors for not making his quota for three months in a row, his lover had just left him over something he almost, but not quite, understood. Worse still, his rent was two months overdue.

It was then that something materialized in front of him; it had three eyes, six legs, and a score of hands, each neatly wrapped in immaculate white gloves. Slowly, it began to take off each gloves but one, and in perfectly spoken English that would have made the Queen Mother cried in shame, it said:

“Jones, you are a complete and utter disgrace to any and all sentient beings in the whole of the known and unknown universe!”

And commenced to give Jones a series of tiny slaps with all of its hands but one. And then with a shimmering it was gone as quick as it had materialized.

In the still and utter darkness of the night, Jones began to silently cry.

Home Alone

Well, what the title said: home alone.

For a week.

Perfect time to become a vegetable?

Ayah Pinjaman

Anak itu keluar sekolah sambil menangis. Seorang guru berusaha membujuknya, tapi tidak berhasil. Anak itu tetap menangis. Ia minta pulang.

Aku, yang saat itu sedang menunggu anakku, menoleh. Anak itu juga menoleh. Aku melambaikan tanganku, mengajaknya mendekat. Sambil menangis, ia berlari menghampiriku, naik ke atas pangkuanku dan memelukku. Erat. Erat sekali.

'Kenapa Aip menangis?' tanyaku.

'Aip ma-ha-u pu-hu-lang...' isaknya.

'Lho, kenapa? Kan teman-teman sedang di dalam, menari. Aip nggak mau ikut?' tanyaku lagi.

'Nggak ma-ha-u...'

'Ok. Jadi Aip mau di sini aja? Iya?'

'Aip ma-ha-u pu-hu-laaang...' tangisnya makin keras.

Aku menepuk-nepuk punggungnya dengan lembut sambil membujuknya agar tangisnya berhenti. Tak lama kemudian ia diam. Aku mendudukkan dia di sebelahku.

'Aip mau mamam?' tanyaku.

Ia menjawab dengan membuka tasnya dan mengeluarkan sebuah makanan ringan.

'Tolong, Papa Kay,' pintanya.

Semenit kemudian ia telah menghabiskan makanan ringannya dan kembali bermain dengan ceria.

Aip adalah salah satu anak yang menghadiri sekolah yang sama dengan anakku. Ia masih berkelas di Kelompok Bermain Besar, sebuah kelas yang diperuntukkan bagi anak usia 3 - 4 tahun. Menurut penjaga sekolah, Aip biasa diantar dan dijemput oleh tetangganya, seorang pengojek, karena kedua orang tuanya harus bekerja.

'Kalau diantar ayahnya, biasanya nggak mau masup, Pak,' jelas si penjaga sekolah. 'Ayahnya juga nggak boleh ninggalin dia.'

Mungkin itu sebabnya Aip langsung mau dekat dan dibujuk olehku...

(Re)Starting Anew

This is the first entry of yet another one of these electronic journal-keeping. Let's hope I will be able to maintain this one on a fairly regular basis.

As of now, I really have nothing to say but hi.

So: Hi. We meet again.