Devotion (A Devotion)
Nightmare
I really hate Caca!
I hated the way the little girl was sitting around joking with Mas Hadi. How could he and his mother steal my husband's attention? I know, he's a kid. He'll be five years old. But when Mas Hadi took him for a walk, it felt like it was not a natural thing.
“So, where are we next week, Ca?”
“Only Mother, Om.”
The woman Caca was referring to smiled charmingly. Her eyes blinked beautifully. Her melodious voice calms Caca, “Mother wants to Jogja.” Wrong behavior, Nofi fix long hijab.
“Ga so stop by Mr Dodo's house, Nof?” I asked as he hurried to call Alfin home.
“Yang just got to go. How do you wanna get there? After all, he could not be close to the children. I wanted to get closer, but it didn't work,” lamented describing a bad situation.
Alfin won't be brought home. In the new Nofi house, it is rare for young children to be invited to play. Caca and Alfin prefer to play here, where they were born and raised.
“Prune home first. I still want to play here,” sulk the little guy.
“Your father just go, we go home!” gertak Nofi's. Missing the graceful face I admired. “Go home!”
“Let's go, Mom. Let me take you later.”
Oh no! What the hell is this? I wanted to step on Mas Hadi's feet to remind him.
“Let's be troublesome, Sir?”
“Oh is okay.”
What the fuck? I want to scream. But my lips tried to sing the sweetest smile so as not to read the fret that thrashed.
After Caca and Nofi left, I went into the house. I can't hide my annoyance and anger at Mas Hadi's offer to Nofi.
“Antar alone! Mas who is able to. Don't take me!” I threw my body on the bed. The bed was shaken to accept my body.
Mas Hadi followed in haste. His hand immediately grabbed my body. Look into her eyes. “Come on, don't be. Take care of the feelings of others. Don't make your attitude hurt others.”
“Taste of others? Then who do I feel is guarding?”
The man was silent hearing my cries.
“Antar by yourself!”
“Yes, I'll take you home. It's not delicious. You are a girl anyway. If the husband asks for company, he must manut.”
“But I don't want to,” my stranglehold.
“Must want, what will people say if I drive it myself?”
Now it's my turn to think about Mas Hadi's words. Yeah, what do people say?
Suddenly Mas Hadi's phone rang. He rushed away after several calls were left unattended. Face's tense. “Eh, I have an event. To Deni's house. She's ill. I'm taking you to the doctor. His wife can't deliver.”
Deni is Mas Hadi's officemate. His house is near the house of the late novelist N. H. Dini, in a residential complex in Ngaliyan area, Semarang City. I have been invited several times to Deni's house to see his sick son.
“I'm coming."
“You're nothing to ask to come. It's a men's business!” snapped it.
“But I know Deni and his wife, as well as his son.” It's not good that Deni's sick I'm not going to visit.
“Ga, at home. Take care of the kids!”
He grabbed his jacket and left me in the room. Forcibly, I let her go in an uncomfortable mood.
*****
That afternoon, Nofi came before we could take Alfin. “Cint, sorry I just got home, just pick up Alfin. Thanks, yes,” he shouted.
I was reading a book in Alfin's living room and the kids were playing on the porch. I rushed out to meet. I see he was still wearing the clothes this morning. His steps pulled Alfin's hand.
“Oh yes, it's okay.”
Shortly after the arrival of Nofi, Mas Hadi arrived with a smile full of flowers. In front of the garage, he greeted my best friend cheerfully.
“Eh Ma'am, sorry can't deliver Alfin.” yet
“It's okay sir, it just happened to come home. All of you stop by.”
*****
On a very beautiful afternoon, Mas Hadi and I were in a vehicle about to go to the hospital. Karyadi. He held the wheel, I sat beside him. The vehicle drove slowly before finally stopping at a light red Tugu Muda, to then turn to the right.
I stared at the stone-colored monument between the very high fountain. The water created artificial rain around the roundabout. Rainbows are formed from the afternoon sunlight that hits them. My eyes don't blink.
Last year, my eldest son attended a poetry recitation commemorating the 5-Day Battle of Semarang in Tugu Muda. The awaited event is, the theatrical drama of the Five-Day Battle in Semarang.
The Five Day Battle of Semarang saw the battle between Semarangians and the Japanese on 15-20 October 1945. Because of the duration of the battle for five days, the battle was named 'Five Day Battle in Semarang'.
The disarmament of Japanese soldiers in several cities in Indonesia in 1945, made Semarang youth follow this step. The Japanese army was getting desperate. Major Kido, resolutely refused the handover of arms. Major Kido's actions ignited the anger of the Semarang Youth.
The young men were instructed to intercept a Japanese Army vehicle passing through the Purusara Hospital area. The young men confiscated and disarmed the Japanese army. The young men threw them into Bulu Prison. The Japanese army counter-attacked, disarming eight members of the Special Police guarding Semarang's drinking water source "siranda reservoir".
The Japanese army arrested members of the Special Police and tortured them by taking them to Kido Butai Headquarters in Jatingaleh. At the same time word spread that the Japanese army had spread poison in the source of water "Reservoir Siranda".
Dr. Kariadi was ordered to inspect the Siranda Reservoir. He went to the Semarang drinking water source, regardless of his safety. On Pandanaran street, the car dr. Kariadi was blocked by the Japanese army. Dr's life. Kariadi was not helped arena tortured and severely injured. Dr's death. Kariadi became a fan of the anger of Semarang Youth.
On October 15, 2045 at around 03:00 WIB, Major Kido ordered 1,000 Japanese troops to attack Semarang City Center. The Fall News dr. Kariadi ignited the anger of all Semarang residents, the war spread throughout the city.
On October 17, 1945, the Japanese army announced the Armistice, but they secretly carried out attacks on various villages. On October 19, 1945, fighting took place all over Semarang. The battle killed 2,000 Semarang residents and 850 Japanese soldiers.
The story of the Five-Day Battle in Semarang City, commemorated every year by holding a mini-drama battle. That night, our family saw all the scenes from the front of the Mandala Bakti Museum. I could not help but hurt the image of the persistence of the Semarang youth at that time. Justjust wonderful.
__
The green light is on. The car cannot go. Mas Hadi was confused, why suddenly the car stopped for no reason? He rushed down to check the vehicle. The sound of the vehicle horn behind boisterously shrieked earthyly.
On the left, a maroon car with the vehicle number H-9235-NW stopped. The driver I know very well. He greeted us kindly. I'm still in the car. Mas Hadi who was outside to fix the vehicle, talked to the driver I knew.
“Where are you, Sir?” a voice I have hated so much lately.
“Mau to Karyadi,” replied Mas Hadi smiling.
“Bareng me only.”
I did not expect at all, Mas Hadi followed up to get in the car. I was glued in trembling. Is that true? I was left at a red light, in a vehicle on strike?
Without a second thought I opened the door, then ran out to catch the car. “Mas, why am I left?”
Strange, so out of the car, not the roundabout of Tugu Muda I saw, but the expanse of green rice fields with dense clumps ready for harvest. Where did Mas Hadi and the red driver go?
I was calling my husband's name. There's no answer. I cried in a sedan. The wind that shook the rice grove flew the tip of my veil.
I didn't find Mas Hadi.
****
“Build! Wake up! Nangis what?”
A great shock woke up deeply. Still in a sob, I opened my eyes slowly. Mas Hadi panicked in front. I hugged him in tears and told him all the stories in the dream.
“What? Who am I going with?” A happy smile was on his face.
A sickening smile.
____
