SET DUSK

The Part 13

"Why Da?" maryam asked when she saw Ida hastily pulling the zinc used as the base of the furnace.

Ida only gave a signal with her index finger covering her lips.

Ida swiftly put all the documents in her hand under the zinc, covering it back with the cooking wood that was still left in the furnace.

After he finished hiding all the documents, Ida peered between the doors of the mane, watching the man who had greeted him.

The man got up from his seat, walked towards the rice fields, picked up something from the rice fields that had been harvested. Before long, the man who stood his back against the surau waved a red-white-and-blue flag, the Dutch national flag. Ida understood, that man was a spy. Now the man gave the sign to attack Surau.

Ida turned to the general kitchen attendant's place, but they escaped to the bottom of a surau staircase made of walls. Waiting. Until finally the sound of the drone engine began to be heard splitting the sky in the scorching afternoon.

As Ida had expected, the manau was attacked from the air. As if forced to recall the incident in Banda Buek surau, Ida tried to calm down. The two girls who helped Ida and Maryam, who were just a dozen years old, cried a mouthful in Ida's arms. Luckily the roof of the surau consists of three levels, so not a single bullet penetrated into the surau. Ida just hope, the Dutch do not use bombs to destroy the surau. If that happens, the ones inside are gone.

Before long, Ida heard the drone away, accompanied by the sound of gunfire. Then silence. Then the door of Surau opened. The two girls in his arms grimaced. Ida smothered the mouths of the two girls so that her voice would not be heard by anyone who opened the door.

And then, "Ida, Maryam,... You guys are inside?"

Ida recognized the voice of the man who called her. The voice of Mr. Anas, their leader in the post.

"Yes sir, we're down here" Ida said out from under the stairs.

"Alhamdulillah you survived. Forgive us for not keeping this post" Anas said with regret.

"We are too sure this place is very safe, so the guard on the front line is not as tight as usual" Anas continued.

"Now how are we, sir? Do we have to move out of this place?" ask Maryam.

"No need, just if we move more risky."

"You guys stay here, from today I will ask the headquarters to add personnel to guard around here," continued Anas.

As promised, Mr. Anas the next day added to the guard where Ida was. In the post Ida not too much to take care of the injured, because as Mr. Anas said, the place is indeed the safest post. They easily monitor suspicious movements due to the location of the surau located in the middle of the rice field area.

While at the post, Ida and Maryam teach Ani and Niar to read because the two girls are completely illiterate. Ida who had been educated until the level of MULO* shared the knowledge he got to the two girls.

"Union, what were the parents of the Union?" ask Niar.

"Nothing, they're just farmers."

"Then why can't the Union go to school?" ask them curious.

Because it is impossible for the natives especially the child of a farmer can go to school to the level of MULO. Only a person who has an important position can send his child at that time.

"Because I used to be taken care of by a Chinese family, they were the ones who sent me to school" Ida recalls.

"That's very lucky Uni," they said in amazement.

"Awha ... Yes, if now I remember, I'm lucky enough, too" said Ida.

"When I used to feel like an abandoned child, handed over to a Chinese family" he continued.

"Then where is the Union host family now?" search Niar.

"When I was fifteen, their house was on fire. No one survived except me, I went back to my family."

"Hey, when are you going to learn it. Even the story continues," said Maryam.

"Yes Uni." Niar continues his reading lesson with Ida, the girl never dares to refute Maryam's orders.

-----°°°°°°------

In the afternoon in mid-June, the air was getting cold. Unlike the previous days which were always hot, the afternoon sky was overcast. Ida and her friends were hanging out by the pool.

"Eh Uni, the Gurame fish is already huge huh. Let's catch it," Ani asked.

"Later at night, if the fish sleep at night, so it is easy to catch it," explained Ida.

"Are you right?"

"Yes. ... Then, we're ready to spice it up from now on. Later tonight we burn," take Ida.

After praying, Ida went down to the pool. The cold water pierced the bones making Ida almost undo her intentions. But given the delicacy of grilled Gurame fish, he continued his intention of catching unmoved fish in the corners of the pond.

Finished catching two large Gurame fish, Ida went into the mane to change her wet clothes. After he finished drying his body, Ida intended to breastfeed three friends who had first started burning the fish caught.

But suddenly his body felt in the punctures of thousands of needles. The coldness spread throughout the body making him able to move his limbs. Ida fell on the floor of the surau made of wood, causing a noise.

Maryam ran into the surau, finding Ida lying on the top floor of the surau stairs with a shivering body. Maryam calls Niar and Ani to help lift Ida to the room where they rest.

Ida's body temperature is hot, she has a high fever. Maryam who could not bear to see her best friend shiver like that, tried to cover Ida's body with a few strands of blankets. But Ida still shivered violently.

"Union, we just cancel the fish burn yes," said Ani appeared in the doorway.

"No, you just burn the fish. Darling it's been cleaned. If it's burned, it can still be eaten tomorrow" said Maryam.

"But, Uni Ida is okay?" ask the girl with a worried face.

"Let me take care of Ida, you guys just continue to burn the fish."

"Well Union, we stay yes." Niar and Ani left the place. Continue to burn the fish.

The next morning, as the sun began to rise, its warm light entered through the window that had already been opened. Ida woke up, she saw Maryam sleeping next to her. When he tried to wake up from his sleep, his body could not be moved. It turned out that there was a rope that was binding around his body.

"Yam, wake up Yam."

"You're awake?" Maryam snapped out of her sleep.

"Why am I tied up like this Yam?" tanyanya astonishment.

"You shivered great all night, every time I was covered, the blanket came off. So let's not let go again, I tie it up" Maryam said with a guilty face.

"You haven't slept all night?" asked Ida when she saw Maryam's disheveled face.

"I'm worried Da, you're hot and delirious."

"I'm sorry Yam, I'm so troublesome to you" Ida said.

"It's okay Da. It's not your fault, we feel guilty because we made you soak the night. Then the fish you also did not part. This morning the grilled fish was eaten away by the soldiers who just finished watching last night." Maryam expressed her regret.

"It's not my sustenance. Then how long do I have to be tied up like this?" ida gelak.

"G ... Hahaha sorry, Da." Maryam deftly opened the rope she had tied to Ida's body.

"Union Yam, is it hot for Ida?" Niar came with two bowls of warm porridge in his hand.

Maryam groped Ida kerning.

"Seems like already. It's not hot like last night" he said.

"This is me bringing Cido porridge."** Niar put two bowls of porridge that he brought in front of Maryam and Ida.

"Where did you get bananas?" ask Maryam astonishment.

"I got Jorong who delivered this morning, so I'll do it. Because the grilled fish that last night is no longer there," said Niar.

"Well! You're smart, Niar," praised Ida.

"Haha. That's just the Union. Well Uni eat, I'll help Ani prepare for the ration later in the day." Niar leaves Ida and Maryam.

"Thank you, sir" said Ida, moved by the attention Niar had given her.

"sama-uni's. Oh yes Uni, I told you that Jorong ungku if uni is sick. Ungku Jorong said, later in the day he will bring the mantri here to check the Union," reported Niar.

"It's so troublesome all me yes," Ida said in a guilty tone.

"No Ni, the name of man will certainly hurt. Well, Uni continue eating. I go to the kitchen first" said Niar retreating.

* MULO (Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs) \= Dutch school equivalent to a first-rate school.

** Cido Porridge \= porridge made from a mixture of banana and some spices. Usually reserved for those who are sick or in recovery.