The Last Star in the Reading Room

The painted stars on the ceiling of the town hall reading room had always glowed at nine o'clock. Nobody in town talked about it. People just lowered their voices. The old books on the shelves rustled their pages like sleepers turning over.

Bintang-bintang yang dilukis di langit-langit ruang baca balai kota itu selalu bersinar pukul sembilan. Tak seorang pun di kota membicarakannya. Orang-orang hanya merendahkan suara. Buku-buku tua di rak mendesirkan halamannya seperti orang tidur yang berbalik badan.

Then, one evening, the stars stayed dark.

Lalu, suatu malam, bintang-bintang itu tetap gelap.

Bo, the night caretaker, stood in the middle of the room with his keys in his hand. He looked up. The ceiling was only plaster and paint. Nothing moved on the shelves. The silence felt wrong, like a clock that had stopped ticking.

Bo, penjaga malam, berdiri di tengah ruangan dengan kunci di tangannya. Ia menengadah. Langit-langit itu hanya plester dan cat. Tak ada yang bergerak di rak-rak. Kesunyian itu terasa janggal, seperti jam yang berhenti berdetak.

"It has never done this before," he said to himself.

"Belum pernah begini sebelumnya," katanya pada dirinya sendiri.

"It has done it once," said a voice from the doorway.

"Pernah sekali," kata sebuah suara dari ambang pintu.

Jasmin, the town librarian, came in with a stack of forms under her arm. She was the only person Bo knew who carried paperwork at nine at night. She stared at the ceiling and counted with one finger.

Jasmin, pustakawan kota, masuk dengan setumpuk formulir di bawah lengannya. Ia satu-satunya orang yang Bo kenal yang membawa berkas pada pukul sembilan malam. Ia menatap langit-langit dan menghitung dengan satu jari.

"Forty-one," she said. "There should be forty-two. Look at the corner above the window."

"Empat puluh satu," katanya. "Seharusnya empat puluh dua. Lihat sudut di atas jendela."

Bo looked. A pale round patch showed where a star used to be. The paint had flaked away, and the plaster underneath was bare and grey.

Bo melihat. Sebuah bercak bundar pucat tampak di tempat bintang dulu berada. Catnya sudah mengelupas, dan plester di bawahnya telanjang dan abu-abu.

"The last star holds the others together," Jasmin said. "The old librarian told me that on my first day. I thought she was joking."

"Bintang terakhir menyatukan yang lain," kata Jasmin. "Pustakawan lama memberi tahu aku itu di hari pertamaku. Kukira dia bercanda."

"Was she?"

"Memang bercanda?"

"She was a very serious woman. I never heard her tell a joke."

"Dia perempuan yang sangat serius. Aku tak pernah mendengarnya melucu."

Bo felt something small under his shoe. He bent down and picked up a yellow plastic star, the kind children stick on their bedroom ceilings. A curl of tape still hung from the back.

Bo merasakan sesuatu yang kecil di bawah sepatunya. Ia membungkuk dan memungut sebuah bintang plastik kuning, jenis yang ditempel anak-anak di langit-langit kamar tidur mereka. Segulung selotip masih menggantung di belakangnya.

"Somebody's child dropped it," he said. "Maybe it will do."

"Anak seseorang menjatuhkannya," katanya. "Mungkin ini bisa dipakai."

"A sticker," Jasmin said. "For a ceiling that is two hundred years old."

"Stiker," kata Jasmin. "Untuk langit-langit yang berumur dua ratus tahun."

"It's a star, isn't it? A star is a star."

"Ini bintang, kan? Bintang tetap bintang."

Jasmin sighed, but she went to fetch the tall ladder from the cupboard.

Jasmin menghela napas, tetapi ia pergi mengambil tangga tinggi dari lemari.

"First we have to charge it," Bo said. "These stickers drink light. My nephew has about thirty of them."

"Pertama kita harus mengisi dayanya," kata Bo. "Stiker-stiker ini meminum cahaya. Keponakanku punya sekitar tiga puluh."

They carried the sticker to the biggest reading lamp. They held it under the bulb for ten whole minutes. Jasmin timed it on her watch. She did not look hopeful. Bo kept turning the star over, as if it were a coin he wanted to polish.

Mereka membawa stiker itu ke lampu baca yang paling besar. Mereka menahannya di bawah bohlam selama sepuluh menit penuh. Jasmin mencatat waktunya di jam tangan. Ia tidak tampak berharap. Bo terus membolak-balik bintang itu, seakan itu koin yang ingin ia gosok.

When the ten minutes ended, they switched off the lamp. The sticker glowed a soft green in the dark. Bo grinned.

Ketika sepuluh menit berakhir, mereka mematikan lampu. Stiker itu bersinar hijau lembut dalam gelap. Bo nyengir.

"There," he said. "I told you."

"Nah," katanya. "Sudah kubilang."

He climbed the ladder, pressed the sticker onto the bare patch and held it there with his thumb. For a moment the whole corner of the ceiling shone green. Then the light faded, quickly, like a breath on a window. After half a minute the sticker was only a pale yellow shape again. The other forty-one stars stayed dark.

