MISTERI KANTUNG MACAN (12)

 

A novel by Nurlaeli Umar

Publisher; AE Publishing (ISBN 978-602-5468-81-0)

BLOG NURLAELI UMAR-“Apa Pakde bertemu seseorang?”

“Siapa?”

“Yang barusan lewat. Sebelum Pakde kemari, dia berjalan ke arah Pakde.”

“Tidak ada orang yang kutemui, semua orang sepertinya sudah tidur, kecuali kamu. Apa dia melakukan sesuatu kepadamu?”

“Tidak, Pakde, aku hanya bertanya saja.”

“Ya sudah, makanya tidur, mungkin kamu sudah mengantuk, jadi mimpi sambil berdiri,” gurau Kang Jamal.

“Ya sudah, tutup dan kunci pintunya lagi, aku mau ke warung! Yo, suruh anakmu tidur!”

“Ya, Kang.”

“Did you meet someone, Uncle?”

“Who?”

“The one who just passed by. Before you came here, he was walking to you..”

“I didn’t meet anyone. It seems everyone is already asleep—except you. Did he do anything to you?”

“No, Uncle, I was just asking.”

“Well then, go to sleep. Maybe you’re already sleepy, so you’re dreaming while standing,” Kang Jamal joked.

“Alright, close and lock the door again. I’m going to the shop! Hey, Yo, , tell your child to go to sleep!”

“Yes, Kang.”

Pintu dikunci bahkan sebelum Kang Jamal beranjak. Dia menganggukkan kepala dan kemudian pergi ke arah jalan besar. Sebelumnya dia mengarahkan senternya ke sekitar rumah. Mungkin karena dirasa tidak ada sesuatu yang mencurigakan, dia kembali meneruskan langkahnya.

The door was locked even before Kang Jamal moved away. He nodded his head and then headed toward the main road. Before leaving, he swept his flashlight around the house. Perhaps because he sensed nothing suspicious, he continued on his way.

Lelaki yang dipanggil bapak itu melirik ke arah Ning. “Kamu belum mengantuk? Kalau mau tidur, tidur saja, jangan lupa pakai selimut.”

“Nggeh, Pak.”

Ning membiarkan bapaknya kembali menyelesaikan pekerjaannya. Dia tidak ingin mengganggunya. Dia ingin melihat ke arah luar lagi, ada sekelebat rasa penasaran yang belum dituntaskan. Kalau Pakde Jamal tidak bertemu, lalu ke mana orang itu?

The man called Bapak glanced at Ning. “Aren’t you sleepy yet? If you want to sleep, just go to bed. Don’t forget to use a blanket.”

“Yes, Pak.”

Ning let her father return to finishing his work. She didn’t want to disturb him. She wanted to look outside again—there was a flicker of curiosity that had not yet been satisfied. If Pakde Jamal hadn’t met him, then where had that person gone?

Ning kembali berdiri memerhatikan jalan, tidak ada sosok tadi. Mungkin orang itu sudah menemukan yang dicarinya dan kembali meneruskan langkah saat Pakde Jamal berbicara dengan bapaknya tadi.

Ning stood again, watching the road; the figure from earlier was gone. Perhaps the person had already found what they were looking for and continued on their way when Pakde Jamal was talking to her father earlier.

Baru sekejap isi kepalanya berkata seperti itu, sosok yang tadi muncul lagi. Kali ini dia berjalan lambat, Ning bisa menangkap samar sosok itu. Tidak terlalu tinggi, sendiri sama seperti tadi. Dia memakai baju panjang, mungkin jas hujan. Diikuti langkah sosok itu dengan matanya tanpa berkedip. Sampai di tempat yang tidak terjangkau sinar, sosok itu kembali melintas ke arah dia datang, berjalan dan sampai di sisi gelap, mata Ning tidak melihat apa-apa. Sekejap kemudian sosok itu kembali melintas. Aneh! Tidak berapa lama sosok itu kembali ke arah semula, melintas lagi, begitu dan begitu sampai beberapa kali.

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than the figure appeared again. This time it walked slowly, and Ning could faintly make it out. Not very tall, alone just like before. It was wearing long clothing, perhaps a raincoat. She followed the figure with her eyes without blinking. When it reached a place beyond the reach of the light, the figure crossed back in the direction it had come from, walking into the dark side until Ning’s eyes could see nothing. A moment later, the figure crossed again. Strange! Not long after, the figure returned in the opposite direction, crossing again—over and over, several times.

