SET DUSK

Part 2

As soon as they entered the bus, most of the benches of the Chevrolet AK series that would carry them were filled with volunteers. Ida and Mai circulated a glance looking for an empty bench that still fit for two people. There is only a bench at the back that is still unfilled. They immediately occupied that empty bench.

Mai placed the bag she carried onto the shelf at the top of the seat. Finished putting the luggage, the mature brown-skinned girl invited Ida to sit on the window bench.

"You didn't bring anything?" mai asked when she saw Ida only carrying a bag attached to her shoulder.

"No, I only brought two clothes" replied Ida briefly.

"Aren't you being escorted by your family? I didn't see who was delivering," Mai continued.

"I came alone because I had no family" replied Ida.

He hoped that by answering like that, Mai would stop showering him with other questions. He wanted to rest his eyes for a moment, as it had been these two days of not being able to sleep well.

Two days he went back and forth thinking how to get out of the house without being suspected by Amai. His chance came when Amai told him to come with Tek Eli, his neighbor to the feed in Padang Luar.

From his village which is at the foot of the mountain Marapi, they climbed bendi pak angah, their call to Mr. Rahmad who rented his object once a week for the villagers of Kubang Putih can go to the feed held once a week in Padang Luar.

Arriving at the feed, they separate to find their respective needs. If usual Ida returned to the place where Pak angah parked his object after shopping for his needs, not with that day. Ida went to leave the feed, down the road to Bukittinggi where the registration for prospective PMI volunteers was held.

Without wasting a lot of time, Ida pulled over to the back of the feed, replacing the kebaya encim shirt she wore with a shirt model shirt dress of blacu material and pleated skirt along the bottom of the knee. Roll up the hair that was previously braided in two. The cloth he had been wearing for kebaya encim subordinates, attached to the shoulders covering the head, so that no one would notice his face.

"Assalamualaikum the volunteers' brothers, please give him a little attention." The voice of Mr. Zain, the PMI coordinator broke Ida's daydream. The man with a tall stout posture with a firm face circulated his gaze to all the volunteers who had gathered.

"In the near future we will leave with a group of TNI who carry drugs. Regiment III of the Kuranji Tigers. Alahan Panjang post reported that the Dutch had been successfully pushed back from Indarung. That means we can directly take care of the victims in Indarung."

"Then we don't stop at Solok sir?" ask one of the volunteers, a medium-bodied, dark-skinned man.

"Possibly not, because the Kuranji Tiger Regiment III and the student soldiers had succeeded in taking over all the posts leading to Indarung. Now you prepare physically, because you will work hard, not only taking care of the injured, but the dead as well. Anything else to ask?" Mr. Zain spread his gaze across the entire bus.

"No sir, "said the volunteers in unison.

"Well, before we begin our journey, let us pray together. May our journey be without obstacles." Mr. Zain immediately led the prayer by bowing his face, which was followed by the volunteers.

"Alhamdulillah, let's walk, sir" exclaimed Zain to the man behind the wheel. A stocky man in his 30s who was introduced as one of the student soldiers, Ahmad.

"Every sir" replied Ahmad and blamed the bus engine output in 1942.

The bus drove slowly leaving the city of Bukittinggi which began to be held captive by cold air. The wind that blows between the windows of the bus makes the cold feel more piercing in the skin.

Ida put her clothes together, the blacu cloth used for her clothes could not withstand the cold that entered between the bus windows that were not tightly closed. Ida put both hands on her chest to warm her body, pulling the cloth she was wearing to cover her lower body.

"No need Mai, it's okay I wear this cloth, it's enough," Ida refused

"Wear it, I still have one more. Don't let you catch a cold when you get to our destination" forced Mai.

Finally Ida received the scarf that Mai gave her, covered her head and wrapped it around her neck and shoulders. While Mai was wearing a brown wool jacket and scarf that covered her head and wrapped around her neck.

"Mai, I'm going to take a little nap, yes" Ida told Mai, because she saw her new friend's spirit would not stop asking questions along the way. It was not that Ida did not intend to make friends, only, this time she really wanted to calm her heart for a moment.

"Yes, you sleep. I also want to rest," Mai replied beyond Ida's expectations.

The atmosphere of the bus began to be quiet, only the sound of bus engines and several TNI trucks driving in front and behind the bus they were riding, roaring in the cold and dark city of Bukittinggi at that time. Some of the volunteers have started to fall asleep in their breaks. It did not take long, Ida also fell asleep.

Shortly after, Ida woke up from her sleep. He was surprised to hear the sound of water rushing down. Staring out the window, there was a stretch of Lake Singkarak that was so dark vaguely in the middle of the night darkness. The ripples of the water being buffeted by the school's night wind seemed to depict Ida's mood at the time.

This was his first time going away from home to a place that he himself could not imagine how his fate would be in a new place. Ida turned her head towards Mai, the girl seemed to be fast asleep, her head was swaying as the bus meandered. Half his face was covered in a scarf, and his hands were folded into his chest.

The journey felt so slow for Ida. The roar of the bus and truck engines splitting the night together with the sound of the roar of the waves from the lake makes the night atmosphere so thick it feels increasingly gripping. Ida tried to close her eyes again. The journey is still far, he does not want his fatigue on the way hamper his duties later when he reaches the destination.

"Da, Ida .. wake up, we pray at dawn."

Ida felt Mai's slow clap on her shoulder when she heard the girl's voice wake her up.

"Ah .. yes ...." Ida rubbed her eyes and looked out the window.

When he got off the bus, there was a manau with a three-story roof in front of him. The building like a house that is made into a surau has a roof top similar to a traditional Minang house with gonjongnya. The 154m building built using surian wood appears to stand firm and haughty in the shadow of a cold dawn.

"Come ... Others have started praying Da, do not let us be late." Mai pulls Ida's hand.

Ida followed Mai who was walking a bit hastily.

Washing her face with ablution water, Ida felt the cold water make her drowsiness disappear. He and Mai walked half a run into the surau because they heard the voice of the Imam had started chanting Surat Al-fatiha.

"It's Da, you just wear this holster for prayer." Mai handed a piece of sarong to Ida, as if reading Ida's confusion for not bringing her prayer equipment.

"Ah, thank you Mai," he said while receiving the sarong offered by Mai.

Ida put a sarong and wrapped a long cloth batik with a flower pinang motif of his to the head and shoulders to cover his chest, then began to pray.