The Megaphone from the Council

The post box in Linden Hollow stood beside the village well. It had been painted green so many times that its corners had gone soft, like a bar of soap. Every afternoon at four o'clock, Eli unlocked it, shook the letters into his canvas bag and read the postmarks out of habit.

Kotak pos di Linden Hollow berdiri di samping sumur desa. Kotak itu sudah begitu sering dicat hijau sampai sudut-sudutnya membulat, seperti sabun batang. Setiap sore pukul empat, Eli membukanya, mengguncang surat-surat ke dalam tas kanvasnya, dan membaca cap posnya karena sudah kebiasaan.

He had done the job for twelve years. In that time he had learned that a village posts what it cannot say to a neighbour's face. There were complaints, apologies, recipes and, once, a very long poem about a goat.

Ia sudah menjalani pekerjaan itu selama dua belas tahun. Selama itu ia belajar bahwa sebuah desa mengirimkan lewat pos apa yang tidak sanggup diucapkan langsung kepada tetangga. Ada keluhan, permintaan maaf, resep, dan sekali, sebuah puisi yang sangat panjang tentang seekor kambing.

On a Thursday in March, he found an envelope addressed in careful capital letters to the Regional Council, Department of Public Notices. The sender was Abena Osei, who chaired the Village Meeting. She had not stuck the flap down properly, so Eli pressed it shut with his thumb and dropped the letter into the bag.

Pada suatu hari Kamis di bulan Maret, ia menemukan sebuah amplop yang ditujukan dengan huruf kapital yang rapi kepada Dewan Daerah, Departemen Pengumuman Publik. Pengirimnya Abena Osei, ketua Rapat Desa. Ia tidak merekatkan tutupnya dengan benar, jadi Eli menekannya sampai menutup dengan ibu jarinya, lalu memasukkan surat itu ke dalam tas.

He did not read other people's mail. He did not need to, because Abena was already crossing the square toward him, out of breath.

Ia tidak membaca surat orang lain. Lagi pula ia tidak perlu, karena Abena sudah menyeberangi alun-alun ke arahnya dengan napas terengah-engah.

"Did you take my letter?" she asked.

"Kamu mengambil suratku?" tanyanya.

"It's in the bag," said Eli. "It will be in the capital by Monday."

"Ada di dalam tas," kata Eli. "Hari Senin sudah sampai di ibu kota."

"Good." She leaned against the well. "I asked them for a loudspeaker. The old one on the hall roof has been dead since a crow built a nest inside it. Last month I stood on the church steps and called the meeting to order, and only the front row heard me."

"Bagus." Ia bersandar di sumur. "Aku minta pengeras suara pada mereka. Yang lama di atap balai sudah mati sejak seekor burung gagak bersarang di dalamnya. Bulan lalu aku berdiri di tangga gereja dan membuka rapat, dan hanya barisan depan yang mendengarku."

"I was in the front row," said Eli. "You were very convincing."

"Aku ada di barisan depan," kata Eli. "Kamu sangat meyakinkan."

"It was a waste of my voice." She straightened her coat. "I wrote that the village needs a way to make itself heard. Those were my exact words. I think they will understand."

"Itu sia-sia saja suaraku." Ia merapikan mantelnya. "Aku menulis bahwa desa ini butuh cara agar suaranya terdengar. Itu kata-kataku persis. Kurasa mereka akan mengerti."

Eli nodded. In his experience, a government office understood a request in whatever way cost the least, but he saw no reason to say so.

Eli mengangguk. Menurut pengalamannya, kantor pemerintah mengartikan sebuah permintaan dengan cara apa pun yang paling murah, tetapi ia tidak melihat alasan untuk mengatakannya.

For six weeks, nothing came back. Every afternoon Abena was waiting by the well, and every afternoon Eli shook his head. By the middle of April she had stopped asking and simply raised her eyebrows. He answered by lifting his shoulders, and that was the whole conversation.

Selama enam minggu, tidak ada balasan. Setiap sore Abena menunggu di dekat sumur, dan setiap sore Eli menggelengkan kepala. Pada pertengahan April, ia sudah berhenti bertanya dan hanya mengangkat alis. Eli menjawab dengan mengangkat bahu, dan itulah seluruh percakapan mereka.

