Marti & Sandra (1)

1. Jakarta 1991

The night sky looked so clean. Thousands of stars, scattered like diamonds on a black rug.

Sandra felt as if she was flying through them. What could be more fun than flying among the stars in the night sky?

But why did the stars move back and further away, as if she was suddenly falling and hurtling toward the Earth?

Sandra was sliding down on her back, watching the stars she was passing shoot up, away, shrinking into dots that finally disappeared into the darkness, which also swallowed Sandra.

After passing the moon, she floated uncontrollably with her back still facing down toward the Earth.

***

On the Earth, a strong wind shook the palm trees, the branches seemed to be pulled by a force, and the same wind waved the curtains in the house.

The stronger the wind, the more the window blinds, door curtains, and curtains separating the rooms fluttered, waving up and down. The sweet little decorative chimes were now no longer so sweet; they were noisy and restless, like announcing an impending disaster, which even though it might not necessarily happen, still sounded irritating and made Sandra feel vulnerable.

On the floor, a beer can lay with the rest of the beer flowing, rolling in the wind, colliding with a rat that ran scared to hide under the cupboard.

However, Sandra, whose soul had just fallen from the sky, did not open her eyes. She slept on her stomach, hugging a shabby doll on the bamboo mat floor in the living room. On the floor, a beer can lay with the rest of the beer flowing, rolling in the wind, colliding with a rat that ran scared to hide under the cupboard.

Cigarette butts were scattered, as were women's shoes, stockings, men's jeans with their belts being scattered about, as if they were hastily opened and thrown away, for an urgent need that could no longer be postponed.

Amid the howling of the wind, there was a sound like a struggle on the bed. The curtains that rose and fell briefly, made what was happening on the bed never clear.

However, no one actually saw it. There were only statues, ceramics, exotic objects, women's panties, bras, and women's bags lying around and their contents scattered. Lipstick. Rupiah and dollar banknotes. Powder….

Sandra was still sleeping.

The voices on the bed grew louder and ended.

The wind kept blowing, waving the curtains, sometimes opening and closing, for the rest of the night.

2. Mother and daughter

Sandra, who was in a school uniform, looked at her sleepy mother. From the rearview mirror, the taxi driver could see Sandra's sad face, even though she looked cool and calm. He couldn’t explain to himself why he felt sorry for the sad face.

Then he saw the woman next to her, who was sleeping with a careless attitude. Very beautiful, he thought, was it because of the mole on the left? However, everything was wonderful about this woman, he thought, it wasn't just about the mole, though it did make her cute, so cute, like nothing could be cuter. What could he do, he had to admit how in his life he had always met humans, he had never met a woman as beautiful as this.

In the back seat of his taxi sat all the movie stars, soap opera stars, models, beauty queens, singers, all of whom were famous, but none whose beauty could make the air wavy like the woman he was looking at in the rearview mirror.

The woman was awake, looking outside, but her eyes still looked depressed, without makeup, and they showed that her mind was empty.

From the taxi that was approaching the school gate, Sandra saw other school children also arriving. Everyone was transported by vehicle. On average, their parents were complete, who all went to the office. The father was in a tie, the mother was wearing a blazer because they were going straight to the office.

The closer they got, the more everything became clearer to Sandra whose eyes were watching. A child got a kiss from his mother and father. The closer they got, the more similar scenes their parents brought with each child, but this time Sandra's attention was solely on the children's fathers.

Her eyes flickered. In her mind, she pictured a man kissing the cheek of his mother, who had nice make-up, but was cold. Another man embraced his mother with other make-up. Another man slept on her mother's lap, and her mother caressed the man's head with empty eyes.

Sandra's eyes blinked. Her mother danced in the most beautiful dress, with graceful steps, that made the floor seem to spin after her, in a pair with a man she had never seen - and what a fake smile her mother had.

"Sandra! Do you want to go to school or not?"

The girl woke up, poking her cheek for a kiss.

"Study well, kid, will you?"

A kiss like the one his mother gave her was, of course, full of love.

"Bye Mommy!"

Sandra opened the door, got out of the taxi, and walked through the school gate. The other kids ran around. She walked quietly. Her head lowered.

Her mother watched from inside the taxi. "Where else, ma'am?"

”Wait a moment….”

From the rearview mirror, the taxi driver saw the beautiful eyes of the passenger filled with tears.

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)