The Bag in the Square Well

Bastien got the job on the last day of June. The village council needed someone to clean the old well in the square before the summer fair. Nobody else wanted the work.

Bastien mendapat pekerjaan itu pada hari terakhir bulan Juni. Dewan desa membutuhkan seseorang untuk membersihkan sumur tua di alun-alun sebelum pesta musim panas. Tidak ada orang lain yang mau mengerjakannya.

"You are eighteen and strong," the mayor told him. "The job is yours, if you can start tomorrow."

"Kamu delapan belas tahun dan kuat," kata kepala desa kepadanya. "Pekerjaan ini milikmu, kalau kamu bisa mulai besok."

"I can start tonight," Bastien said. "I have nothing else to do."

"Saya bisa mulai malam ini," kata Bastien. "Saya tidak punya kegiatan lain."

The mayor laughed and gave him the key to the tool shed. Bastien had finished school two weeks before. He did not know what to do with his life yet. A month of simple work seemed like a good place to begin.

Kepala desa tertawa dan memberinya kunci gudang peralatan. Bastien baru lulus sekolah dua minggu sebelumnya. Ia belum tahu apa yang akan dilakukannya dengan hidupnya. Sebulan bekerja sederhana tampaknya tempat yang baik untuk memulai.

The next morning he stood in the square with a ladder, a lamp and a long iron hook. The well sat in the middle of the village, round and grey, under a small stone roof. Children had played around it for hundreds of years. Their shoes had worn the stones smooth.

Keesokan paginya ia berdiri di alun-alun dengan sebuah tangga, sebuah lampu, dan sebuah kait besi panjang. Sumur itu berada di tengah desa, bundar dan kelabu, di bawah atap batu kecil. Anak-anak sudah bermain di sekelilingnya selama ratusan tahun. Sepatu mereka telah membuat batu-batunya halus.

Bastien tied the lamp to a rope and lowered it into the dark. Cold air rose past his face. Far below, the water shone like a coin. Then the lamp swung against the wall, and the light caught something strange. A small leather bag hung from an iron hook, just above the water.

Bastien mengikat lampu pada tali dan menurunkannya ke dalam kegelapan. Udara dingin naik melewati wajahnya. Jauh di bawah, air berkilau seperti koin. Lalu lampu itu berayun menabrak dinding, dan cahayanya menangkap sesuatu yang aneh. Sebuah kantong kulit kecil tergantung pada kait besi, tepat di atas air.

It took him twenty minutes to reach it. He climbed down six rungs, leaned out and caught the cord with the long hook. His arms shook when he pulled the bag up. Then he climbed back into the sun. He sat on the edge of the well to catch his breath.

Ia butuh dua puluh menit untuk meraihnya. Ia turun enam anak tangga, mencondongkan badan, dan menangkap talinya dengan kait panjang. Lengannya gemetar ketika ia menarik kantong itu naik. Lalu ia memanjat kembali ke bawah sinar matahari. Ia duduk di tepi sumur untuk mengatur napas.

The bag was tied with a green cord. Bastien opened it carefully. Inside, there were at least fifty glass marbles. Some were blue, some were yellow, and some had twisted ribbons of colour inside. He had not seen so many marbles since he was seven years old.

Kantong itu diikat dengan tali hijau. Bastien membukanya dengan hati-hati. Di dalamnya ada sedikitnya lima puluh kelereng kaca. Ada yang biru, ada yang kuning, dan ada yang di dalamnya terdapat pita-pita warna yang berpilin. Ia belum pernah melihat kelereng sebanyak itu sejak usianya tujuh tahun.

He picked one out and held it up to the light. It was clear green, with a white spiral in the middle. For a moment, he forgot about the job, the fair and the whole long summer.

Ia memungut satu dan mengangkatnya ke arah cahaya. Hijau bening, dengan spiral putih di tengahnya. Sesaat, ia melupakan pekerjaan, pesta, dan seluruh musim panas yang panjang itu.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked behind him.

"Apa yang kamu lakukan?" tanya sebuah suara di belakangnya.

A woman stood at the edge of the square with a basket of papers on her arm. She had ink on her fingers and a pencil in her hair. Bastien knew her by sight. Her name was Lorna, and she ran the village library and the Saturday club for children.

Seorang wanita berdiri di tepi alun-alun dengan sebuah keranjang berisi kertas di lengannya. Jari-jarinya bernoda tinta dan ada pensil terselip di rambutnya. Bastien mengenalnya dari wajah saja. Namanya Lorna, dan ia mengelola perpustakaan desa dan klub Sabtu untuk anak-anak.

"I'm cleaning the well," Bastien said. "Look what I found down there. Somebody lost a whole bag of marbles."

