Kandang Babi, Rendez-Vous

Catatan: Sepuluh tahun lalu, ketika mencoba menjadi penulis cerpen, ini adalah salah satu cerpen yang saya tulis. Diterbitkan oleh anak-anak Balairung (dan ada cerpen Ugoran Prasad, kalo enggak salah, 2000?) di antologi anak-anak UGM, saya enggak pernah menerbitkannya kembali di mana pun. Saya temukan kembali ketika menyelamatkan file-file dari Yahoo Briefcase. Setelah membacanya kembali, hmm, penulis ini mestinya bisa diselamatkan (hahaha):

***

Edi Idiot menjaga kampus siang dan malam, tapi ia bukan satpam. Terutama kalau malam, ia adalah raja yang berkuasa di kegelapan pohon-pohon rindang, tapi sungguh, ia bukan jin Iprit. Ia seperti kita juga: suka makan, beol, bercerita, berteriak menyanyikan Obladi Oblada, atau jika ia sedang tidak bersemangat, ia akan duduk manis menatap jauh pada segerombolan gadis yang tengah duduk berkerumun: berharap satu atau dua orang tersingkap roknya.
Baca selengkapnya …

Graffiti In The Toilet
(Translated by Benedict R. O'G. Anderson, Journal "Indonesia", Volume 86)

John 19:22: “Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.”

He pushed open the door of the toilet, enjoying the smell of still fresh paint. Then he closed the door, locked it from the inside, and, a few moments later, standing in front of the toilet-hole, undid his pants.1 With a hiss, the liquid sprayed down into the hole, giving off an ammoniac scent. The kid smacked his lips, grinning with satisfaction. When he was done, he shook what he was holding in his hand and bathed it with a few splashes from the dipper, tossing the rest of the water down into the hole. Then buttoned up.
Baca selengkapnya …

Confessions of a Netherland East Indies Opium Eater

opium355
Foto oleh Dany3D, Some rights reserved.

But who are they (this whole class of opium eaters)? Reader, I am sorry to say, a very numerous class indeed … I do not readily believe that any man, having once tasted the divine luxuries of opium, will afterward descend to the gross and mortal enjoyments of alcohol. I take it for granted: that those eat now, who never ate before … and those who always ate, now eat more.
Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater

Her eyes were dreary, with her very curved eyelashes. And if she spoken, we could hear that melodious voice of her. Once in a while her lips would give us smile, making our heart intoxicated, going up to the seventh sky. The more I loved her, the more she loved me too. Then I would touch her fingers and we hold our both hands for so long. Everyday was like that, until she had to leave this cruel world. Alone and languish.

This is not a tale nor a roman. No, my sensible reader, these notes not mean by the writer as that. I wrote this as a warning for anyone that were willing to see for a while, on what things had happen to me. Maybe one of them will be useful to be pick on its goodness. Baca selengkapnya …

Kitchen Curse

And we caused the clouds to overshadow you, and we sent down manna and quails upon you.
The Koran 2:54


Photo by Rev Dan Catt, Some rights reserved.

Initially Maharani had hoped to find a new recipe at the city museum, but this was what she found:

A long time ago, a Bugis fishing ship sank in a storm in the Atlantic. There was only one survivor, a young man with leather pouch filled with spices, who had been rescued by a Portuguese merchant ship. They provided him with the plainest of European food, which sent him rushing into the kitchen where he took over as undisputable master of spices. That evening the tongues of all the ship’s occupants tingled, experiencing a sensation that their ancestor had never encountered.

Among all the history books and other volumes, only one Spanish encyclopedia, published in 1892, mentioned that man’s name, despite his significance to the history that followed. He has been forgotten by history, but to him we owe thanks for sending the traders of the West our way, along with the rats smuggling themselves on the Spanish ships, which came for the direct purchase of more of the aforementioned spices. This was the beginning of the greed of Europe, and the Dutch followed with their huge company. Baca selengkapnya …

Dimples


Photo by: Ctd 2005, Some rights reserved.

Just a moment ago, the sweet girl with dimples had been shivering, overcome by the night. Now, she was smiling so that her dimples became more pronounced while she packed her clothes.

A moment ago, she had been a newlywed, trembling, pale and dying. Now, she was a happy young divorcee.

The man had just divorced her. The third pronouncement of divorce was delivered in all seriousness. Their first night together was also their last. Sitting on a mattress covered with a yellow sheet patterned with floating jasmine, Dimples was gathering the few things she owned. Her long hair flowing freely down her back and falling across the pillow, the sweating and half-clothed woman had to leave immediately. She was no longer mistress of the house.

She heard the man’s feet shuffling behind the door, impatiently. She remembered how, just a short while ago, he had stripped her clothes off before he undressed himself. Dimples froze while the man burned with passion. He entered Dimples savagely and then calmed down momentarily. It was brief, but long enough for Dimples to ask herself, Why? Too easy, Master? The man’s response was a frenzied lovemaking that made the bed creak like a coconut tree shaken by a storm. Then it was time for them to roll over, bathed in sweat and out of breath. Baca selengkapnya …