I don’t know how Mariana, my classmate, could have sat still when the entire classroom bullied her. She stood still when Lan, a polio-ridden boy, hit her upper arm seven times — I counted. Because I sat two rows behind her, each blow felt like it had been aimed at me too. I cringed, while … Baca Selengkapnya
Her big smile somehow eclipsed her small and slouching figure as she extended a greeting hand: “My name is Rose. I’ll be your neighbor.” We could not have asked for a warmer welcome after a long and tiring journey as we were to begin a new life far away from home. Rose was in her … Baca Selengkapnya
Her big smile somehow eclipsed her small and slouching figure as she extended a greeting hand: “My name is Rose. I’ll be your neighbor.” We could not have asked for a warmer welcome after a long and tiring journey as we were to begin a new life far away from home. Rose was in her … Baca Selengkapnya
“I know you won’t jump off,” Ahmad told him, “No matter how far you get to tiptoeing off that ledge, you won’t.” “And why is that?” Reza asked, earnestly. Ahmad simply shook his head, joining Reza past the railings that held them back. The rugged man sat on it in a relaxed manner, while Reza … Baca Selengkapnya
A woman works as an ambulance driver. She saves lives every single night. Every morning she goes home and crawls into bed happy. But one night something terrible happens. One night the woman’s out driving the ambulance — rushing a heart attack victim to the hospital — when a boy steps out from behind a … Baca Selengkapnya
H e stood in the room of the art museum — the first of its kind in the city — and gazed at the paintings he’d spent his entire life writing about. The names of each painter were hastily scribbled onto a piece of paper beside each canvas, most likely by an underpaid intern or, … Baca Selengkapnya
O n the second day of Eid celebrations — a day that’s supposed to be spent visiting family— I sat alone in a café for hours under the guise of doing my assignments. No one asked me how I had an assignment during a holiday, so I could be lying. I wasn’t lying though, I … Baca Selengkapnya
I n Boneo’s front yard, a pu tao (Syzygium cumini) tree — better known as a jamblang (Java plum tree) — seemed to have trouble holding up its aging frame. The height of the trunk did not break the roofline of the house. Its branches created a thick canopy, but the foliage was dry; many leaves had … Baca Selengkapnya
Yusuf’s Soliloquy: I was born with a kris — a Javanese traditional dagger — inside my body. It was a naked kris with nine curves. It was my father who saw the dagger for the first time. Three days before I was born, on a dry and silent afternoon in a town hospital, my mother was … Baca Selengkapnya
It’s funny how things never change in this old town. This is one of those places that somehow always manages to float outside of time, where people don’t seem to change: they are exactly as you remember them when you were 10 years old, cruising the streets on your bicycle with your friends. Defying the … Baca Selengkapnya