Do Not Walk Here

Arvid sits in the bus shelter at six in the morning. The village is on a hill. The shelter has the best view. The first bus does not come until eight. That is why Arvid likes it. Nobody is here.

Arvid duduk di halte bus pada pukul enam pagi. Desa itu berada di atas bukit. Halte itu punya pemandangan terbaik. Bus pertama baru datang pukul delapan. Itulah sebabnya Arvid menyukainya. Tak ada siapa pun di sini.

He keeps a box of chalk in his bag. Every morning he takes it out. Every morning he puts it back.

Ia menyimpan sekotak kapur di tasnya. Setiap pagi ia mengeluarkannya. Setiap pagi ia memasukkannya kembali.

Arvid is twenty-four, and he draws very well. His drawings fill four notebooks under his bed. Nobody sees them. Sometimes a friend asks. He says, "Oh, I only play with a pencil."

Arvid berumur dua puluh empat tahun, dan ia menggambar dengan sangat bagus. Gambar-gambarnya memenuhi empat buku catatan di bawah tempat tidurnya. Tak ada yang melihatnya. Kadang seorang teman bertanya. Ia berkata, "Oh, aku cuma main-main dengan pensil."

Today he looks at the pavement in front of the shelter. It is wide and smooth and clean. It looks like a giant sheet of grey paper. His hands feel strange. They want to move.

Hari ini ia memandang trotoar di depan halte. Lebar, halus, dan bersih. Tampak seperti selembar kertas abu-abu raksasa. Tangannya terasa aneh. Tangan itu ingin bergerak.

"Just one line," he says to himself.

"Satu garis saja," katanya pada dirinya sendiri.

He takes a white chalk and kneels down. He draws one long curve. Then he draws another. His heart beats fast, but his hand knows what to do.

Ia mengambil sebatang kapur putih dan berlutut. Ia menggambar satu lengkung panjang. Lalu satu lagi. Jantungnya berdebar kencang, tetapi tangannya tahu apa yang harus dilakukan.

By seven o'clock, a whale lies on the pavement. It is as long as the whole shelter. It has a round, kind eye and a wide smile. Blue lines run around it like waves. A small gull sits on its back.

Menjelang pukul tujuh, seekor paus terbaring di trotoar. Panjangnya sepanjang seluruh halte. Matanya bulat dan ramah, senyumnya lebar. Garis-garis biru mengitarinya seperti ombak. Seekor camar kecil bertengger di punggungnya.

Arvid stands up and looks at it. His knees hurt, and his fingers are white. He feels happy and scared at the same time.

Arvid berdiri dan memandangnya. Lututnya sakit, dan jari-jarinya putih. Ia merasa senang dan takut sekaligus.

A woman with a shopping bag walks past. She stops. She does not say a word. She only looks at the whale for a long moment and smiles. Then she goes on.

Seorang wanita membawa tas belanja lewat. Ia berhenti. Ia tidak mengucapkan sepatah kata pun. Ia hanya memandang paus itu cukup lama dan tersenyum. Lalu ia melanjutkan langkahnya.

Arvid does not wait for anyone else. He puts the chalk in his bag. He walks home very fast.

Arvid tidak menunggu siapa pun lagi. Ia memasukkan kapur ke tasnya. Ia berjalan pulang dengan sangat cepat.

The next morning, he comes back early. He feels shy, like a boy on his first day of school. Maybe the whale is gone. Maybe someone washes it away in the night.

Keesokan paginya, ia kembali lebih awal. Ia merasa malu, seperti anak laki-laki di hari pertama sekolah. Mungkin pausnya sudah hilang. Mungkin seseorang membasuhnya semalam.

The whale is still there. It has a few shoe marks on its tail. And something new is there too.

Paus itu masih ada. Ada beberapa bekas sepatu di ekornya. Dan ada sesuatu yang baru juga di sana.

Four orange cones stand around the drawing. Yellow tape runs from cone to cone. A white card hangs on the tape. Big black letters cover it.

