I'M BETWEEN YOU AND HIM
LIFE LESSONS
I just stared at the tiny cubicle kegubug that might only be 4x5 meters in size. Is Mbah Kardi alone with his wife? Where is your family or children? How is the life of the two here far from the neighborhood? On the right, the front behind are just cold houses with no sound, namely tombs. Hhh... Just crying makes me have trouble breathing.
Bang Sobri's... How can I stay here? In a small room house owned by a husband and wife who can be said to have been this old? Hhh.... Bang out! I love the forest, I love the mountains, I love the ocean. But to stay in this house. Hhh...
This is not a house close to a funeral. But this real mah sleep is impregnated. Why don't you bang Sobri tell me to dig my own grave, take care of my own body! my heart grumbled a little annoyed.
Or does this Mbah Kardi have a myriad of knowledge that I can learn in order to become a great man in all fields, especially love problems? Aisshi!!! Seen from any angle I don't believe. If it is true that the great man, it is definitely impossible to stay in this butut. His wife is not just one. It could be two, three or maybe five.
Mbah Kardi came with mbok Sartijah. I stood up and kissed the mbok's arm. The path of the mbok seems to have been limped but still so excited. Again I saw the big smile of their funny lips 'without windows'. They've been toothless. I smiled a little arrogantly laughing at the two parents. Maybe they're 7 or 8 headed like that. Because it emanates from wrinkles and also their physical rather hunched. I remember dad. But my father still had all his front teeth in place despite being 68 years old.
"Make a drink, mbo'!" the order of the mbah on mbok Sartijah.
I sat in the bamboo box after Mbah Kardi sat down first. My eyes can not be separated from mbok Sartijah who walked 'unusual'.
"The mbok is indeed the way it has been since birth." Turns out Mbah Kardi can guess my way of thinking. It makes me ashamed to bow down while smiling a little.
"Si Mbah lives here alone? The Mbah's kids gobbled up everything like that, huh?" I ask again with a big smile typical of Mbah.
"We are not blessed with children in this world, mother! Allah will keep it, God willing, in the end."
"Aamiin. sorry, I don't know!"
"Hehehehe...!"
On the mbok out from the back of the gubug with his hands carrying a tray containing two glasses of tea water and sepisin chunks of palm sugar. I rushed to help him take the tray from the hand of the Mbah but immediately replied to the funny joke.
"It looks like it's thirsty, huh, mas?!"
I heard the crisp laughs both were so good to hear. Really compact husband and wife, even just a little joke they look so enjoying life. Their age is no longer young. But they look complementary. I envy her making.
"Well, how long has the marriage been?" Again they laugh. This time it made me more envious because mbok Sartijah sat closer and his hands patted the thigh of her husband who lived bone but slowly.
"Lali me, mas!... Marriage was 15 years, 19 years."
"That same mbok is not afraid to live here? It's been a long time, have you lived here?"
"Here we're 30 years old, ma'am! Since our house was burned in the dry season, because there was no money to build a house again ya forced the mbah bring the mbok make a saung here!" the mbok story.
"At first you were scared, Mom! But now we've all been friends koq, hehehe....!"
"Friends? Who's the same, mbok?"
"Yes the inhabitants here. hehehehe...!" answer the Mbah makes my hair goosebumps. Hadeeuh, my love story koq suddenly became this horror, huh? my little heart shuddered.
"Hahahaha...fear not the mas?" I was made into the joke of this immortal couple. That's okay, I'm scared! Although not too timid, but. That's my principle.
"The supernatural is the same as us. Equally the creation of God. Both have a partner, get married, have children, have children. But there are many kinds of mas!"
"I mean mbah?"
"There is a jinn.The most intelligent creature.the jinn can be human-like. Some are beautiful, handsome, some are big, very high or very small also exist. There's demons. That's the most evil and cunning. Always flirting affects humans. There is still a demon. These demons usually have a community. He clustered around somewhere despite being of many kinds, the demon of plinth, the tuyul demon, the kuntilanak demon. They can be a bully if they are upset or disturbed. The last ghost. Ghosts are not long in the world. Ghosts are the high passions of deceased humans. So sometimes people who are dead like coming to haunt, it's because they still have a desire or unresolved problems."
"Oh Mbah, koq is a horror story!?!" I immediately cut the Mbah's story out of fear.
"Haha... That's what you know, mom! Hehehehehe. Fear is only of God... Our creator. In fact, the most sinister creature in the world is a human, mas! Man God created complete plus sense. Therefore, if lust has conspired with reason, all human behavior can be more evil than Satan. Therefore, God tells us to pray and fast, so that we can always control our appetite to not be out of control. How many people in the world succeed because they can curb their passions and always focus on their Creator. Also how many great men were suddenly destroyed so that dust no more views of kindness to him just because it was plunged by the passions that he could not control. We're human, like a pile of crabs in a big bucket. Race each other to reach the top of the bucket to get out. Despite having to hurt each other, stepping on even riding on the backs of his fellows. That's human!"
Subhanallah..... The Mbah is really a learned man as it turns out. And it's not wrong that Sobri sent me here. I learned a lot from the mbah even though only a few hours had met.
We went to the edge of the rice field not far from the mbah gubug for Ashar prayer. We didn't talk to each other, just sat back and listened to a dozen sholawatan boys at the mic of surau waiting for the adzan maghrib. What a pleasant village atmosphere. Which I never found in the town where I was born and raised.
Mbah...! I'll learn from you here. About the meaning of happiness. It means peace. About love and sincerity for sure. Because it turns out that, despite all the suffering that God has given me since I was a child, I have seen so much happiness as God of love. There is no prolonged sadness or everlasting happiness. So as humans, we are required to be flexible with the circumstances that God gives. You cannot be sad and silent at times. We cannot continue to fall into suffering. Moreover, you cannot despair in distress. Keep asking and praying to the master of happiness. Getting back up and walking when we fall slips even though our legs are sprained. Because life and life go on. The world is still turning on its axis.
In a row
