The Blink is Dusk.
Sack House
Aram bears several wooden sticks as big as an adult's arm. Areha and Luran cleared the land they were going to build the tent on. Pluck grass and remove plastic waste. Figan was so happy, he helped while playing.
"Distribute again from this. Later here we make to play, to cook and put anything." Said Aram to his three younger siblings after laying wood. He had a shoulder pain, and there was a part of the shoulder skin that was peeling off.
"Yes, we'll spread the land." Said his sister with passion.
For them it is the same as playing. Aram then went back to look for wood for the frame of the tent in the forest. Until he found the bamboo grove. There are many things that he would do with bamboo.
After the frame for the tent is enough. Aram started building a tent. Armed with the experience of being a scout first, he can set up a tent. Aram chose to build a wall. The side of the wall is made into one side wall. Then set up two branching poles. On top of the branch he placed the crosswise wood. Then the end of the wood for the roof frame he put on the wall and the wood crosswise. Then the tent formed.
The tarpaulin they often use for sleeping blankets, is now used as a roof. The height of the wall was only one and a half meters due to the inclined plane. To tie him up he used a plastic rope that he found in the trash. The rope is spliced to length.
Aram sewed some plastic sacks into a few wide sections. Then he put it on the tent pole. He also collected the sacks from the trash. So as not to smell he washes in the swamps. The door he made from a piece of rusty old zinc. Simply rested and tied to the door estuary pole. For the floor mat he stretched a used plastic carpet.
Finding a good piece of board, he took it back to the tent and utilized it. Over time Aram learns to survive and to find experience. They have been living in that tent for a week.
...*****...
Go Scavenging.
*
"Areha, take care of sister. Don't play in swamps and on highways. Koyong wants to find used goods." Said Aram.
"Koyong don't come home too late. Let's take a bath together in the swamp." Areha said she wanted to wash the furniture and clothes.
"Yes, we're home." Answer Aram.
"Tomorrow we'll go with Koyong." Areha.
"Don't nobody take care of our stuff. Poor Figan, too, he's sapped later." Said Aram.
Aram then pushed the cart out of the wall and walked towards the highway. He deliberately did not make a clear path. Their existence is unknown to people. Figan and Luran follow from behind and they stand on the side of the road watching Aram who keeps stepping away leaving them.
"If you get used zinc, I want to make the wall door collapse it." Thought Aram. Aramaic enters the population complexes. He scraped trash cans in front of the houses, or at the disposal of many sampaites scattered on the outskirts of the road.
Some people built houses in the complex. Good people give used goods to aram. Used ceramic cardboard box, WC door former, some board pieces, iron pieces and aluminum taso leftover.
"Thank you, Mama." Aram said as he left. The two husbands answered equally.
...*****...
Time shows at two o'clock in the afternoon. The streets in the middle of Palembang City are so crowded and jammed everywhere. Those hours are the busy hours of the streets. Where people are looking for food and work breaks, plus children go home from school, go home from work, go home shopping so that the road is jammed badly.
A road that is also always crowded on the outskirts of Palembang City is Soekarno-Hatta street. Along the road, to the left of the road there are many planted with angsana trees. There are also SPBU and shophouses. A young man came to the BBM charging station. There were ten people in front of him. Patiently waiting in line under the hot sun, finally his turn came.
"How many Sis." Ask the BBM charging officer.
"Ten thousand, Brother." The answer, then the officer shows from zero. After filling BBM, the young man they overheated because of the queue. Not to mention he also from the morning had traveled around the city of Palembang.
He was very sultry, and decided to rest in the shade under the grove of angsana trees on the side of the road. Looking at the crowded streets. The wind also cooled. The car looked very compact, very slow.
"Tiiiinnn." Horn honks.
"Poommm." Big puso car horn.
Two vendors of drinks and snacks were not far away. Some taxi drivers were also sitting around, waiting for passengers. From afar a mother of three years old takes a walk down the path. He was carrying two chickens not too big. Offering to everyone he meets.
"Mom, don't buy chicken." The offer to the merchant.
"Adu, sorry Mom. Next time." The mother refused subtly. And so is the other trader. Ojekers also refused, some even just raised their hands. My heart was so sad and ashamed. He was about half a day selling the chicken.