Ia memanjat tangga, menempelkan stiker itu pada bercak telanjang tersebut dan menahannya dengan ibu jarinya. Sesaat seluruh sudut langit-langit bersinar hijau. Lalu cahayanya memudar, cepat, seperti embusan napas di jendela. Setelah setengah menit stiker itu hanya bentuk kuning pucat lagi. Keempat puluh satu bintang lainnya tetap gelap.

"Well," Jasmin said. "That went exactly as I expected."

"Nah," kata Jasmin. "Itu berjalan persis seperti yang kuduga."

"You expected it to fail?"

"Kamu menduga akan gagal?"

"I expected it to be a sticker."

"Aku menduga itu akan jadi stiker."

Bo came down the ladder slowly. He felt a little foolish, but he did not want to give up.

Bo turun dari tangga dengan lambat. Ia merasa sedikit konyol, tetapi tidak mau menyerah.

"Maybe it needs more light," he said. "Maybe ten minutes was too short."

"Mungkin dia butuh lebih banyak cahaya," katanya. "Mungkin sepuluh menit terlalu singkat."

"If we give it an hour, it will glow for an hour. That will not fix the ceiling." Jasmin put her forms on a table and sat down. "Think, Bo. In two hundred years, nobody has charged these stars with a lamp. So what does this room want?"

"Kalau kita beri satu jam, dia akan bersinar satu jam. Itu tidak akan memperbaiki langit-langit." Jasmin meletakkan formulirnya di atas meja dan duduk. "Berpikirlah, Bo. Selama dua ratus tahun, tak seorang pun pernah mengisi daya bintang-bintang ini dengan lampu. Jadi apa yang diinginkan ruangan ini?"

Bo thought about all the evenings he had spent here. He remembered the regular readers in the corners and the schoolchildren with their homework. He remembered the man who read the newspaper out loud to nobody.

Bo memikirkan semua malam yang ia habiskan di sini. Ia teringat para pembaca tetap di sudut-sudut dan anak-anak sekolah dengan pekerjaan rumah mereka. Ia teringat pria yang membaca koran keras-keras kepada tak seorang pun.

"People used to come here at night," he said slowly. "Not only to borrow books. They read here. Out loud, sometimes, just a page or two."

"Dulu orang datang ke sini malam-malam," katanya perlahan. "Bukan hanya untuk meminjam buku. Mereka membaca di sini. Dengan suara keras, kadang-kadang, hanya satu atau dua halaman."

"The reading evenings," Jasmin said, and she sat up straight. "We stopped them last spring, because the council needed the hall for storage."

"Malam-malam membaca," kata Jasmin, dan ia menegakkan duduknya. "Kita menghentikannya musim semi lalu, karena dewan membutuhkan aula untuk gudang."

"And the stars have been getting weaker ever since."

"Dan bintang-bintang makin lemah sejak itu."

"I told myself it was the old paint." Jasmin looked at the dark ceiling for a long moment. "What if the stars do not need light at all? What if they need someone to read to them?"

"Aku meyakinkan diri itu karena cat yang tua." Jasmin menatap langit-langit yang gelap untuk waktu yang lama. "Bagaimana kalau bintang-bintang itu sama sekali tidak butuh cahaya? Bagaimana kalau mereka butuh seseorang untuk membacakan sesuatu?"

"It sounds silly."

"Kedengarannya konyol."

"We just tried to charge a plastic star under a lamp. I think we are past silly."

"Kita baru saja mencoba mengisi daya bintang plastik di bawah lampu. Kurasa kita sudah lewat dari konyol."

She went to the nearest shelf and pulled out a thick book of travel stories. She found a chair for Bo and put a second chair beside it. Then she turned off every lamp in the room, except the small one on her table.

Ia pergi ke rak terdekat dan menarik sebuah buku tebal kisah perjalanan. Ia mencarikan kursi untuk Bo dan meletakkan kursi kedua di sampingnya. Lalu ia mematikan setiap lampu di ruangan itu, kecuali lampu kecil di mejanya.

"You go first," she said.

"Kamu duluan," katanya.

"I am a terrible reader."

"Aku pembaca yang buruk."

"Then the stars will be easy to impress."

"Kalau begitu bintang-bintang itu mudah terkesan."

Bo opened the book. His voice sounded strange in the empty room, thin and a little too loud. He read about a ship that crossed a wide sea. The cook counted the sailors every morning, because one of them kept disappearing. Halfway down the page he reached the word Mediterranean. He stopped, tried it twice and said it wrong both times.

Bo membuka buku itu. Suaranya terdengar aneh di ruangan kosong, tipis dan sedikit terlalu keras. Ia membaca tentang sebuah kapal yang menyeberangi laut luas. Sang juru masak menghitung para pelaut setiap pagi, karena salah satunya terus menghilang. Di tengah halaman ia sampai pada kata Mediterania. Ia berhenti, mencobanya dua kali dan salah mengucapkannya kedua kali.

Above him, something flickered.