"Saya sedang membersihkan sumur," kata Bastien. "Lihat apa yang saya temukan di bawah sana. Seseorang kehilangan sekantong penuh kelereng."

"Nobody lost them," Lorna said. Her voice was very quiet. "Please put them back in the bag."

"Tidak ada yang kehilangannya," kata Lorna. Suaranya sangat pelan. "Tolong kembalikan ke dalam kantong."

Bastien frowned. "I wanted to give them to the school. The children will love them."

Bastien mengerutkan kening. "Saya ingin memberikannya kepada sekolah. Anak-anak pasti suka."

"You wanted to give them away?" Lorna put her basket on the ground. "Do you know how long I worked on this? Do you know what you have done?"

"Kamu ingin memberikannya?" Lorna meletakkan keranjangnya di tanah. "Kamu tahu berapa lama saya mengerjakan ini? Kamu tahu apa yang sudah kamu lakukan?"

"I haven't done anything," Bastien said. "I climbed down and I got them. That's my job."

"Saya tidak melakukan apa-apa," kata Bastien. "Saya turun dan mengambilnya. Itu pekerjaan saya."

"Your job is to clean the well. It is not to take things out of it." Lorna held out her hand. "Give me the bag, please."

"Pekerjaanmu membersihkan sumur. Bukan mengambil barang dari dalamnya." Lorna mengulurkan tangannya. "Berikan kantong itu, tolong."

Something hard and angry rose in Bastien's chest. He was not a child, and he did not like to be treated like one. "I am not a thief," he said. "I have never taken anything that was not mine."

Sesuatu yang keras dan marah naik di dada Bastien. Ia bukan anak kecil, dan ia tidak suka diperlakukan seperti anak kecil. "Saya bukan pencuri," katanya. "Saya tidak pernah mengambil apa pun yang bukan milik saya."

"I did not say you were a thief," said Lorna.

"Saya tidak bilang kamu pencuri," kata Lorna.

"You did not have to." He put the bag in her hand, picked up his ladder and carried it to the shed. He did not look back.

"Anda tidak perlu mengatakannya." Ia meletakkan kantong itu di tangan Lorna, mengambil tangganya, dan membawanya ke gudang. Ia tidak menoleh ke belakang.

He ate an apple and some cheese in the tool shed. Neither of them tasted of anything. On the wall hung a notice board with the programme for the summer fair. Bastien read it to pass the time. Near the bottom, in small letters, he saw one line: "Children's treasure hunt. Six clues. A prize at the end. Organised by Lorna."

Ia makan sebuah apel dan sedikit keju di gudang peralatan. Keduanya tidak terasa apa-apa. Di dinding tergantung papan pengumuman dengan acara pesta musim panas. Bastien membacanya untuk mengisi waktu. Dekat bagian bawah, dengan huruf kecil, ia melihat satu baris: "Perburuan harta karun anak-anak. Enam petunjuk. Hadiah di akhir. Diselenggarakan oleh Lorna."

Beside the programme, someone had pinned a sheet of riddles. The third one said: "Where the whole village drinks, look under the roof of stone. Do not go down alone."

Di samping acara itu, seseorang telah menyematkan selembar teka-teki. Yang ketiga berbunyi: "Di tempat seluruh desa minum, lihatlah di bawah atap batu. Jangan turun sendirian."

Bastien read it three times. Then he put his apple down. "Oh no," he said to the empty shed.

Bastien membacanya tiga kali. Lalu ia meletakkan apelnya. "Oh tidak," katanya kepada gudang yang kosong.

He found Lorna in the library, on her knees between two shelves. A box of paper stars stood beside her. She did not look up when he came in.

Ia menemukan Lorna di perpustakaan, berlutut di antara dua rak. Sebuah kotak bintang kertas berdiri di sampingnya. Ia tidak menengadah ketika Bastien masuk.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I read the riddles. The bag was the prize, wasn't it?"

"Maafkan saya," katanya. "Saya sudah membaca teka-tekinya. Kantong itu hadiahnya, bukan?"

"It was part of the prize." Lorna sat back on her heels. "I'm sorry too. I should not have shouted. It took me three evenings to hang that bag, and I was afraid you had ruined everything."

"Itu bagian dari hadiahnya." Lorna duduk bersandar pada tumitnya. "Saya juga minta maaf. Seharusnya saya tidak berteriak. Saya butuh tiga malam untuk menggantung kantong itu, dan saya takut kamu sudah merusak segalanya."

"I did not know," Bastien said. "Nobody told me anything."

"Saya tidak tahu," kata Bastien. "Tidak ada yang memberi tahu saya apa-apa."

"Nobody told the mayor, either." Lorna almost smiled. "I wanted the treasure hunt to be a surprise. That was probably a mistake."