"Dec, want to buy chicken no. Good for pets." Said. The young man in blue red who was reading the book noticed the chicken. The chicken is not so big yet, to be cut is still too small.
"Buy the deck, fifteen thousand only." Bargain again. The young man who did not understand anything about the world of immersion became strange. But he began to catch the look on the mother's face, if she really needed it. Chicken that is still small on sale is certainly very urgent. Some of the young men thought it was like.
"Yes already, I bought Yuk." Answer the young man, then reach into the bag of pants. There was seventy thousand, one ten thousand, two five thousand and a fifty thousand. The price of two chickens is thirty thousand rupiah.
"Yuk there's no change. Please just pass the money, sir." Obviously the mother. Then he shook his body so that his son would go back to sleep. Which looks very fussy. Looks like a hot fever.
"Try on swapping there." Said the young man. When he traded it turned out that everything was also not there, the merchant's small money there was less. The money taxi driver is also fifty thousand, and one hundred thousand.
"How Do I." Said the mothers, from the face looks very worried if the young man did not buy.
"Already, change for Ayuk only, it's okay. I'm sincere." Said the young man. The mother almost screamed, and she suddenly cried. Her tears did not stop falling.
"Thank you, thank you. Come on. Let's get Midwives right away. Want to treat Ayuk's son, who is sick with hot fever. Ayuk's husband hasn't come home from work on the estate because it hasn't been paid." He said while crying. The young man was silent, then the mother said goodbye and headed for the midwife's house not far from her contract.
"Kreottt. kreooott." The sound of his stomach hungry. "Beldom, wait for us to fast today." The young man's heart, and then he read the book again.
...*****...
CHICKEN FOR ARAMAIC.
*
Aram stopped on the side of the crowded highway. He shaded from the heat of the afternoon sun. Some motorcycle taxi drivers were also seen sitting on their motorcycles waiting for passenger orders. While tinkering with their smartphones.
Aram glanced at the mothers selling snacks, ice, and fried foods. Next to it was a cigarette dealer and a cold drink. Aram again pushed his wagon ten meters away from the people and the food merchants. Her saliva dripped when she saw the food. Then Aram sat on the sidewalk of the road. There were enough plastic bottles, cardboard, scrap metal, and aluminum cans he had collected that day.
"Sir, the feeling we've never met." A voice called out from behind him." A young man in blue red was sitting leaning against the tree trunk. In his hand were some reading books.
"Oh, yes. Brother AF itukan." Reply Aram smiled.
"Keookkkk. Keeookkk." The sound of two chickens. The young boy's morbidity calmed those two big enough chickens. "Husses. huss." The chicken was silent, as she let go of the rope wrapped around the legs of the two chickens.
"Sold chicken, yeah." Ask Aram.
"No, I just bought it from a mother." Answer the young man.
"It's good that the color is male, surely if big will be a beautiful rooster. The fur is red and the tail is long." Aram said, then he got up and approached the chicken. Then stroked the chicken feather.
"You like chicken." Said the young man while watching Aram stroking the chicken book.
"Like, I used to have a rooster. But sold dad for extra money for rent." Said Aram.
"If you like, take this chicken. You pet and make chicken cattle kampung, you can also be rich later from this chicken." The young man motivates.
"True Sister." Aram said half in disbelief.
"really. Take it, I'm serious." The young man assured. Without thinking for long Aram took the two chickens.
"What school are you not." Ask the young man.
"No, sister, I've been out of school since my father died." Reply Aram sadly.
"You don't despair, school is important for our emotional intelligence and mind. If you want to be a great person, you have to go to school. Enter the school package B equivalent SMP. Brother used to drop out of school too, but sister continued at eighteen years old. Go to school for Packages B and C. But most importantly, learn a lot and read a book or anything that can be read. So that you can think independently, and be able to move on your own. If you don't like to read your thoughts you're not independent and can't think logically." Advice from the young man.
"Yes Brother. Thanks for the advice, I will try to follow your advice." Answer Aram.
"Whose name are you." Asked the young man, he got up and put the book in his bag. Before leaving he gave ten thousand, for Aram to buy a drink. Aram refused, but he remembered the rice was gone. He smiled and accepted the money.
"Aram, my name is sis." His word.
