The Town Hall

The big hall of Hollin Bridge town hall had been built in 1887 for a population that had believed, with Victorian confidence, that it would go on growing for ever. It had a high ceiling painted with faded gold stars, tall windows, and a little stage at one end where brass bands had played and couples had been married. It also had a smell of floor polish and old radiators that Ana had come to associate with the winter fair and three hundred rolls.

Aula besar balai kota Hollin Bridge telah dibangun pada tahun 1887 untuk populasi yang meyakini, dengan rasa percaya diri khas era Victoria, bahwa kota itu akan terus berkembang selamanya. Aula itu memiliki langit-langit tinggi berlukiskan bintang-bintang emas yang telah memudar, jendela-jendela jangkung, dan sebuah panggung kecil di salah satu ujungnya tempat orkes tiup pernah bermain serta pasangan-pasangan dinikahkan. Tempat itu juga memiliki bau semir lantai dan radiator tua yang kini diasosiasikan Ana dengan pekan raya musim dingin dan tiga ratus roti gulung.

Tonight it held more people than it had held, Priya said, since the night the mill closed. They filled every one of the two hundred folding chairs the caretaker had set out in rows. Then they stood along the walls, and then they stood in the doorway at the back, coats still on, because it had begun to rain and nobody wanted to go home and miss it. Ana recognised half of them from the queue at ten to five. She did not recognise the other half at all.

Malam ini ruangan tersebut menampung lebih banyak orang daripada yang pernah ditampungnya, kata Priya, sejak malam saat pabrik penggilingan ditutup. Orang-orang memenuhi setiap sudut dari dua ratus kursi lipat yang telah ditata berjajar oleh sang penjaga gedung. Kemudian mereka berdiri di sepanjang dinding, lalu berdiri di ambang pintu belakang dengan mantel yang masih terpasang, sebab hujan mulai turun dan tak seorang pun ingin pulang lalu melewatkannya. Ana mengenali separuh dari mereka dari antrean pukul lima kurang sepuluh. Separuh lainnya sama sekali tak ia kenali.

On the stage, at a long table covered with green cloth, sat the five members of the planning committee, with name cards in front of them and the faintly hunted look of people who had expected an evening about car parks. In the middle sat the chair, a small, precise woman in her sixties called Councillor Hale, with silver half-moon glasses and a gavel she clearly intended to use.

Di atas panggung, di hadapan sebuah meja panjang berbalut kain hijau, duduk lima anggota komite perencanaan dengan kartu nama di depan mereka dan raut wajah agak terpojok seperti orang-orang yang mengira ini sekadar pertemuan tentang tempat parkir mobil. Di bagian tengah duduk sang ketua, seorang perempuan berusia enam puluhan yang berpenampilan cermat bernama Anggota Dewan Hale, berkacamata separuh bulan berwarna perak dan memegang palu sidang yang jelas-jelas berniat digunakannya.

Ana sat in the fourth row with Daniel on one side, still in his yellow jacket because he was due on the bus at eleven, and Priya on the other. Priya had not spoken for twenty minutes. She sat bolt upright with her handbag on her knees and four folded sheets of notepad paper held inside it like something alive, and every so often she took a breath from her stomach, the way her husband had taught their children, and let it out again very slowly.

Ana duduk di baris keempat berdampingan dengan Daniel di satu sisi—yang masih mengenakan jaket kuningnya karena harus mengejar jadwal bus pukul sebelas—dan Priya di sisi lain. Priya tidak berbicara selama dua puluh menit. Ia duduk tegak lurus dengan tas tangan di atas lututnya serta empat lembar kertas catatan berlipat yang didekap di dalamnya laksana makhluk hidup, dan sesekali ia menarik napas dari perut, sebagaimana cara mendiang suaminya mengajari anak-anak mereka, lalu mengembuskannya kembali sangat perlahan.

Jess was in the front row, with her portfolio on her knees and her red hair tied back so tightly that it looked painful. She had dressed, Ana noticed, in her grandfather’s style: a white shirt, buttoned to the collar, and an expression that dared anybody to say anything about it. Beside her sat Maureen in her woolly hat, who had come, she announced, to make sure nobody was rude to the girl.

Jess berada di baris terdepan, memangku portofolionya dan rambut merahnya diikat ke belakang begitu kencang hingga tampak menyakitkan. Ia berpakaian, Ana memperhatikan, dengan gaya kakeknya: kemeja putih yang dikancingkan rapi sampai kerah, serta ekspresi yang menantang siapa pun untuk berani berkomentar. Di sampingnya duduk Maureen yang mengenakan topi wol, yang hadir, sebagaimana ia umumkan, guna memastikan tidak ada yang bersikap lancang kepada gadis itu.

And at the very back, by the double doors, in the space the caretaker had cleared for him, sat Walter. The hospital had let him out for three hours, with a nurse, a blanket and a great many conditions. He was in a wheelchair, in his good jacket, with the laminated letter board on his knees. Michael stood behind the chair with his hands on its handles, very still, as though he were holding something that might roll away down a hill.

Dan di bagian paling belakang, di dekat pintu ganda, di ruang yang telah dikosongkan oleh penjaga gedung untuknya, duduklah Walter. Pihak rumah sakit telah mengizinkannya keluar selama tiga jam, didampingi seorang perawat, sehelai selimut, dan serentetan persyaratan ketat. Ia duduk di kursi roda dengan mengenakan jaket terbaiknya, memangku papan huruf berlaminasi. Michael berdiri kaku di belakang kursi roda itu dengan kedua tangan memegang pegangannya, seolah ia sedang menahan sesuatu yang bisa meluncur deras menuruni bukit.