"Tidak ada yang memberi tahu kepala desa juga." Lorna nyaris tersenyum. "Saya ingin perburuan harta karun itu menjadi kejutan. Itu mungkin kesalahan."

Bastien sat down on a low chair made for children. His knees came up almost to his chin. "Can I say something about the hook?"

Bastien duduk di kursi rendah yang dibuat untuk anak-anak. Lututnya naik nyaris sampai ke dagunya. "Boleh saya mengatakan sesuatu tentang kaitnya?"

"Go on."

"Silakan."

"It is too dangerous. A child who follows your clue will try to climb down. I nearly slipped this morning, and I am eighteen."

"Itu terlalu berbahaya. Anak yang mengikuti petunjuk Anda akan mencoba turun. Saya nyaris terpeleset pagi ini, dan saya sudah delapan belas tahun."

Lorna was quiet for a moment. "I had not thought of that. I only thought of the surprise."

Lorna terdiam sejenak. "Saya belum memikirkan itu. Saya hanya memikirkan kejutannya."

"Here is an idea," Bastien said. "If I fix a small wheel under the stone roof, the bag can hang from a rope. Then a child only has to turn the handle. An adult can stand next to them."

"Ada ide," kata Bastien. "Kalau saya memasang roda kecil di bawah atap batu, kantong itu bisa digantung pada tali. Lalu anak hanya perlu memutar tuasnya. Orang dewasa bisa berdiri di sampingnya."

Lorna looked at him as if she saw him for the first time. "Can you build that?"

Lorna memandangnya seakan baru pertama kali melihatnya. "Kamu bisa membuatnya?"

"I have a whole month, a tool shed and nothing else to do."

"Saya punya waktu sebulan penuh, sebuah gudang peralatan, dan tidak ada kegiatan lain."

They worked together all afternoon. Bastien cut a wheel from an old wooden cart he found behind the shed. He sanded it until it turned without a sound. Lorna sat on the edge of the well and counted the marbles by colour. There were fifty-two. She said that two of them came from her own childhood. She did not want to lose them.

Mereka bekerja bersama sepanjang sore. Bastien memotong sebuah roda dari gerobak kayu tua yang ia temukan di belakang gudang. Ia mengamplasnya sampai berputar tanpa suara. Lorna duduk di tepi sumur dan menghitung kelereng menurut warnanya. Ada lima puluh dua. Ia berkata dua di antaranya berasal dari masa kecilnya sendiri. Ia tidak mau kehilangannya.

Near evening, Bastien climbed up under the stone roof and fixed the wheel to a beam. He threaded a new cord through it and tied the leather bag to the end. Then he turned the handle. The bag rose out of the dark and swung gently into the light. It looked like something from a story.

Menjelang malam, Bastien memanjat ke bawah atap batu dan memasang roda itu pada sebuah balok. Ia menyisipkan tali baru melaluinya dan mengikat kantong kulit itu di ujungnya. Lalu ia memutar tuasnya. Kantong itu naik dari kegelapan dan berayun lembut ke dalam cahaya. Tampak seperti sesuatu dari sebuah dongeng.

Lorna clapped her hands once, like a child. "It is perfect. It is much better than before."

Lorna bertepuk tangan sekali, seperti anak kecil. "Sempurna. Jauh lebih baik daripada sebelumnya."

"It is safer," Bastien said. "That is the point."

"Lebih aman," kata Bastien. "Itulah intinya."

The square was empty now, and the sky over the roofs had turned the colour of honey. Lorna put the bag back in its place and let the cord run slowly down into the well. Then she opened her hand. In her palm lay the green marble with the white spiral.

Alun-alun kini sepi, dan langit di atas atap-atap rumah telah berwarna madu. Lorna meletakkan kantong itu kembali di tempatnya dan membiarkan tali turun perlahan ke dalam sumur. Lalu ia membuka tangannya. Di telapaknya terletak kelereng hijau dengan spiral putih itu.

"This one is for you," she said. "You are the first person who ever found it."

"Yang ini untukmu," katanya. "Kamu orang pertama yang pernah menemukannya."

Bastien turned the marble in his fingers and held it up to the last of the light. He thought about the month ahead, the ladder and the lamp and the long quiet hours. Then he thought about six clues, and about a crowd of children running across the square.

Bastien memutar kelereng itu di jari-jarinya dan mengangkatnya ke sisa cahaya terakhir. Ia memikirkan bulan yang akan datang, tangga dan lampu dan jam-jam panjang yang sunyi. Lalu ia memikirkan enam petunjuk, dan sekerumunan anak yang berlarian melintasi alun-alun.

"Lorna," he said, "does the Saturday club need another helper?"

"Lorna," katanya, "apakah klub Sabtu butuh satu pembantu lagi?"