SET DUSK

Part 1's

Ida stared at the station's front door, weighing back her intention to join the Indonesian Red Cross volunteers.

Bukittinggi Station today is more crowded than usual, even more crowded than the Feed day[1]. Ida stepped carefully across the tracks. There was a billowing billowing smoke at the end of the station and several carriages were parked across from the station building.

The yellow-skinned girl spread her gaze, she saw some families hugging girls who might still be around eighteen or nineteen years old. Some of them seemed to be hugging their daughter.

Ida tried to penetrate the crowd at the station's front door. Approaching the table with a long queue. He pokes the last woman in the queue, he,

"This is a queue for PMI volunteers?" tanyakanya.

"Yes, would you like to volunteer as well?" asked the woman with a friendly smile.

"Yes uni" he answered briefly.

"I'm Maisaroh, just call Mai" she continued, extending her hand.

"Oh yes, I'm Rosidah, just call Ida," Ida replied a little awkwardly and welcomed Mai's hand to regret it.

"We call each other names. Looks like we're about the same age," Mai leaning.

"Hehe it looks like that." Ida smiled clumsyly.

Ida is not the type of woman who is easy to greet with others. Often he is labeled arrogant because he prefers a lot of silence rather than reprimanding others first, unless the situation is desperate as it is today. The twenty-one-year-old girl tried to overcome her reluctance to meet new people to leave her home which she considered to be the hell of the world.

Ida was the first of two children, her sister Rostini. Tini, she calls, younger than Ida by three years. The stature of the two is different, making the treatment of people around them also different. Ida, short-statured with a wacky body, curly hair with fair yellow skin. While Tini, has a high posture with a slim body, curly hair, with pure white skin like marble.

Ida knows, the difference in treatment of the two of them is not only because of their physical, but Tini's more submissive and manipulative nature is able to bewitch anyone who faces him. The nature of minang girl who is able to speak words according to the manners of ereang jo gendeang [2] makes her acceptable to anyone.

While Ida, her character is hard and somewhat rebellious, not a woman who is able to say sweet words if her mood is not good. Not everyone is able to understand her hard character, they are more consider Ida an unruly girl. Because at that time, women were not so given space to express their opinions.

Ida chose to leave the house that had been her shelter, when her grandmother tried to match her with the son of a merchant in her village.

"Da, next week mak tuo Halimah wants to come here. You cook a little, tomorrow you join Eli tek to feed buying spices yes," said amai, his grandmother one afternoon.

"What are you doing here, Mai?" ida asked, somewhat confused because the merchant's wife had suddenly visited their house.

"Mak tuo is about to march[3], want to propose you Da, for his son Burhan," explained amai.

The face of Ida Pias.

"But Mai, Amai knows that Burhan likes to play girls. Every day he does chicken. Why would Amai ever match me to Burhan." Ida's voice began to rise.

Ida heard that the merchant's boys are famous for playing women, gambling and rough. He did not want to spend his life with such a man.

"When you are married, you will change yourself. Men if they have been given responsibility will also understand their duties, "defend amai.

"Mai, Ida better match Amai with an ordinary man, not the son of a rich man but understand the religion, Mai," said Ida slowly.

Ida understands very well that amai does not want to be denied. Amai once tied him to the house all day just because it was a little late bringing the duck home from the rice fields and when asked by amai, Ida's answer was considered why-there.

"Da, in this situation, you need a man who has a position, so that your life will not be miserable" peace advice.

When Ida began to despair, confused to think about how to refuse the match, suddenly as if answering her heartbreak, he said, that afternoon a kentongan in surau behind his house was hit many times indicating there would be an important announcement.

Anggu surau reported that the Dutch destroyed Indarung and around Padang city, so the Indonesian Red Cross needed many volunteers to help them care for and take care of the victims of the bomb. Like getting a glimmer of hope, Ida listened carefully to the contents of the announcement that afternoon.

Armed only with determination, and a few strands of clothes in the bag that he sipped on his shoulder, this is where Ida is now, staring at the crowd of people who queue to volunteer. No more words to retreat, Ida's determination in her heart.

"I would rather die by a Dutch bullet than I have to suffer the same life of the man" he said in his heart.

Looking around her, Ida realized that she was the only volunteer candidate who came alone. Other volunteers came with their families.

After completing the registration process, they were invited to gather in the field behind the station. Families who drive are not allowed to come to where they are gathered. Some families take off their daughters with sobs. No one knew what their fate would be after this, whether it would still be able to see their family back or this was the last time they met face to face.

"Tonight some of us will go to Indarung by bus to Solok, from there we go down the road through the village, because the situation does not allow to continue the journey by vehicle. Still dangerous. The Dutch have crippled some of our defensive points. So you do not need to bring a lot of things, bring just enough," explained the volunteer coordinator of PMI when the volunteers have gathered in the field.

I heard the murmur of the volunteers. Many of them were given supplies by their families. Not a few of the volunteers were provided rendang in cans by their families.

"Liar can still fill the stomach when busy taking care of the victims" their families said.

"You do not need to throw away your supplies, because later we do not know how the condition of the rations in the posts that we will stop by. But for clothes, you don't have to carry a big bag, we don't go on a picnic" continued the coordinator as if understanding the anxiety of the volunteers who brought food supplies.

Unlike other volunteers, Ida who came alone without a family, without release with tears and without supplies. He only carried a bag of his own sewn burlap sack, containing two strands of clothes that he himself could not remember when the shirt was sewn for him. Whether her family feels lost for her disappearance or does not affect them, Ida does not really care. Whether later he could still meet his family or not, he also did not think too much.

"She, let's take the bus." Mai's voice broke Ida's daydream.

"Eh, are you leaving?" nervous reply.

"Just been told to get on the bus, you were daydreaming from earlier. What are you thinking?" search Mai

"Ah no, just still can not imagine our condition later in Solok," he elak.

"We just pray, we don't know if after this we can still go back to this city or not." Mai seemed to really show her readiness to face whatever they would face later on in front.

"No need to fear Da, if it is dead, even though we do not go to Solok will still die too" said Mai.

"Yes, I'm not afraid of Mai. By signing up to be this volunteer, I am also ready with all the risks," replied Ida smiling thinly.

"Well, let's get on the bus so that there will still be an empty bench for both of us" asked Mai holding Ida's hand.

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Note :

[1] Feed \= Markets that are only held once a week in an area

[2] ereang jo gendeang \= manners in speech in Minang Kabau

[3] marosok \= tradition of peddling carried out by the family of the bride-to-be.