Empat kerucut oranye berdiri mengelilingi gambar itu. Pita kuning terentang dari kerucut ke kerucut. Sebuah kartu putih tergantung pada pita itu. Huruf-huruf hitam besar menutupinya.

DO NOT WALK HERE. REMOVE BY FRIDAY.

JANGAN BERJALAN DI SINI. SINGKIRKAN SEBELUM JUMAT.

Under the words, someone writes a short name. It says "B. Village Roads."

Di bawah tulisan itu, seseorang menuliskan nama singkat. Bunyinya "B. Dinas Jalan Desa."

Arvid reads the card three times. He feels cold inside. Someone in the village does not want the whale. The village office knows about it. They even give him a day.

Arvid membaca kartu itu tiga kali. Ia merasa dingin di dalam. Seseorang di desa tidak menginginkan paus itu. Kantor desa tahu soal ini. Mereka bahkan memberinya waktu sehari.

"Of course," he whispers. "You cannot draw on a public street."

"Tentu saja," bisiknya. "Orang tidak boleh menggambar di jalan umum."

He wants to run away, but he does not. He thinks, I made this mess, so I will clean it. That seems fair. At least he can do it before anyone sees him.

Ia ingin lari, tetapi tidak melakukannya. Ia berpikir, aku yang membuat kekacauan ini, jadi aku yang akan membersihkannya. Rasanya adil. Setidaknya ia bisa melakukannya sebelum ada yang melihatnya.

He walks to the fountain by the church. He fills a bucket with water. He finds a hard brush behind the shelter. His hands shake as he comes back to the whale.

Ia berjalan ke air mancur di dekat gereja. Ia mengisi sebuah ember dengan air. Ia menemukan sikat keras di belakang halte. Tangannya gemetar saat ia kembali ke paus itu.

He kneels at the tail. The brush is wet. He lifts it.

Ia berlutut di dekat ekor. Sikatnya basah. Ia mengangkatnya.

"Stop!"

"Berhenti!"

A man in an orange vest runs up the hill. A small white van stands behind him with its door open. He is about Arvid's age, with messy hair and a loud voice.

Seorang pria berompi oranye berlari menaiki bukit. Sebuah van putih kecil berhenti di belakangnya dengan pintu terbuka. Ia sebaya dengan Arvid, rambutnya acak-acakan dan suaranya keras.

"What are you doing?" the man says. He is out of breath. "Please do not touch it!"

"Apa yang kamu lakukan?" kata pria itu. Napasnya terengah. "Tolong jangan disentuh!"

"I am sorry," Arvid says. "I know it is not allowed. I will clean it now. Then nobody needs to be angry."

"Maaf," kata Arvid. "Aku tahu ini tidak diizinkan. Akan kubersihkan sekarang. Supaya tidak ada yang marah."

The man stares at him. "Angry? Who is angry?"

Pria itu menatapnya. "Marah? Siapa yang marah?"

"You are. The card says to remove it by Friday."

"Kamu. Kartu itu bilang agar disingkirkan sebelum Jumat."

The man looks at the card. Then he looks at the whale. Then he looks at Arvid, and he starts to laugh. It is a big, helpless laugh.

Pria itu memandang kartu tersebut. Lalu memandang paus itu. Lalu memandang Arvid, dan ia mulai tertawa. Tawa yang besar dan tak berdaya.

"No, no, no," he says. "I wrote that card. The cones belong to the road office. I must take them away by Friday, or my boss gets angry. That is the thing to remove. Not the whale!"

"Bukan, bukan, bukan," katanya. "Aku yang menulis kartu itu. Kerucut-kerucut itu milik dinas jalan. Aku harus mengambilnya sebelum Jumat, kalau tidak bosku marah. Itu yang harus disingkirkan. Bukan pausnya!"

Arvid feels the bucket slip in his hand. "The cones?"

Ember itu nyaris terlepas dari tangan Arvid. "Kerucut-kerucutnya?"

"Yes! Look." The man points at the pavement. "Yesterday, school children walked all over the tail. A boy jumped on the gull. A girl cried. So I put up the tape. I want to keep it safe."

