SET DUSK
The Part 27
Ahead of dusk, the bendi they were riding stopped in front of Bukittinggi station. Ida stunned. This place made him remember the beginning of his adventure. Funny thing is, today he returned to that place with the person he tried to avoid two years ago.
"Come, Da." Burhan's voice jerked Ida back to the present.
Ida slowly came down from the bendi, Burhan's burly hand greeted her. Her palm sank into the hand of her husband's great hand.
Entering the station building, a strip with its series of carriages had been waiting on the railway tracks. White smoke billowed from the chimney of the steam engine, contrasting with the color of the afternoon sky of Bukittinggi city at that time. Some passengers seemed busy raising their luggage to the train car, making Ida several times had to pull over so as not to be pushed by those carrying large luggage.
Ida and Burhan rushed up the carriage, looking for an empty seat. Almost all seats are filled. Tired faces were seen on the faces of the train passengers who were mostly traders who were about to go home.
They got an empty seat in the middle of the last carriage. Burhan placed the bag containing Ida's clothes on the shelf above the seat, then sat down beside Ida.
"You want a drink, Da?" haggard Burhan thrusting a bottle.
"Later on, sir," Ida refused.
"Aren't you hungry?" Burhan asked again.
"No" answered Ida briefly.
"All right, you're resting." Burhan gave up trying to get his wife to talk.
Before long the sound of the car whistle rang loudly. Slowly the old train was walking away from the city of Bukittinggi. The tree on the side of the tracks looked like it was running when the train was already speeding up.
The wind coming in from the sidelines of the train window made Ida shiver. He put his shawl together and put his hand to his chest to slightly reduce the cold.
"You wear this jacket, Da." Burhan slipped the jacket he was wearing onto Ida's body.
At once Ida's sense of smell was filled with a mixture of soft scent of kasturi with tobacco chelates that came out of Burhan's jacket. Ida turned to Burhan, the man had leaned his head against the back of the seat. His eyes are closed. His lips were tightly clenched, making his jawline even harder.
"Thank you, sir," he said softly.
Burhan opened his eyes, turned to Ida with a faint smile rising from his lips, then closed his eyes again.
It was almost midnight, when the train stopped at Payakumbuh station. The sound of the car brake whistle colliding with the rail overwritten by the sound of the car whistle makes the atmosphere of the night feel so crowded. Ida opened her eyes. Beside him, Burhan was still asleep with both hands closed.
"Master," Ida said, patting Burhan's arm slowly.
Burhan blinked, rubbed his eyes and turned to Ida.
"We've arrived?"
Ida simply replied with a nod.
"Come on, we're going down" Burhan asked after he took the bag off the top shelf.
Getting off the train, the atmosphere of the station had started to quiet down. Most of the passengers who got off the train had already left the station. Burhan took Ida by the hand, leading her to the front yard of the station. Ida was a little hasty in her husband's steps. The cloth he was wearing made it difficult to accompany Burhan's long steps.
"Sorry, I'm walking too fast, right?" burhan asked as he felt a jolt from Ida's hand that was about to fall.
"Yes, Sir. The cloth I was wearing made my steps a bit obstructed" said Ida.
"You wait here first, I'll get you a bendi." Burhan passed by, calling the bus driver who was sleepy waiting for passengers in a slightly dark corner of the station.
After the passengers boarded, the bendi moved slowly away from the station. Only the wind blew the leaves of the mahogany tree and the sound of the roar of horseshoes became the breaker of the silence of the night. Passing through the store building lined up, until finally the bendi they were riding stopped in a luxury home yard.
The whitewashed buildings in semi-European style, covering an area of 200 meters, stood majestically before them. The right side of the entrance is a five-sided room with large windows on each side. There is a glass door at the top of the stairs.
"Come," Burhan guided Ida's hand up the stairs.
Ida was stunned, wondering in her heart, whether the big house in front of her would be her residence. He notices Burhan pulling the key from inside his pants pocket and opens the door.
Like a buffalo with a nose, Ida complied as Burhan led her into the house. The room, which had been dark, turned bright when Burhan turned on the lights. A lamp hanging from the ceiling of the house is lit. Ida stared in amazement at the lamp that Burhan had just lit. A chandelier shaped dome of white glass looks so beautiful hanging in the middle of the ceiling of the room of the house.
"Come, Da." Burhan stood in the doorway of a room located in the hallway leading to the back of the house.
"I-iya," said Ida stammered.
"This is our room, which is Amak's room" Burhan explained, pointing to the two rooms whose doors were opposite.
"Amak lives here too now, sir?" ask Ida. There is a little worry if later he will be at home with his in-laws.
"Amak, only occasionally to this house. More frequent in Bukittinggi. In the back there Isah buk room same Pak Ujang, those who take care of this house when the house is empty," continued Burhan pointed to the room that is at the very back of the hallway.
Ida just nodded. He never imagined he would live in a house that was quite luxurious for him.
"Now let's take a break. I'll introduce them tomorrow."
Entering the room, Ida saw there was a large bed of teak wood with a canopy fitted with a white mosquito net in the middle of the room. Across the bed, there was a closet with a large oval-shaped mirror on the door.
Burhan placed the bag he had brought on the floor. Then look at his wife.
"Why is it still there, Da?" his question was astonished when he found Ida still standing in front of the door.
"I'm going to the water first, sir. We have not prayed," said Ida hesitated.
"Ah yes ... Come on." Burhan takes Ida to the back of the house.
At the end of the hall is a ladder leading to a room. The light of the room was not too bright, but Ida could see the room at the bottom of the stairs was a kitchen. Across the kitchen, there is a small door. Burhan opened the door across from the kitchen.
"A little while, I'll see. Is there water in the tub," Burhan said as he entered the room that turned out to be a bathroom.
Ida noticed Burhan drawing water from the well using a bucket attached to a rope and hung on a pole with a pulley in the middle. Burhan's arm muscles are faintly visible from behind the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing as he pulled the bucket filled with water from inside the well.
"Well, you can clean yourself now, the water in the tub is filled" Burhan said when he finished filling the tub beside the well.
Sweat flooded his forehead, his hair that had been neatly combed, a little messy showing his curly hair.
" Thank you, Sir. I became troublesome," said Ida slowly.
"You're just like everyone else, Da. I'm your husband" Burhan said, confirming his status.
"Yes, sir," Ida replied with a clumsy smile.
"Come, hurry. Do I need to be with you?" burhan asked with a mischievous smile.
"No, I can do it myself." Ida then left Burhan who was still smiling tempting his wife.
When they finished praying, they prepared for rest. As before, Ida still hesitated to be close to her husband.
"Da .." called Burhan when Ida was about to break down.
"Yes?" sahut Ida abandoned his intention, then turned to face Burhan.
"Do you like cantian dadiah* no?"
"Like it, but I rarely eat it. Because in the village it is difficult to get ampiang dadiah," said Ida.
"Tomorrow we eat inciang dadiah yes. Before I leave again for Kuantan Bay." Burhan smiled gently at his wife.
Ida just realized that Burhan also has dimples on his left cheek. Secretly, Ida began to admire the figure of the man who had become her husband.
* ampiang dadiah \= buffalo milk fermented in the Bamboo rod, usually eaten with emery Rice and given palm sugar.
