Over the Step

Michael Bell had spent fifteen years making sure that nobody in a room ever looked at him for long, and now two hundred people had stood up and clapped at him, and he did not know where to put his hands. He had put them over his face, in the end, because it was the only place he could think of. When he took them away, the hall was sitting down again, and the small woman with the half-moon glasses was asking the committee who was in favour.

Michael Bell telah menghabiskan lima belas tahun memastikan tidak ada seorang pun di dalam ruangan yang menatapnya terlalu lama, dan kini dua ratus orang berdiri dan bertepuk tangan untuknya, dan ia tidak tahu harus menaruh tangannya di mana. Pada akhirnya, ia menutupi wajahnya dengan kedua tangan, karena itulah satu-satunya tempat yang terpikir olehnya. Ketika ia menurunkannya, seisi aula sedang duduk kembali, dan wanita mungil berkacamata separuh bulan itu tengah menanyakan kepada komite siapa yang setuju.

One hand went up on the stage. It belonged to a heavy man at the end of the table whose name card said Cllr R. Booth and who looked, Michael thought, like someone voting for his own peace and quiet rather than for flats. It went up slowly, and then, as the man seemed to become aware of two hundred pairs of eyes, it came down again halfway and stayed there, uncertain, like a bird that could not decide where to land.

Satu tangan terangkat di atas panggung. Tangan itu milik seorang pria bertubuh gempal di ujung meja yang kartu namanya bertuliskan Cllr R. Booth dan yang tampak, menurut Michael, seperti seseorang yang memilih demi ketenangan pribadinya alih-alih demi flat. Tangan itu terangkat perlahan, lalu, saat pria itu tampak menyadari dua ratus pasang mata yang menatapnya, tangan itu turun kembali setengah jalan dan bertahan di sana, ragu-ragu, bagai seekor burung yang tak bisa memutuskan di mana harus mendarat.

“Councillor Booth, are you in favour or not?” said Councillor Hale.

“Anggota Dewan Booth, Anda setuju atau tidak?” tanya Anggota Dewan Hale.