Rasa penasaran itu sekarang menjadi rasa takut. Dia berteriak sambil tetap menatap ke arah sosok itu. “Pak, ada orang di depan rumah! Cepat kemari!”

Lelaki yang dipanggil bapak itu setengah berlari mendekati anaknya.”Ada apa? Mana orang itu? Siapa?” tanyanya sambil matanya ikut meneliti keadaan di luar. Dia berusaha menjangkau sejauh mungkin, melihat kemungkinan yang dilihat anaknya.

“Tidak ada siapa-siapa. Makanya tidur, sudah malam. Jangan ganggu Bapak! Sebentar lagi selesai, nanti Bapak sama Mamak menyusul.”

Her curiosity had now turned into fear. She screamed while still staring in the direction of the figure. “Dad, there’s someone in front of the house! Come here quickly!”

The man she called father half-ran toward his child. “What is it? Where is that person? Who?” he asked, his eyes scanning the outside as well. He strained to see as far as possible, trying to find what his child might have seen.

“There’s no one there. That’s why you should go to sleep—it’s already late. Don’t bother me! We’ll be done soon; your mom and I will come along shortly.”

Sepeninggal bapaknya, Ning kecil tidak masuk ke kamarnya. Dia tetap berada di depan kaca, dia tidak ingin disebut berbohong, meski bapaknya tidak mengatakan itu. Dia ingin sosok yang dilihatnya benar-benar bisa dilihat bapaknya. Dia berharap bisa melihatnya dan saat itu bapaknya akan percaya.

After her father left, little Ning did not go into her room. She stayed in front of the window; she did not want to be called a liar, even though her father had not said that. She wanted the figure she had seen to truly be seen by her father. She hoped it would appear again, so that her father would believe her.

Diperhatikannya lagi jalanan yang berjarak lima belas meter dan posisinya sama tinggi dengan lantai rumahnya dibanding halaman tanah dari pintu rumahnya. Tidak ada pagar apa pun di sekeliling rumahnya, hanya pohon pisang yang ditanam di pinggir selokan selebar dua meter dengan air bening yang di atasnya dipasang powotan, sebuah jembatan anyam dari bambu. Jembatan kecil yang langsung berhubungan dengan halaman rumahnya.

She looked again at the road, about fifteen meters away and level with the floor of her house, unlike the earthen yard in front of the door. There was no fence around the house, only banana trees planted along the edge of a two-meter-wide drainage ditch with clear water, over which a powotan—a small bridge woven from bamboo—had been placed. It was a small bridge that connected directly to the yard of her house.

Sosok itu menghilang begitu tadi dia berteriak. Ditunggunya beberapa saat, tidak juga muncul. Bapaknya beberapa kali terlihat berjalan dari pintu ruang tengah ke pintu kamarnya. Dia membiarkan Ning masih berdiam di dekat kaca depan.

The figure vanished the moment she screamed. She waited for a while, but it did not appear again. Several times she saw her father walking from the door of the living room to the door of her bedroom.

He let Ning remain standing by the front window.

Bagian depan rumah hanya ada ruang tamu dan satu kamar, bagian tengah ada ruang antara dua kamar di kanan-kiri yang berisi satu meja ukuran besar biasanya dipergunakan untuk membuat kue, sedang bagian paling belakang dapur dan sedikit tempat untuk menyimpan padi, beras, atau peralatan lainnya seperti cangkul, sepeda, meja makan kecil, dan dua bangku untuk makan yang bersebelahan dengqan dapur. Saat bapaknya berdiam lama di ruang tengah

The front part of the house consisted only of a living room and one bedroom. In the middle there was a space between two bedrooms on the right and left, containing a large table usually used for making cakes. The very back of the house was the kitchen and a small area for storing paddy, rice, or other tools such as a hoe, a bicycle, a small dining table, and two benches for eating that stood next to the kitchen. While her father remained for a long time in the middle room…

Ning melihat sekilas sosok itu muncul lagi. Kali ini dia membatin marah, ingin memastikan siapa sosok itu yang sebenarnya. Dia terus memerhatikan sosok yang akhirnya punya keberanian menjejakan kaki ke atas powotan. Hanya satu langkah, kemudian berbalik dan berjalan melintas dan pulang ke arah datangnya berkali-kali seperti sebelumnya. (19)

Ning caught a brief glimpse of the figure appearing again. This time she felt angry inside, wanting to be sure who that figure really was. She kept watching as the figure finally gathered the courage to step onto the powotan. Just one step—then it turned around and walked across and back in the direction it had come from, over and over again, just like before. (19)