Then, on the first Monday of May, a box arrived at the post office. It was heavy, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string that had been knotted by someone in a hurry. The label read Abena Osei, Linden Hollow. Beside it, a purple stamp said REQUEST APPROVED.

Kemudian, pada hari Senin pertama bulan Mei, sebuah kotak tiba di kantor pos. Kotak itu berat, dibungkus kertas cokelat dan diikat tali yang disimpul oleh orang yang sedang terburu-buru. Labelnya bertuliskan Abena Osei, Linden Hollow. Di sebelahnya, stempel ungu bertuliskan PERMINTAAN DISETUJUI.

Eli carried it to her house himself. Abena cut the string with kitchen scissors and lifted the lid. Inside, on a bed of crumpled newspaper, lay a plain white megaphone with a black handle. A single sheet of paper had been taped to the horn.

Eli membawanya sendiri ke rumah Abena. Abena memotong talinya dengan gunting dapur dan membuka tutupnya. Di dalamnya, di atas gulungan koran kusut, terbaring sebuah megafon putih polos bergagang hitam. Selembar kertas direkatkan dengan selotip pada corongnya.

"Read it to me," she said, because her hands were shaking.

"Bacakan untukku," katanya, karena tangannya gemetar.

Eli cleared his throat. "'Your request for a means of making the village heard has been granted in the most economical form available. Please sign for receipt. Return Form 12 to this Department within ten days. The Department regrets that batteries are not supplied.'"

Eli berdeham. "'Permintaan Anda akan sarana agar desa terdengar telah dikabulkan dalam bentuk paling hemat yang tersedia. Mohon tanda tangani tanda terima. Kembalikan Formulir 12 kepada Departemen ini dalam sepuluh hari. Departemen menyesal bahwa baterai tidak disediakan.'"

Abena sat down on the floor, in the middle of the newspaper. "A megaphone," she said. "I asked for a system. I imagined speakers on poles, a microphone, and a small cupboard to keep it all in."

Abena duduk di lantai, di tengah-tengah kertas koran. "Sebuah megafon," katanya. "Aku minta sebuah sistem. Aku membayangkan pengeras suara di tiang-tiang, sebuah mikrofon, dan lemari kecil untuk menyimpan semuanya."

"You asked for a way to be heard," said Eli. "Technically, they delivered."

"Kamu minta cara agar terdengar," kata Eli. "Secara teknis, mereka sudah mengirimkannya."

"Technically," she repeated. For a moment she looked ready to throw the thing out of the window. Then she began to laugh, and he laughed with her until the neighbour's cat left the garden wall.

"Secara teknis," ulangnya. Sesaat ia tampak siap melempar benda itu keluar jendela. Lalu ia mulai tertawa, dan Eli ikut tertawa bersamanya sampai kucing tetangga pergi dari pagar tembok kebun.

The shop on the square did not sell the right batteries. Eli took the two out of his bicycle lamp and promised to buy new ones later. That evening they carried the megaphone to the church steps. Abena lifted it, took a breath and said, in her ordinary meeting voice, "Good evening."

Toko di alun-alun tidak menjual baterai yang cocok. Eli mengambil dua baterai dari lampu sepedanya dan berjanji membeli yang baru nanti. Malam itu mereka membawa megafon ke tangga gereja. Abena mengangkatnya, menarik napas, dan berkata dengan suara rapat biasanya, "Selamat malam."

The sound hit the houses like a thrown plate. Pigeons burst off the school roof. A dog three streets away began to howl. The switch on the handle, it turned out, had no setting except the loudest one.

Suaranya menghantam rumah-rumah seperti piring yang dilempar. Merpati-merpati beterbangan dari atap sekolah. Seekor anjing tiga jalan jauhnya mulai melolong. Ternyata, saklar di gagangnya tidak punya pengaturan lain selain yang paling keras.

"Say something else," Eli shouted, with both hands over his ears. "I want to know whether that was real."

"Katakan sesuatu yang lain," teriak Eli, dengan kedua tangan menutupi telinga. "Aku ingin tahu apakah tadi itu nyata."

"Never mind that," said Abena, and pointed. "Look."

"Sudahlah," kata Abena, lalu menunjuk. "Lihat."

Doors were opening all around the square. People stood in them holding dish towels, hammers and sleepy children. They had run outside because they believed something had burst or burned. Within five minutes, almost everyone in Linden Hollow was standing in front of the church, asking each other what had happened.

