Member-only story
Silence Dances at the End of the Day
The translation of Radhar Panca Dahana’s Indonesian short story “Sepi Pun Menari di Tepi Hari” by Tjahaja.
Good news came in the morning.
Tuesday, August 19, 1997. In front of more than 500 invitees who crowded the Multipurpose Hall of Neighborhood 18, Pondok Petir Village, the southern suburb of the capital, Ir Gulian Putra Ariandaru, M.A., 29, was officially married to Arsih, 22.
That smile. Mystery.
Her full lips draw a soft line above her almost exactly semicircular chin. As if declaring from a distance, life is soft. Therefore, it’s your own fault if you can’t sleep well. Then, her eyes narrowed as her lips parted slowly, and her laughter flowed. The world is finished! With such strong and natural-drawn facial lines, women will fill every man’s blank stare. Women who create distance every step of the way. Picasso’s women pervade the dark with their light.
Her name was Arsih. The first, second, and third times I encountered her, she was always in the middle of a wayang show. When the Punakawan appeared only to nullify the beginning and end of the story, the sound of her laughter, however, startled me and made me immediately turn towards her. Her voice expanded and floated like a traceless footstep, forcing me to smile. “That is Arsih. Yu Katiyem’s daughter.” Sudri, an informant in my research work, quickly responded to my question. “She’s only 20 years old,” he continued. I didn’t know what that meant.
The fifth encounter was on a dangdut stage. We got to know each other. Her father was a farmer, and her mother ran a gado-gado stall. I got my master’s six months later. Three years later, we, Arsih and I, almost had a child. Her pregnancy was weak; the baby died just because Arsih cycled to the market.
He? Ah, it’s normal. City boy. His style. His clothes were always white and flashy. So he looked clean all the time. He also tried so hard to speak politely so he wouldn’t get into trouble at his job. What did he do? He was just scribbling, like a clerk at the kelurahan office. I knew he often glanced at me ever since the wayang show “Petruk Dadi Watu” by Kiai Sumprit, that crazy puppeteer. Got to know each other? I was forced to do so by…
