The Slowest Chairlift in the Valley

In winter, the chairlift at Kessel Mountain carried skiers to the top in six minutes. In summer, it carried hikers in forty.

Di musim dingin, kereta gantung kursi di Gunung Kessel membawa para pemain ski ke puncak dalam enam menit. Di musim panas, kereta itu membawa para pendaki dalam empat puluh menit.

Takeshi had run the lift station for seven summers. The snow melted every May, and the green grass came back to the slopes. The big machines that made snow stood silent in the fields like sleeping animals. Only one old chairlift kept moving, and it moved at the speed of a walking cow.

Takeshi sudah mengelola stasiun kereta gantung itu selama tujuh musim panas. Salju mencair setiap bulan Mei, dan rumput hijau kembali ke lereng-lereng. Mesin-mesin besar pembuat salju berdiri diam di ladang seperti hewan-hewan yang sedang tidur. Hanya satu kereta gantung kursi tua yang terus bergerak, dan geraknya secepat sapi yang berjalan.

On a bright Tuesday in July, a visitor arrived at the bottom station. He carried a heavy bag of tools. He was a tall man with a clipboard and a company badge. His name was Raj.

Pada suatu hari Selasa yang cerah di bulan Juli, seorang tamu tiba di stasiun bawah. Ia membawa tas berat berisi perkakas. Ia pria jangkung dengan papan jepit dan lencana perusahaan. Namanya Raj.

"I am here for the yearly check," he said. "The owners want a report on the motor. They are thinking about an upgrade."

"Saya datang untuk pemeriksaan tahunan," katanya. "Para pemilik ingin laporan tentang motornya. Mereka sedang memikirkan peningkatan."

"An upgrade?" said Takeshi.

"Peningkatan?" kata Takeshi.

"A faster lift for summer. Ten minutes instead of forty. More riders, more money." Raj shrugged, as if he did not care much either way. "That is what they told me."

"Kereta yang lebih cepat untuk musim panas. Sepuluh menit, bukan empat puluh. Lebih banyak penumpang, lebih banyak uang." Raj mengangkat bahu, seolah ia tidak terlalu peduli ke arah mana pun. "Begitu kata mereka."

Takeshi said nothing. He poured water into a plastic cup and handed it over. Then he went back to his stool. The first chair of the day swung out of the station.

Takeshi tidak berkata apa-apa. Ia menuang air ke dalam gelas plastik dan menyerahkannya. Lalu ia kembali ke bangkunya. Kursi pertama hari itu berayun keluar dari stasiun.

Raj spent the morning inside the motor room. Takeshi could hear him working through the thin wall. There was the sound of a spanner, a long silence, and then a low whistle. At noon, Raj came out with oil on his hands.

Raj menghabiskan pagi itu di dalam ruang motor. Takeshi bisa mendengarnya bekerja lewat dinding yang tipis. Terdengar bunyi kunci pas, keheningan panjang, lalu siulan pelan. Pada siang hari, Raj keluar dengan tangan berlumur oli.

"The motor is strong," he said. "It can run three times faster than this. Why does it crawl?"

"Motornya kuat," katanya. "Ia bisa berjalan tiga kali lebih cepat daripada ini. Kenapa ia merayap?"

"The owner set it that way many years ago," said Takeshi. "Safer for old knees."

"Pemiliknya mengaturnya begitu bertahun-tahun lalu," kata Takeshi. "Lebih aman untuk lutut yang sudah tua."

"Safer," Raj repeated. He did not sound convinced.

"Lebih aman," Raj mengulangi. Ia terdengar tidak yakin.

In the afternoon, Raj decided to watch the passengers. He sat on a bench near the entrance with his clipboard on his lap. Takeshi did his usual work. He helped a mother lift a pushchair onto a chair, and he gave a young man a map. He stopped the lift for a moment so an older hiker could sit down safely.

Pada sore hari, Raj memutuskan untuk mengamati para penumpang. Ia duduk di bangku dekat pintu masuk dengan papan jepit di pangkuannya. Takeshi melakukan pekerjaan seperti biasa. Ia membantu seorang ibu mengangkat kereta dorong ke atas kursi, dan memberi seorang pemuda peta. Ia menghentikan kereta sejenak agar seorang pendaki lanjut usia bisa duduk dengan aman.

People came in different moods. Some were cheerful, and some looked impatient already. A teenage boy checked his phone twice before he even sat down.

Orang-orang datang dengan suasana hati yang berbeda-beda. Ada yang ceria, dan ada yang sudah tampak tidak sabar. Seorang remaja laki-laki memeriksa ponselnya dua kali bahkan sebelum duduk.

