The Rules

“You let me talk,” I said on the stairs.

“Ayah biarkan saya yang bicara,” kata saya di tangga.

We were on the second floor of a grey council building near the station, climbing to the licensing office on the third, and I was carrying my father’s folder. It was a plastic bag from his own shop with every paper about the market inside it, in no order at all, including the form he had signed on Friday night, which I meant to make as harmless as a piece of paper can be.

Kami berada di lantai dua sebuah gedung dewan kota yang kelabu dekat stasiun, menaiki tangga menuju kantor perizinan di lantai tiga, dan saya membawa map ayah saya. Map itu sebuah kantong plastik dari tokonya sendiri, berisi semua kertas tentang pasar tanpa urutan sama sekali, termasuk formulir yang dia tandatangani pada Jumat malam. Formulir itu ingin saya buat tidak berbahaya, sejauh itu mungkin bagi selembar kertas.

“You always talk,” he said. “Since you were two.”

“Kamu selalu bicara,” katanya. “Sejak umur dua tahun.”

The officer who met us at the top was younger than I had expected. She was perhaps thirty-three, with honey-coloured hair falling out of a bun and thin gold glasses, and she held a clipboard against her chest like a shield. A council lanyard hung round her neck. On it was a photograph of her looking surprised, and her name: Hannah Clarke.

Petugas yang menemui kami di atas lebih muda daripada yang saya duga. Umurnya mungkin tiga puluh tiga tahun, dengan rambut warna madu yang mulai lepas dari sanggulnya dan kacamata emas tipis, dan dia memeluk papan jepit di dadanya seperti perisai. Tali kartu pengenal dewan kota tergantung di lehernya. Di kartu itu ada fotonya yang tampak terkejut, dan namanya: Hannah Clarke.

“Mr Yousef,” she said to my father, and shook his hand warmly. Then she looked at me. “And Mr Yousef.”

“Pak Yousef,” katanya kepada ayah saya, dan menjabat tangannya dengan hangat. Lalu dia menatap saya. “Dan Pak Yousef.”

“Karim. I’m his son. I’m also a lawyer, I’m afraid.”

“Karim. Saya anaknya. Saya juga pengacara, sayangnya.”

“Everybody’s afraid of something,” she said. “Come in.”

“Tidak apa-apa,” katanya. “Silakan masuk.”

Her office was small and very tidy. There was one window, which looked at the window of the office opposite, and one plant, which was dying. On the wall hung a framed poster of the St Nicholas Christmas market from 1986, with the carousel lit up and children in woolly hats. She saw me looking at it.

Kantornya kecil dan sangat rapi. Ada satu jendela, yang menghadap jendela kantor di seberang, dan satu tanaman, yang hampir mati. Di dinding tergantung poster berbingkai pasar Natal St Nicholas tahun 1986, dengan komidi putar yang menyala dan anak-anak bertopi wol. Dia melihat saya memandanginya.

“My mother’s,” she said. “I grew up two streets from the square. Sit down, please.”

“Milik ibu saya,” katanya. “Saya dibesarkan dua jalan dari alun-alun. Silakan duduk.”

I didn’t sit down for long. I had read the council’s rules on Saturday night and again on Sunday. On Sunday Father Tom lit the first candle of Advent in a church full of coats, and afterwards my father and I had lunch and discussed the weather in four different ways. I had found three weaknesses in the new rule, and I began with the biggest.

Saya tidak duduk lama. Saya sudah membaca aturan dewan kota pada Sabtu malam dan lagi pada hari Minggu. Pada hari Minggu Father Tom menyalakan lilin pertama Adven di gereja yang penuh mantel, dan sesudahnya saya dan ayah makan siang dan membicarakan cuaca dengan empat cara berbeda. Saya menemukan tiga kelemahan pada aturan baru itu, dan saya mulai dari yang terbesar.

“This responsibility form,” I said, “was introduced after Mr Brandt’s accident. It was never consulted on. It isn’t in the published policy. It should have been approved by the licensing committee, and as far as I can see it wasn’t. Legally it’s on very thin ice.”

“Formulir tanggung jawab ini,” kata saya, “diperkenalkan setelah kecelakaan Pak Brandt. Formulir ini tidak pernah dikonsultasikan kepada publik. Formulir ini tidak ada dalam kebijakan yang diumumkan. Seharusnya formulir ini disetujui oleh komite perizinan, dan sejauh yang saya lihat, tidak. Secara hukum, dasarnya sangat lemah.”

“It was approved by the head of licensing, under his emergency powers,” said Hannah Clarke. “Paragraph twelve of the scheme of delegation. Page forty.”

“Formulir itu disetujui oleh kepala perizinan, berdasarkan wewenang daruratnya,” kata Hannah Clarke. “Pasal dua belas dari skema pelimpahan wewenang. Halaman empat puluh.”

“Emergency powers are for emergencies.”

“Wewenang darurat itu untuk keadaan darurat.”

“A market of thirty unsafe huts on a public square, with a carousel and an open fire, in December. Our legal team thought that qualified.”

“Sebuah pasar dengan tiga puluh pondok yang tidak aman di alun-alun umum, dengan komidi putar dan api terbuka, di bulan Desember. Tim hukum kami menganggap itu memenuhi syarat.”