"Oh, okay Aram. I want to go, my bike is not on. Don't know why." Said the young man. Aram says thank you very much for everything. Aram read the inscription on the blue red shirt on the back of the young man "Apero Fublic Press" then the young man wore a sweater and gloves. Then he guided his honda beat motorcycle.
"Surely Luran and Figan are very happy to keep this chicken. If possible, someday I will become a successful businessman of chicken, can import chicken meat abroad. How great I am." Thought Aram. Thank God, a lot of sustenance today said Aram. He continued walking with his wagon on the shoulder of the road. Aram did not care about the hustle and bustle of passing vehicles.
...*****...
Meanwhile, the young man guiding the motor continued walking. He is also thinking about how his business and life will be in the future.
"Haduu, my frugal program doesn't go well. O Allah, have guided the motorcycle to save gasoline and save money. More and more money is coming out. I hope you have enough money to live this month. All right I'm fasting Monday-Thursday it seems to save again. O Allah, may this company that I am fighting for be a big company. So I can help the government create jobs." The young man's heart. Suddenly:
"Bang Jon, what's the bike." Two cool youngsters stop by his side, wearing green ninja Kawasaki bikes.
"Oh, you guys. Dani, Alpin from where." Ask Bang Jon.
"From Zul's place, bang. In kertapati." Answer the one called Alpin.
"Why is Zul's place too." Ask Bang Jon.
"He's celebrating his birthday." Said Dani. Bang Jon laughed out loud.
"There's just that kid." Said.
"Where are you going, bang." Ask Alpin.
"Regular, at the end of college, application." Answer bang Jon.
"Alhamdulillah, finally secretly a proposal as well, beautiful future brother." Dani and Alpin congratulate.
"What's beautiful, what's safe, job applications are rejected continuously." Bang Jon was upset. Then the three of them laughed.
"We laugh at our country's scholars, Bang." Said Dani.
"Let's step, bang." Alvin. Offers to push Jon bang motorbikes everywhere. Alpin drives and Dani pushes with his strong legs. Understandably Dani's strong body and large height, the two alternated until tired of pushing Bang Jon's motorcycle.
"How's the thesis." Bang Jon asked as they stopped resting at a stall.
"Just relax bang, little thesis." Answer Alpin.
"Alah, relax. Which title are we." Dani said, and the three of them laughed again.
"Infant, Arip, How's Asti."
"If Asti were not far from you, Yutri." Chirps Dani.
"Yes. A month in the village, not a single bit of what he's researching." They laughed again, and talked somewhere.
...*****...
THE SACK HOUSE WAS FLOODED.
*
For three weeks Aram and his sisters lived in the forest with a sack-walled, tarpaulin-roofed house. The first night their mats were wet with ground steam. So Aram looking for used boards and former WC doors for used carpet mats and mats. Likewise, when it rains, the soil becomes moist. But all that hasn't made them any trouble. Mosquitoes are plentiful, they use their mosquito nets first. So as to save them from deadly dengue fever.
It hasn't been raining for a week, it looks like it's going to rain tonight. Hot air and black clouds were moving. The kerosene lamp started to sway by the wind blowing. Aram closed the door of their sack house. There was a sound of that zinc contouring.
"Kottt. kottt." Two chickens in a bamboo cage sounded. Aram realized that his two chickens would be wet by the rain. He went out and closed around the bamboo cage with a sack. The roof of the chicken cage was safe from the rain, as he used the scrap zinc he found in the trash.
"Koyong, our chickens will die closed so, can't breathe." Said Figan looking worried.
"Ha.ha.ha.ha." Everybody laugh.
"No, it's not very tight, from the bottom there are holes." Luran.
"Let's go in." Take Aram, the wind is getting heavier and the sky is getting darker. The sound of trees roaring in the strong wind. The sound of vehicles on the streets never stops. They entered, the tread sack walls swayed in the wind. Aram prayed that their sack house would not collapse.
"Well.legitimate. legitimate." Figan played with robots that had lost one arm and one leg. Luran plays the cars happily. Areha reads a fairy tale book that has lost its cover. Aram read the newspaper he found in the trash. He read a lot, magazines and sometimes books about anything.
"If you want to be a great person, read a lot." That's what Aram remembered the advice of the young man he called Brother AF.
