Jess Menunjukkan Kota kepada Ana

Walter tidak menjawab. Sesudah satu menit, dia melepas tangan dari wajah. Dia berdiri. Dia membuka jendela, dan asap keluar.

Walter doesn’t answer. After a minute, he takes his hands from his face. He gets up. He opens the window, and the smoke goes out.

“Bikin roti gulung lagi,” kata Walter. “Bus datang jam lima kurang sepuluh.” Dan dia bekerja. Dia tidak berbicara tentang kebakaran itu. Ana tidak bertanya. Tapi dia memikirkan hal itu sepanjang malam.

“Make more rolls,” he says. “The bus is at ten to five.” And he works. He doesn’t say a word about the fire. Ana doesn’t ask. But she thinks about it all night.

Pada siang hari, Ana libur. Dia turun tangga. Jess ada di dapur. Tas sekolah Jess ada di lantai dan penyuara telinga ada di leher dia.

In the afternoon, Ana has a free day. She comes down the stairs. Jess is in the kitchen. She has her school bag on the floor and her headphones round her neck.

“Jess, di mana pasar?” tanya Ana. “Aku mau membeli jaket. Jaket aku tidak hangat.”

“Jess, where is the market?” Ana asks. “I want to buy a jacket. My jacket is not warm.”

Jess melihat jaket Ana. “Itu bukan jaket. Itu kemeja dengan ide aneh. Ayo. Aku bisa menunjukkan kota ini kepada kamu. Kota ini sangat kecil. Perjalanan hanya sepuluh menit.”

Jess looks at Ana’s jacket. “That’s not a jacket. That’s a shirt with ideas. Come on. I can show you the town. It’s very small. It takes ten minutes.”

Mereka berjalan naik di Bridge Street. Di ujung atas, ada lapangan besar dengan bangunan batu tua. “Itu balai kota,” kata Jess. “Dan ini lapangan pasar. Pasar buka pada hari Selasa dan Sabtu.”

They walk up Bridge Street. At the top, there is a big square with an old stone building. “That’s the town hall,” Jess says. “And this is the market square. The market is on Tuesdays and Saturdays.”

Hari ini hari Selasa. Ada banyak orang di pasar. Ana membeli jaket hijau yang hangat. Harganya dua belas pound. Jess berkata jaket itu sangat jelek. Ana berkata jaket itu sangat hangat.

Today is Tuesday. There are a lot of people in the market. Ana buys a warm green jacket. It is twelve pounds. Jess says it is very ugly. Ana says it is very warm.

Lalu hujan mulai turun. Angin dingin. “Selamat datang di Hollin Bridge,” kata Jess. “Hujan turun di sini tiga ratus hari dalam setahun.”

Then it starts to rain. The wind is cold. “Welcome to Hollin Bridge,” Jess says. “It rains here three hundred days a year.”

Mereka berjalan turun ke sungai. Jess menunjukkan jembatan batu tua kepada Ana. “Nama kota ini dari jembatan ini. Hollin Bridge. Jembatan ini sangat tua.”

They go down to the river. Jess shows Ana the old stone bridge. “The town’s name is from this bridge. Hollin Bridge. It’s very old.”

Dari jembatan itu, mereka berjalan di jalan setapak sungai. Sesudah toko roti, jalan itu berbelok ke kiri, ke kanal. Di atas kanal, ada perahu panjang dan ramping dengan banyak warna.

From the bridge, they walk along the river path. After the bakery, the path goes left, to the canal. On the canal, there are long, thin boats in many colours.

“Orang tinggal di atas perahu ini,” kata Jess. “Sepanjang tahun. Waktu hujan, waktu salju. Aku rasa mereka gila.”

“People live on these boats,” Jess says. “All year. In the rain, in the snow. I think they’re crazy.”

Ana suka perahu-perahu itu. Perahu merah punya bunga di atap. Perahu biru punya sepeda di atap. Perahu hijau tua sangat sunyi. Di atap perahu itu, ada kertas cokelat kecil berbentuk segi empat. Kertas itu basah karena hujan.

Ana likes the boats. A red boat has flowers on the roof. A blue boat has a bicycle on the roof. A dark green boat is very quiet. On its roof, there is a small brown square of paper. It is wet from the rain.

Ana melihat kertas itu sebentar. Lalu Jess berbicara, dan Ana melihat Jess. Ana tidak ingat kertas itu lagi.

Ana looks at it for a second. Then Jess says something, and Ana looks at Jess. She doesn’t think about the paper again.

“Kamu punya keluarga, Ana?” tanya Jess.

“Have you got a family, Ana?” Jess asks.