Di atasnya, sesuatu berkedip.

Bo stopped reading. Jasmin pointed, without a word. High in the corner by the door, one painted star had started to glow. It was faint and silver, like a window far away.

Bo berhenti membaca. Jasmin menunjuk tanpa sepatah kata. Tinggi di sudut dekat pintu, satu bintang lukis mulai bersinar. Cahayanya samar dan keperakan, seperti jendela di kejauhan.

"Keep going," she whispered.

"Teruskan," bisiknya.

He kept going. When the page ended, Jasmin took the book and read the next one in her clear, careful voice. A second star lit up, and then a third. They did not come all at once. They woke the way people wake in a house, one after another, with long pauses between.

Ia meneruskan. Ketika halaman itu habis, Jasmin mengambil buku itu dan membaca halaman berikutnya dengan suaranya yang jernih dan teliti. Bintang kedua menyala, lalu ketiga. Mereka tidak datang sekaligus. Mereka bangun seperti orang-orang bangun di sebuah rumah, satu demi satu, dengan jeda panjang di antaranya.

By the fifth page, Bo had stopped worrying about his voice. By the tenth, he had stopped watching the ceiling and was simply enjoying the story. The cook was hiding the missing sailor in the kitchen. The man was too frightened to go on deck. Bo laughed out loud at that. The whole ceiling brightened, as if the room had laughed with him.

Pada halaman kelima, Bo sudah berhenti mengkhawatirkan suaranya. Pada halaman kesepuluh, ia sudah berhenti memperhatikan langit-langit dan hanya menikmati ceritanya. Sang juru masak menyembunyikan pelaut yang hilang itu di dapur. Orang itu terlalu ketakutan untuk naik ke dek. Bo tertawa keras mendengarnya. Seluruh langit-langit menjadi lebih terang, seolah ruangan itu ikut tertawa bersamanya.

Around them the books began to rustle. A page turned on the top shelf. Another one answered it from the far wall. The sound was soft and busy, like a crowd settling into seats before a show.

Di sekitar mereka buku-buku mulai mendesir. Sebuah halaman berbalik di rak teratas. Yang lain menjawabnya dari dinding seberang. Suaranya lembut dan sibuk, seperti keramaian yang mengambil tempat duduk sebelum pertunjukan.

"Look," Jasmin said, and her voice shook a little. "Look at the window."

"Lihat," kata Jasmin, dan suaranya sedikit bergetar. "Lihat jendela itu."

The yellow sticker was glowing again. It was not the thin green light from the lamp. It was a warm, steady silver, exactly the same as the painted stars around it. It seemed to belong there. Forty-one stars and one plastic one hung together in the dark. No one could have told which was which.

Stiker kuning itu bersinar lagi. Itu bukan cahaya hijau tipis dari lampu. Itu perak yang hangat dan mantap, persis sama dengan bintang-bintang lukis di sekitarnya. Ia tampak pantas berada di sana. Empat puluh satu bintang dan satu bintang plastik menggantung bersama dalam gelap. Tak seorang pun bisa mengatakan mana yang mana.

"The forty-second," Bo said.

"Yang keempat puluh dua," kata Bo.

"The room accepted it." Jasmin shook her head slowly. "Two hundred years of careful painting, and the missing piece was something from a toy shop."

"Ruangan ini menerimanya." Jasmin menggeleng pelan. "Dua ratus tahun pengecatan yang cermat, dan bagian yang hilang ternyata berasal dari toko mainan."

"We should read here every evening."

"Kita harus membaca di sini setiap malam."

"We will. I will tell the council the reading evenings are back. If they want the hall for storage, they can store their boxes somewhere that does not have stars."

"Kita akan melakukannya. Aku akan memberi tahu dewan bahwa malam-malam membaca kembali. Kalau mereka butuh aula untuk gudang, mereka bisa menyimpan kardus mereka di tempat yang tidak ada bintangnya."

She picked up her forms and found a pen. She wrote a line at the bottom of the top page. Bo leaned over her shoulder to read it.

Ia mengambil formulirnya dan mencari pulpen. Ia menulis satu baris di bagian bawah halaman paling atas. Bo mencondongkan badan di atas bahunya untuk membacanya.

Missing star replaced. Cost: fifty pence. Salary: none.

Bintang hilang diganti. Biaya: lima puluh pence. Gaji: tidak ada.

"Salary?" he asked.

"Gaji?" tanyanya.

"If a new employee works nights, the council will want to know what we pay him." Jasmin smiled. "I think they will be very happy with the answer."

"Kalau ada pegawai baru yang bekerja malam, dewan akan ingin tahu berapa kita membayarnya." Jasmin tersenyum. "Kurasa mereka akan sangat senang dengan jawabannya."

Bo looked up at the small yellow star, shining quietly among the old ones.

Bo menengadah menatap bintang kuning kecil itu, bersinar tenang di antara bintang-bintang tua.

"It is the only worker in town who never asks for a day off," he said.

"Dia satu-satunya pekerja di kota yang tidak pernah minta libur sehari pun," katanya.