SET DUSK
The Part 50
The sun was almost down from the contest when the bus Sibualbali Ida was riding stopped at the Peminal Siantar. Almost all the passengers on the front seat of the bus had disembarked, only Ida, her children and some of the passengers on the middle row seats were still left on the bus. The sound of passengers asking the kernet to drop off their luggage from the roof of the bus and the boisterous atmosphere of the terminal, made Laili and Fatimah wake up.
"We're here, Mama?" ask Fatimah while rubbing her eyes.
"Here you go, let's go down."
Laili took Fatimah's hand off the bus.
The cool Pematang Siantar afternoon air swept over Ida's skin. Eliminate all the redness due to being confined in the bus body.
"You guys wait here first, yeah. Take our stuff." Ida led her children to a bench not far from where the bus stopped.
"You don't go anywhere" Ida said.
"Yes, Mak," said Laili tightened his grip on Fatimah.
"Bentor, Brother?" asked a young man who had just taken his luggage from the hands of the bus kernet.
Ida simply replied with a smile and shook her head.
"Bang, what's that bentor?" ida asked half-whispered on the bus kernet as the youth offering the bentor passed.
"Motorcycle Rickshaw. Any brother pick you up? If you do not use bentor only," said kernet with a distinctive North Sumatran accent.
"Ooh ... How much is usually the most expensive?"
"Where are you going?"
"I want to go to Java, not far?"
"Not so far away."
"Can I walk?"
"No, brother just go up that bentor. Ten rupiah's the most expensive there."
"Thank you, yeah." Ida rushed back to where Laili and Fatimah were waiting.
His left hand restrained Salma's body in his carry, while his right hand tote a large bag of their clothes.
"Li, you hold Fatimah's hand, yeah, it's hard to hold your hand."
Just as they were about to leave from where Laili and Fatimah were waiting, a middle-aged man approached them, "sister, want to wear a bentor?" tanyanya offers services.
"How much Java is it?" ask Ida.
"Fifteen."
"Ah, expensive times. Not be," said Ida imitate the dialect of the locals.
"Yes, ten. If you want to come, if not you just walk," the man grumbled.
After agreeing to the rental price, they are transferred to the address Ida gave to the bentor driver. The sunlight began to dim when they arrived at a pretty beautiful house. The courtyard of the hundred meter whitewashed house was filled with well-preserved ornamental plants. The path to the terrace of the house is covered with small pebbles, left right of the road covered with fine grass. The fence surrounding the house is lined with neatly trimmed plants. The fence section is made of wrought iron painted white, matching the color of the house wall.
Hesitating, Ida checked the address on the paper in her hand. It's not the wrong address.
"Accoland ...." Ida finally ventured to knock on the gate with a padlock hanging there.
After the third greeting, the door of the house opened. A young girl came out, "oh, Sister Ida has arrived" said the girl who had just opened the door. Erna's youngest daughter mak eteknya rushed to open the fence.
After a brief pleasantry, Ida and her children were escorted to a room that appeared to have been prepared for Ida. The two-by-two-meter room had no furniture. Only a wide mattress was laid out on the floor with a mat.
Ida went to the kitchen to help tek Risma, his mother's wife, after finishing cleaning herself. The children let him rest in the room. Actually he was still tired, but the unpleasant feeling made him put aside his fatigue.
"How long are you here, Da?" ask Risma when Ida is helping to prepare dinner.
Ida stunned. Never thought of him when he went to his mother's house would be asked the same thing. However unusual, he knew that the question asked Risma tek as a sign that the etek objected if he hitchhiked longer in their house.
"If Etek allows, until Ida can rent a house that suits Ida, Tek, ability" he said slowly.
"There's no need to find a nice house, which is important you and the kids can sleep comfortably."
"Yes, Tech."
Ida's mind raged, the money left was not much, the money was up for the cost of their departure to Pematang Siantar. He cursed himself, he usually did not think about it before leaving.
"You can read it, can't you, Da?" ask after you finish eating.
"Can, Mom."
