Not the Story of Siti Nurbaya

Uwa Sick

Zikra placed the paper bag she was carrying on the table. Pulling an empty seat next to Rifa’i then sitting down.

Bonang and Rifa’I looked up while frowning. Their eyes were full of questions.

Nadya immediately recognized the paper bag.

“Iya,” said Zikra quickly, answering questions that were not thrown from the mouths of two friends and Nadya. But he could read the contents of their minds, which were clearly implied from each other's curious eyes. “tadi Syifa left me before she came home.”

“What? Home?” peekik Nadya jumped in shock.

Zikra nodded her head.

“Kok him play me so anyway, anyway?” muttered.

“Looks like he was in a hurry, after getting the phone,” Zikra brightly as he flicked the front hair that almost covered his eyes.

“Phone?”

Zikra nodded again.

"Call from whom?"

"It seems to be from his parents, because after that his face immediately pale. And just go home."

Nadya grunted heavily. Definitely bokapnya. Her thought.

*

Syifa saw the silver sedan car that Dad used to go to the office, parked in front of the gate of his house. Not long after, Father and Mother came out of the house with two large bags. While Ade is busy with his toy gun, which can make a variety of sounds if pulled platuknya.

“Teteh,” exclamation Mommy awaken it from daydream. “ayo, quickly change clothes.”

“Where are we going, Bun?” ask Syifa to know.

“Already, don't ask much,” sergeant Daddy cut the conversation. “quickly do what Mother told you, because we have to get to before dark.”

Without much questioning, Syifa immediately followed what her parents ordered.

Dad seemed very focused on seeing the road without heavy traffic flow in front of the wheel. Indeed, the flow of traffic at hours like this looks deserted, without significant congestion.

Mother sat in the front seat beside the steering wheel. Sometimes I invite Dad to talk. Sometimes commemorating

Ade who can't sit sweet in the back seat with Syifa. While Syifa was only silent to see the scenery outside the window from inside the idle that just kept moving.

“Uwa is seriously ill, so we have to come to Uwa's house right now,” so Mother said before the car that took them darted away from the home page.

Syifa snorted softly without flinching.

“Sori, Nad. I was in a hurry earlier, because suddenly I called, told me to go home,” he said full of regret while still in the angkot trip home via phone.

“Ah, i-elo. Tuman terribly, ninggalin I just,” said Nadya from across there.

“Yes, I admit I was wrong. It's good if you say I'm a germ.”

“Kuman?” Nadya frowned. “tuman, Bambang ..”

“Oh.”

“Tuman is not a germ, but a habit,” Nadya explained.

“Oh, sori!”

Syifa turned on her phone screen. An analog clock showing 17:30.

“Half six,” whispered.

Father's relatives who had been present since noon had immediately stepped aside, giving space to those who had just arrived.

Father's eldest brother, Cang Sholeh stroked Father's back to strengthen. The man in black mustache with a combination of white colors, indicating his age is no longer young, not even able to hold back his tears.

Mother wept in front of Uwa's bed. Syifa was crying beside her. Ade who did not understand anything, sat on the lap of Mother while wiping the tears of Mother with her small hands.

“Mother why cry?” tanya plain. “that's why Uwa, Bun? How silent?”

Mother just kissed the boy's cheek.

“Mother can not cry,” pinta Ade spoiled. “Teteh also can not cry.”

The afternoon has gone up. The condition of Uwa's house is blue, gripped by deep sadness. The sound of sobs was still heard from inside Uwa's room.

Syifa could not sleep in such a situation. Even though his body was already lying on the bed, his eyes did not feel any drowsiness. Unlike Ade who had fallen asleep so soundly. Perhaps for a child like him, the thought of the problem they were facing, did not affect his still pure mind. Nothing to mess around with. Moreover, the pretentious meddling in adult affairs. Unlike Syifa, which has been contaminated by adult thinking. I don't want him to learn from now on. Not for fun, but it has become a demand for him.

Syifa changed her sleeping position. The voice of the person still sounded from inside Uwa's room, which was located next to the room she was sleeping in. His mind wandered far into the world. He remembered the conversation he had overheard when he was about to take drinking water in the kitchen. His father and three older brothers,

he was talking about the last message that Uwa had said to Cang Madih.

Dad listened carefully. And so did his other two brothers. Every sentence that came from the mouth of Father's second brother, like a king's word that must be executed. Dad agreed to it without denying it in the least.

Uwa's pain is not a new illness. Except for the stroke pain that has been chronic. But for now his condition is on the decline and is very worrying for all his children. Maybe because of the aging factor. Until the old woman's body is unable to fight the disease.

Syifa grew shocked when she caught hearing, that one of Uwa's wishes was to see the granddaughter of her youngest child marry before her, before her death came to pick her up. And the grandson in question is himself. To his great surprise, he accidentally dropped the glass until it broke apart

flooring. Rebels cause a commotion, and attract the attention of those around.

Syifa took a long breath. In his heart he prayed that Uwa would be healed tomorrow and live a normal life as before. Though impossible. At least there's a chance to stall a marriage until he can finish his High School.

Mother was trapped in the silence of the night. The guilt of his eldest daughter keeps coming to haunt him. A taste that will not be able to pay off by anything. A clear water thread dripped from his sad eye pelupu. There is no mother in this world who wants her beloved daughter to suffer in a ravine that does not know where her bottom is.

If only I had not supported my husband. Maybe my son would not suffer such a fate. Thought wily.

Ten years ago. (flashback)

Fauzi took her mother's advice to match her only child, only seven years old, with her best friend's son, Surya. The boy was eleven years old.

Not without reason that matchmaking happened. Rather than a will that must be realized before Handoko, his father Surya died. At that time Mr. Handoko who is very ill said, he and his late father Fauzi, once tied a promise to unite the relationship by marrying their child. But their children could not be married, because both were given sons. Then they continued the match for their grandchildren.

Of his father Fauzi's many grandchildren there is no one suitable for his grandson Handoko. Because of a very long age. It was only after Fauzi's daughter was born that the matchmaking was actually carried out. I had to wait seven years.

In front of Handoko's body, the pair of boys were dressed like a couple. Then married as adults do marriage contracts in front of the penghulu.

The sound of Mother's crying woke Syifa who had just fallen asleep. She saw the woman crying in the corner of the room. Heart's sore. His tears could not be dammed until they spilled on his cheeks. The woman who gave birth to him.

"Mother, don't cry" said Syifa.

"I'm sorry, Mother, dear .. forgive."

Syifa just kept quiet, and tightened her hug.

　

　

　

　

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