Pintu-pintu terbuka di sekeliling alun-alun. Orang-orang berdiri di ambang pintu sambil memegang lap piring, palu, dan anak-anak yang mengantuk. Mereka berlari keluar karena mengira ada sesuatu yang meledak atau terbakar. Dalam lima menit, hampir semua orang di Linden Hollow sudah berdiri di depan gereja, saling bertanya apa yang terjadi.

Abena looked at the crowd, then at the megaphone. For the first time all spring, she smiled like someone with a plan.

Abena memandang kerumunan, lalu megafon itu. Untuk pertama kalinya sepanjang musim semi, ia tersenyum seperti orang yang punya rencana.

"Good evening, everyone," she said, and the whole square flinched. "I apologise. The first item tonight is the bridge fund. Please stay where you are."

"Selamat malam, semuanya," katanya, dan seluruh alun-alun tersentak. "Saya minta maaf. Acara pertama malam ini adalah dana jembatan. Mohon tetap di tempat."

Nobody left. Eli watched them settle on the steps and the low wall. He knew that this was the biggest turnout in the history of the Village Meeting. The trouble was that the megaphone could not whisper. Every polite sentence landed like an order, and a toddler near the front had already started to cry.

Tidak ada yang pergi. Eli melihat mereka duduk di tangga dan di tembok rendah. Ia tahu ini adalah kehadiran terbanyak dalam sejarah Rapat Desa. Masalahnya, megafon itu tidak bisa berbisik. Setiap kalimat sopan jatuh seperti perintah, dan seorang balita di dekat barisan depan sudah mulai menangis.

"Hold on," said Eli. He slipped away through the crowd and ran to his house. When he came back, panting, he was carrying a thick woollen sock. His sister had knitted it for him in a colour that did not exist in nature.

"Tunggu sebentar," kata Eli. Ia menyelinap lewat kerumunan dan berlari ke rumahnya. Ketika kembali sambil terengah-engah, ia membawa kaus kaki wol tebal. Kakaknya merajutnya untuknya dengan warna yang tidak ada di alam.

He pulled it over the horn. Abena tried again, and her voice came out round and warm, as if it were being spoken from the next room.

Ia menariknya menutupi corong. Abena mencoba lagi, dan suaranya keluar bulat dan hangat, seolah diucapkan dari ruangan sebelah.

"Perfect," she said. "Thank you, Eli. Now, the bridge fund."

"Sempurna," katanya. "Terima kasih, Eli. Nah, dana jembatan."

The meeting lasted two hours. For once, everybody could hear the figures, so nobody could pretend to misunderstand them. By nine o'clock the village had voted to repair the footbridge, and the miller had agreed to donate the timber. People said it was the fastest decision Linden Hollow had made since the war of the allotments.

Rapat itu berlangsung dua jam. Untuk sekali ini, semua orang bisa mendengar angka-angkanya, sehingga tidak ada yang bisa pura-pura salah paham. Pukul sembilan, desa sudah memutuskan untuk memperbaiki jembatan kecil itu, dan tukang giling gandum setuju menyumbangkan kayunya. Orang-orang bilang itu keputusan tercepat yang pernah diambil Linden Hollow sejak perang petak kebun.

The next afternoon, Eli arrived at the well at four o'clock sharp. Abena was already there, holding a pen and a sheet of pale green paper. The megaphone, wearing its sock, sat on the edge of the well like a very strange bird.

Keesokan sorenya, Eli tiba di sumur tepat pukul empat. Abena sudah ada di sana, memegang pulpen dan selembar kertas hijau pucat. Megafon itu, mengenakan kaus kakinya, duduk di tepi sumur seperti burung yang sangat aneh.

"Form 12," she said. "It asks for the condition of the item on arrival. I have been staring at that line for an hour."

"Formulir 12," katanya. "Isinya menanyakan kondisi barang saat tiba. Sudah sejam aku menatap baris itu."

Eli looked at the megaphone, then at the sock, then at the faces peeking out from the doorways of the square.

Eli memandang megafon, lalu kaus kaki, lalu wajah-wajah yang mengintip dari ambang pintu di alun-alun.

"Write 'loud'," he said.

"Tulis saja 'keras'," katanya.