"That means Ida can replace Anju, Ma," said mak etek on tek Risma.
"Of course Ida doesn't mind, Mom."
A little glimmer of hope tipped Ida's heart. At least he can earn money from working at his mom's place.
***
The next day, Ida joined the makek etek to the warehouse where the makek eteknya collect the produce sold by farmers to be resold by the makek eteknya to the seller of vegetables in the market.
"Li, amak wants to come to the market. Please take care of your brothers, yes. If you can, you help Risma too" Ida told Laili when she left them.
"The old macaque didn't?" ask Fatimah.
"I don't know, you don't be naughty at home, yeah."
"Sir, near here is about the price of an expensive rental house no?" ask Ida to mak etek when they are on the way.
"Why are you asking that, Da?" His mother asked back.
"I was thinking of directly looking for a house, afraid of troublesome children in the house of Mak Etek," he said.
"You just arrived, you don't understand the condition of the area yet. Why not just stay at my house."
"There's just not good at hitchhiking like this, Mak. Moreover, let Ida learn independently as well," said Ida brought up the reason.
"Yes, later we ask the warehouse boy," said mak etek later.
Ida prayed in her heart that the remaining money would be enough to pay the rent of a decent place to live for her children.
***
Ida got a place to stay after two days in Pematang Siantar. A map located on the outskirts not far from the Chinese burial site. They start a new life in a place far from worthy, but Ida remains heartened. At least by being in a new place, he can momentarily forget all the memories of Burhan that still make it crowded.
Laili and Fatimah had already started attending a local school not far from home. They can walk every day from home to school because the distance is not so far away. Luckily her children have started to be independent, so Ida can focus her attention on fulfilling their life needs. His children are also not too difficult to adapt to their neighbors who are mostly also nomads, who come from Java. While Salma who was four years old was more often invited Ida to the warehouse when he worked.
His income working at his mammoth place was just enough to cover the cost of daily living, so Ida still had to find other additions apart from income from working in the warehouse to pay for her children's school needs and rent. Every day, before leaving for work, Ida makes glutinous and fried bananas for Laili and Fatimah to sell around before they leave for school.
"Sir, tomorrow someone asked to bring a lupis, amak can make?" laili asked one day when they finished dinner.
"Yes, go to the market to buy the ingredients."
Every day Ida seems tireless, regardless of the fatigue that often approaches, in order to meet all the needs of children. Returning home from the market, Ida only rested a few hours, then when most people were still sound asleep, Ida began to dwell again in the kitchen preparing her wares.
One day, when Ida just came home, she found her children were busy enjoying a meal that was quite luxurious for them.
"Who gave the food, Li?" tanyanya. There is no way that his neighbors who give, because the lives of his neighbors are also not much different from the living conditions of Ida.
"So me and my friends took it at the grave of the mother" said Laili with a face of sumringah.
"The tomb?"
"Yes, there was a lot of food in the tomb, so we took it. Honey not eaten."
"Oh Allah, Laili ... It's the same as stealing. The food is not meant for you," Ida said with a huff.
"But Mubazir Mak, the food is not eaten." Laili defended herself.
"Father, Salma have you not eaten that food again!" Ida pulled the orange that Salma and Fatimah were holding.
Salma cried, Fatimah snatched and Laili just stayed in the corner of the house when Ida put the remaining food into a plastic bag.
" You know, this food is for the dead, you can't eat" Ida said.
"But the dead can't eat anymore, Mak," fierce Laili.
"But you're asking not to be the same person who put it in the tomb?"
"No, Mak," said Laili.
"Just like you steal if you take it without permission."
"Yes, Mommy."
"Tomorrow don't repeat. We won't die if we don't eat a day, but once you eat what isn't right for you, your life won't be a blessing."
"But why do people waste food like that Mak, is redundant" Fatimah said.
"According to their belief, they feed their dead families, so you can't take it" Ida said.
Ida always taught her children not to eat what was not their right. He did not want the misery they experienced to make his children justify anything to fill their stomachs.