"Ya! Lihat." Pria itu menunjuk trotoar. "Kemarin, anak-anak sekolah menginjak-injak seluruh ekornya. Seorang anak laki-laki melompat di atas camarnya. Seorang anak perempuan menangis. Jadi aku memasang pita itu. Aku ingin menjaganya tetap aman."

"You want to keep it safe?"

"Kamu ingin menjaganya tetap aman?"

"Of course. It is the best thing in this village." The man puts his hand on his chest. "My name is Bastien. I drive past this shelter every day, and it is always grey. Yesterday it was a whale. Do you know how that feels?"

"Tentu saja. Itu hal terbaik di desa ini." Pria itu menaruh tangannya di dada. "Namaku Bastien. Setiap hari aku melewati halte ini, dan tempat ini selalu abu-abu. Kemarin ada seekor paus. Kamu tahu bagaimana rasanya?"

Arvid does not answer. His throat is tight.

Arvid tidak menjawab. Tenggorokannya tercekat.

"Do you know who made it?" Bastien asks. "I want to thank him. Maybe I want to ask him for a favour too."

"Kamu tahu siapa yang membuatnya?" tanya Bastien. "Aku ingin berterima kasih padanya. Mungkin aku juga ingin meminta bantuannya."

Arvid looks at the brush in his hand. He looks at the white chalk dust on his fingers. Bastien looks at them too, and his eyes grow wide.

Arvid memandang sikat di tangannya. Ia memandang debu kapur putih di jari-jarinya. Bastien juga memandangnya, dan matanya melebar.

For a long moment, nobody speaks.

Untuk beberapa saat yang lama, tak seorang pun berbicara.

"I did," Arvid says. The words feel big in his mouth. It is the first time he says them aloud. "I drew it."

"Aku yang membuatnya," kata Arvid. Kata-kata itu terasa besar di mulutnya. Ini pertama kalinya ia mengucapkannya dengan lantang. "Aku yang menggambarnya."

"I thought so!" Bastien says. "You sit here every morning, do you not? I see you from my van."

"Sudah kuduga!" kata Bastien. "Kamu duduk di sini setiap pagi, kan? Aku melihatmu dari vanku."

"You see me?"

"Kamu melihatku?"

"Every day. You sit here with your bag. I always think, he looks like a man with a story."

"Setiap hari. Kamu duduk di sini dengan tasmu. Aku selalu berpikir, dia kelihatan seperti orang yang punya cerita."

Arvid laughs. It comes out shaky and loud. He puts the brush down in the bucket.

Arvid tertawa. Tawanya keluar bergetar dan keras. Ia meletakkan sikat itu ke dalam ember.

"I have a lot of stories," he says. "They are in four notebooks."

"Aku punya banyak cerita," katanya. "Semuanya ada di empat buku catatan."

"Then you must bring them here," says Bastien. "The pavement is big. I can find more tape."

"Kalau begitu kamu harus membawanya ke sini," kata Bastien. "Trotoarnya luas. Aku bisa mencari lebih banyak pita."

Arvid looks at the whale. Its kind eye looks back at him. For the first time, the drawing looks finished. It also looks like the start of something.

Arvid memandang paus itu. Mata ramahnya balas menatapnya. Untuk pertama kalinya, gambar itu tampak selesai. Dan juga tampak seperti awal dari sesuatu.

Bastien reaches into his vest pocket. He takes out a short blue chalk, the kind that children use. He holds it out without a word.

Bastien merogoh saku rompinya. Ia mengeluarkan sebatang kapur biru pendek, jenis yang dipakai anak-anak. Ia mengulurkannya tanpa sepatah kata.

Arvid does not take it yet. He looks at the empty grey space beside the whale. It is as wide as a second whale. Bastien keeps his hand open, and the blue chalk waits between them.

Arvid belum mengambilnya. Ia memandang ruang abu-abu kosong di samping paus itu. Selebar paus yang kedua. Bastien tetap membuka tangannya, dan kapur biru itu menunggu di antara mereka.