"Forty minutes!" one man said, with a laugh that was not friendly. "My legs are faster than this."

"Empat puluh menit!" kata seorang pria, dengan tawa yang tidak ramah. "Kaki saya lebih cepat daripada ini."

"Then walk," said Takeshi, and he smiled. The man did not walk. He climbed onto the chair and grumbled until it disappeared into the trees.

"Kalau begitu berjalanlah," kata Takeshi, dan ia tersenyum. Pria itu tidak berjalan. Ia naik ke kursi dan menggerutu sampai kursi itu menghilang di balik pepohonan.

Raj wrote something on his clipboard. "You hear this complaint all day?"

Raj menulis sesuatu di papan jepitnya. "Anda mendengar keluhan seperti ini sepanjang hari?"

"Every day," said Takeshi. "It is part of the job."

"Setiap hari," kata Takeshi. "Itu bagian dari pekerjaan."

"And it does not bother you?"

"Dan itu tidak mengganggu Anda?"

"No." Takeshi looked up the hill, where the cables shone in the sun. "Wait until they come down."

"Tidak." Takeshi menengadah ke arah bukit, tempat kabel-kabel berkilau di bawah matahari. "Tunggu sampai mereka turun."

Raj frowned, but he stayed. At five o'clock, the first riders returned from the top. A couple stepped off the chair, and they were holding hands. A man in a blue shirt was smiling at nobody in particular. Two sisters were laughing so hard that one of them had to sit down on the grass.

Raj mengernyit, tetapi ia tetap tinggal. Pukul lima, para penumpang pertama kembali dari puncak. Sepasang suami istri turun dari kursi sambil bergandengan tangan. Seorang pria berkemeja biru tersenyum kepada siapa pun dan tak seorang pun. Dua saudari tertawa begitu keras sampai salah satunya harus duduk di rumput.

"They look happy," Raj said slowly.

"Mereka tampak bahagia," kata Raj pelan.

"Mostly," said Takeshi. "Not always at the start. But when they come back, yes."

"Kebanyakan," kata Takeshi. "Tidak selalu di awal. Tapi ketika mereka kembali, ya."

That evening, they ate dinner together in the small kitchen behind the station. Takeshi cooked rice and vegetables on a camping burner. They talked about the mountain, and about the old machines Raj had repaired in other valleys. The conversation was easy.

Malam itu, mereka makan malam bersama di dapur kecil di belakang stasiun. Takeshi memasak nasi dan sayuran di atas kompor kemah. Mereka berbincang tentang gunung itu, dan tentang mesin-mesin tua yang pernah Raj perbaiki di lembah-lembah lain. Percakapan itu mengalir mudah.

Raj put his fork down.

Raj meletakkan garpunya.

"May I ask you something? It has been in my head all day."

"Boleh saya bertanya sesuatu? Pertanyaan ini mengganjal di kepala saya sepanjang hari."

"Please," said Takeshi.

"Silakan," kata Takeshi.

"Why did you never ask the owners to make the lift faster? Seven summers. You hear the complaints. You could have a busier station, a better salary. Yet you keep it slow."

"Kenapa Anda tidak pernah meminta para pemilik membuat kereta ini lebih cepat? Tujuh musim panas. Anda mendengar keluhan-keluhan itu. Anda bisa punya stasiun yang lebih ramai, gaji yang lebih baik. Namun Anda membiarkannya tetap lambat."

For a long time, Takeshi did not answer. Outside, a bird sang a short, simple song.

Lama sekali Takeshi tidak menjawab. Di luar, seekor burung menyanyikan lagu pendek yang sederhana.

"Nobody has asked me that before," he said at last. "In seven years, they only asked how many riders we had."

"Belum ada yang pernah menanyakan itu kepada saya," katanya akhirnya. "Selama tujuh tahun, mereka hanya bertanya berapa banyak penumpang kami."

"I am asking now."

"Saya menanyakannya sekarang."

Takeshi turned his cup in his hands. "The first summer, I thought the same as you. I thought the lift was a problem. Then one afternoon, I rode up to fix a broken light. It took forty minutes, and I had nothing to do. No phone signal. No one to talk to except a silent hill."

Takeshi memutar gelasnya di tangannya. "Pada musim panas pertama, saya berpikir sama seperti Anda. Saya pikir kereta ini adalah masalah. Lalu suatu sore, saya naik untuk memperbaiki lampu yang rusak. Perjalanannya empat puluh menit, dan saya tidak punya pekerjaan apa pun. Tidak ada sinyal ponsel. Tidak ada siapa pun untuk diajak bicara selain bukit yang bisu."

"And?"

"Lalu?"