"Duummm." Lightning and thunder came breaking the black clouds. Drizzling down and sounding sighs falling over their tarps.
Aram saw his sisters had fallen asleep with their toys. Oil lamps also flicker shrink the sign of oil runs out. Aram poured kerosene into an oil lamp can. The lights slowly improved. He put the oil lamp back on top of the small piece of board earlier.
Aram lay down and closed his eyes. The wind was roaring continuously against the trees. O Allah, may our sack house not collapse, Aram prayed. Aram read the basmalah and the two sentences of the shahada, some time he fell asleep as the rain fell heavily.
The rain that night was so heavy and long, the water gathered quickly on the ground. So that it forms a heavy flow that drifts dry leaves. Water continues to flow with a high enough discharge. Aram Tent that only sticks to the ground through rain water. Their beds are wet, their bedding is wet. But they're still asleep. Areha who woke up the first time.
"Water, flood." Areha said puzzledly, she saw water filling their sack house. The books, newspapers and magazines he read last night were wet. He realized that his clothes and pants were also wet.
"Koyong, wake. Figan, Run up. Wakes up. Build our house flooded." Areha said while shaking one by one. Allu woke up and watched the tent that was already full of water.
"Buuurr." Water gushes in more as the lower wall opens. Many dried leaves and small twigs washed in. All the cold and Aram moved to save anything. Especially their change of clothes in a plastic basket so as not to get wet. Aram held the lamp and gave it to Areha. He tried to fix the wall but in vain. According to Aram the wooden frame is less. Tomorrow he will make a moat, raise the floor, add the roof pole and raise the roof. So that water from the wall does not enter the wet.
The four of them finally stood alone, while enduring the cold and drowsiness. There was nothing they could do but wait for the rain to stop.
"Koyong, I'm tired, Cold." Said Figan. Aram pity his youngest sister. He then held Figan. Areha and Luran approached, then they hugged each other.
"Tomorrow koyong make a trench and we raise the floor. So that if it rains heavy water doesn't come in." Aram said to his brothers.
"We're doing great Koyong, our house." Said Figan. Three hours later, it was raining. They started cleaning the tent and rearranging it. With a dry cloth, before dawn they fell asleep again while sitting down, and stuck to each other.
...*****...
SHOPPING TO THE MARKET.
*
That afternoon, the Yuzaka family went to the sixteen market, Palembang City. They will buy Yuzaka's school supplies that have gone up to eighth grade. Yuzaka was so happy that soreh. Buying school supplies: stationery, new school uniforms and shoes. And so did his brother and sister. When finished, they eat culinary snacks around Benteng Kuta Besak Tourism Park. Take pictures and look around. By late afternoon they were home. Roads are jammed, vehicles are crawling as usual.
"Aduuuu, jammed trus." Yuzaka's mother was speechless, she wanted to go home quickly for holding back a pee.
"Here is Mom, shopping at the market. When it comes to e-commerce, nothing like this happens." Said big brother Yuzaka while playing HP.
"Yes, if the shoes are small how, the trus uniform does not fit, how. Ask again, buy again." Answer mother.
"Yes we have to be good at picking on Mom. Don't just buy it." Kila. His mother answered still wrong, how smart to choose if from the internet, there are only pictures. Banta the mother.
"Here, shopping is noisier. There is nothing more and less." Answer the Father reconcile. The car stopped because of the red light.
Yuzaka is busy with smartphones. He uploaded the photos on his Instagram and Facebook accounts. After that, many friends commented. He replied with a smile. Yuzaka unintentionally turned his head out looking at the bustling streets. Across the street he saw a boy pushing a cart. Yuzaka watched some of the. He's sure it's Aram, his schoolmate. Yuzaka sees Aram picking up plastic waste and then continues walking. His body is thin and thin now.
"Pristian. Aramaic." Yuzaka said in his heart, he wanted to call and tried to open the car door. But baby, the green light is on and the car is running. Long Yuzaka looked back. He still saw Aram keep walking, pushing the wagon. For some reason, sadness appeared in Yuzaka's heart. Her eyes were wet and her tears were melting on her cheeks.
...*****...
Koyong: Brother.
Kopek: Sister.
Ayuk: Sister is more mature.
...*****...
