Two Hundred and Ten Thousand

Ana put the brush down in the bucket. Red water splashed onto her trainers. Behind her she could hear Daniel standing very still, and Maureen in her doorway, pretending not to listen. The canal was quiet. Somewhere a duck complained about something.

Ana meletakkan kuas ke dalam ember. Air merah tepercik ke sepatu ketsnya. Di belakangnya, ia bisa mendengar Daniel berdiri diam sekali, dan Maureen di ambang pintunya, berpura-pura tidak mendengarkan. Kanal itu sunyi. Di suatu tempat seekor bebek mengeluhkan sesuatu.

She thought very carefully about every word before she said it. She had promised herself never to lie to Jess again. She had also promised Walter a week. For a second those two promises seemed to pull her in opposite directions, so hard that she could not breathe.

Ia memikirkan setiap kata baik-baik sebelum mengucapkannya. Ia telah berjanji pada dirinya sendiri untuk tidak pernah membohongi Jess lagi. Ia juga telah menjanjikan satu minggu kepada Walter. Untuk sesaat, kedua janji itu seolah menariknya ke arah yang berlawanan, begitu keras hingga ia sulit bernapas.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Jess,” she said finally. “Not ever again. So I’m going to tell you the only true thing I’m allowed to say. It isn’t my story. It belongs to your family. But there is more to it than what the newspaper says, and more than what the town thinks. You need to ask your grandfather. Not next month. Soon. Today, if you can.”

“Aku tidak akan membohongimu, Jess,” katanya akhirnya. “Tidak akan pernah lagi. Jadi, aku akan mengatakan satu-satunya hal benar yang boleh kukatakan. Ini bukan ceritaku. Ini milik keluargamu. Namun, ada hal lain di balik apa yang tertulis di koran, dan lebih dari apa yang dipikirkan kota ini. Kamu perlu bertanya kepada kakekmu. Bukan bulan depan. Segera. Hari ini, kalau kamu bisa.”

Jess stared at her. For a moment Ana thought she was going to cry. Instead she laughed, a short, hard laugh that sounded exactly like Walter’s. “Of course,” she said. “Another secret. Another person who knows more about my life than I do. Ask Priya, ask Grandad, ask the man on the boat.” She shook her head. “Everyone in this town keeps sending me to someone else. I’m tired of asking.”

Jess menatapnya. Sesaat Ana mengira dia akan menangis. Alih-alih menangis, dia tertawa, tawa singkat dan keras yang terdengar persis seperti tawa Walter. “Tentu saja,” katanya. “Rahasia lain lagi. Orang lain lagi yang tahu lebih banyak tentang hidupku daripada diriku sendiri. Tanya Priya, tanya Kakek, tanya pria di atas perahu.” Dia menggelengkan kepala. “Semua orang di kota ini terus menyuruhku menemui orang lain. Aku lelah bertanya.”

“Jess, please…”

“Jess, tolonglah…”

But Jess was not looking at her any more. She was looking past her, along the path. Ana turned. Michael was walking towards them from the direction of the warehouse, in his work clothes, with his hands in his pockets. He was looking at the ground and did not see them until he was almost at the boat.

Namun, Jess tidak lagi menatapnya. Dia memandang melewatinya, ke sepanjang jalan setapak. Ana berbalik. Michael sedang berjalan ke arah mereka dari arah gudang, mengenakan pakaian kerjanya, dengan tangan di dalam saku. Dia melihat ke tanah dan tidak melihat mereka sampai dia hampir tiba di perahu.

Then he saw everything at once: the bucket of red water, Daniel with his rag, Maureen in her dressing gown, the half-scrubbed letters on the side of his home. And his daughter, standing on the path, looking at him. He stopped. His face did not change, but his hands came slowly out of his pockets.

Kemudian dia melihat semuanya sekaligus: ember berisi air merah, Daniel dengan kain lapnya, Maureen dengan jubah mandinya, tulisan yang baru digosok separuh di sisi rumahnya. Dan putrinya, berdiri di jalan setapak, menatapnya. Dia berhenti. Wajahnya tidak berubah, tetapi tangannya perlahan keluar dari sakunya.

Nobody said anything for what felt like a very long time. Then Jess pulled her bag higher on her shoulder. “I’m going to be late for school,” she said to nobody in particular, and she turned and walked away along the canal, fast, without looking back at any of them.

Tidak ada yang mengatakan apa pun untuk waktu yang terasa sangat lama. Kemudian Jess menarik tasnya lebih tinggi ke bahunya. “Aku akan terlambat ke sekolah,” katanya tanpa ditujukan kepada siapa pun, lalu dia berbalik dan berjalan pergi menyusuri kanal, dengan cepat, tanpa menoleh lagi kepada mereka.

Michael watched her until she had gone round the bend under the old bridge. Then he looked at the side of his boat. He read what was left of the word, quite slowly, as if it was written in a language he was learning. Then he took the brush out of Ana’s bucket, without a word, and began to scrub.

Michael mengawasinya sampai dia menghilang di tikungan di bawah jembatan tua. Kemudian dia melihat ke sisi perahunya. Dia membaca sisa kata itu, cukup lambat, seolah-olah tertulis dalam bahasa yang sedang dipelajarinya. Lalu dia mengambil kuas dari ember Ana, tanpa sepatah kata pun, dan mulai menggosok.