"I thought about my brother. We had not spoken for three years, since an argument about our parents' house. I had not planned to think about him. It simply happened somewhere around the twentieth minute." He smiled a little. "At the top, I sent him a message. It was only two words."

"Saya memikirkan kakak saya. Kami sudah tiga tahun tidak berbicara, sejak pertengkaran soal rumah orang tua kami. Saya tidak berencana memikirkannya. Hal itu terjadi begitu saja sekitar menit kedua puluh." Ia tersenyum sedikit. "Di puncak, saya mengirimkan pesan kepadanya. Hanya dua kata."

"What did he answer?"

"Apa jawabannya?"

"He answered in ten seconds." Takeshi laughed quietly. "He had been waiting longer than I realised."

"Ia menjawab dalam sepuluh detik." Takeshi tertawa pelan. "Ia sudah menunggu lebih lama daripada yang saya sadari."

Raj looked at the floor.

Raj menatap lantai.

"After that, I started to listen to the riders," Takeshi continued. "On the way down, people tell me things. A woman once told me she had finally decided to leave her job. A father said he had never spent a whole hour with his daughter without screens. A young man had a question to ask. He found the courage only when the chair reached the high pines."

"Setelah itu, saya mulai mendengarkan para penumpang," Takeshi melanjutkan. "Dalam perjalanan turun, orang-orang menceritakan banyak hal kepada saya. Seorang perempuan pernah bercerita bahwa ia akhirnya memutuskan berhenti dari pekerjaannya. Seorang ayah berkata ia belum pernah menghabiskan satu jam penuh bersama putrinya tanpa layar. Seorang pemuda punya pertanyaan untuk diajukan. Ia baru menemukan keberanian ketika kursi sampai di pinus-pinus yang tinggi."

"And a fast lift?"

"Dan kereta yang cepat?"

"In ten minutes, nobody gets lonely enough to think. They look at the view, and they take a photograph." Takeshi opened his hands. "I am not saying slowness is always good. I only say it gives people something. Nobody ever asks what."

"Dalam sepuluh menit, tidak ada orang yang cukup kesepian untuk berpikir. Mereka melihat pemandangan, lalu mengambil foto." Takeshi membuka kedua tangannya. "Saya tidak mengatakan bahwa kelambanan selalu baik. Saya hanya mengatakan bahwa ia memberi sesuatu kepada orang-orang. Tidak ada yang pernah bertanya apa itu."

The kitchen was quiet. The only sound was the old clock above the sink.

Dapur itu sunyi. Satu-satunya bunyi adalah jam tua di atas bak cuci.

"I came here to measure a motor," Raj said finally.

"Saya datang ke sini untuk mengukur sebuah motor," kata Raj akhirnya.

"And now?"

"Dan sekarang?"

"Now I think I should measure something else."

"Sekarang saya rasa saya harus mengukur hal lain."

The next morning, Raj rode the lift to the top by himself. His tool bag sat on his knees. He did not hurry. He watched the grass pass under his feet, and then the trees. The long grey cable ran ahead of him. Somewhere above the halfway point, he put his clipboard away.

Keesokan paginya, Raj naik ke puncak seorang diri. Tas perkakasnya bertengger di lututnya. Ia tidak terburu-buru. Ia memandang rumput lewat di bawah kakinya, lalu pepohonan. Kabel abu-abu panjang membentang di depannya. Di suatu tempat di atas titik tengah, ia menyimpan papan jepitnya.

At the summit station, he stayed for an hour. He sat on a rock and looked at the valley. A little before noon, he took out his phone and wrote a message to someone. He did not tell Takeshi who.

Di stasiun puncak, ia tinggal selama satu jam. Ia duduk di atas batu dan memandang lembah. Sedikit sebelum siang, ia mengeluarkan ponselnya dan menulis pesan untuk seseorang. Ia tidak memberi tahu Takeshi siapa orangnya.

When he returned to the bottom, Takeshi was waiting with a cup of water.

Ketika ia kembali ke bawah, Takeshi sudah menunggu dengan segelas air.

"Did you finish your report?"

"Sudah selesai laporan Anda?"

"Not yet." Raj took out his pen and sat down at the small desk in the office. The form was waiting for him with its empty boxes. He read the line that asked about recommended changes.

"Belum." Raj mengeluarkan pulpennya dan duduk di meja kecil di kantor. Formulir itu menunggunya dengan kotak-kotaknya yang kosong. Ia membaca baris yang menanyakan perubahan yang disarankan.

Then he wrote, in clear capital letters, "Speed correct. Do not change," and signed his name at the bottom.

Lalu ia menulis, dengan huruf kapital yang jelas, "Kecepatan sudah tepat. Jangan diubah," dan menandatangani namanya di bagian bawah.