The Train Stopped at the Border

The train had been creeping toward the border for most of the night when it stopped altogether, somewhere between two stations that Dalibor couldn't see. The lights flickered once and steadied. A tired voice on the speaker announced a technical fault and promised more news in twenty minutes.

Kereta itu sudah merayap menuju perbatasan hampir sepanjang malam ketika akhirnya berhenti total, di suatu tempat di antara dua stasiun yang tak bisa dilihat Dalibor. Lampu berkedip sekali lalu menyala stabil. Sebuah suara lelah dari pengeras suara mengumumkan adanya gangguan teknis dan menjanjikan kabar lagi dua puluh menit kemudian.

The news did not come in twenty minutes. It did not come in sixty. By then the corridor had filled with passengers leaning against the windows, and Dalibor had given up on his book. He was sharing a compartment with a single stranger, a woman in a green coat who had been asleep since he boarded.

Kabar itu tidak datang dalam dua puluh menit. Tidak juga dalam enam puluh. Saat itu lorong sudah penuh penumpang yang bersandar di jendela, dan Dalibor sudah menyerah pada bukunya. Ia berbagi kompartemen dengan seorang asing, seorang wanita bermantel hijau yang sudah tertidur sejak ia naik.

She woke around two, looked at the dark window and asked what had happened.

Wanita itu terbangun sekitar pukul dua, menatap jendela yang gelap, dan bertanya apa yang terjadi.

"A technical fault, they say."

"Gangguan teknis, katanya."

"They always say that," she replied. "It's their favorite fault."

"Mereka selalu bilang begitu," jawabnya. "Itu gangguan favorit mereka."

They sat in silence for a while. Then her stomach made a noise that both of them pretended not to hear. Dalibor, who had packed for a journey of six hours and not for a siege, opened his bag. He had a hunk of hard cheese, a packet of rye crackers and an apple that had been rolling around since morning.

Mereka duduk dalam diam beberapa lama. Lalu perut wanita itu berbunyi, dan keduanya pura-pura tak mendengarnya. Dalibor, yang berkemas untuk perjalanan enam jam dan bukan untuk bertahan dari pengepungan, membuka tasnya. Ia punya sepotong besar keju keras, sebungkus biskuit gandum hitam, dan sebutir apel yang menggelinding di dalam tas sejak pagi.

"I can offer you the cheese," he said. "The apple is a security risk."

"Saya bisa menawarkan kejunya," katanya. "Apelnya berbahaya bagi keamanan."

She laughed, and took a small tin of dried apricots from her pocket. "Fair exchange," she said.

Wanita itu tertawa, dan mengeluarkan kaleng kecil aprikot kering dari sakunya. "Pertukaran yang adil," katanya.

Over the next hour, they learned each other's reasons for traveling. He was on his way to meet his newborn nephew, whom the entire family had already described as "very serious." She repaired old clocks, and a small town was paying her to wake up the one in its station tower after thirty years of silence.

Selama satu jam berikutnya, mereka saling mengetahui alasan masing-masing bepergian. Ia sedang dalam perjalanan untuk menemui keponakannya yang baru lahir, yang oleh seluruh keluarganya sudah dilukiskan sebagai "sangat serius." Wanita itu memperbaiki jam-jam tua, dan sebuah kota kecil membayarnya untuk membangunkan jam di menara stasiunnya setelah tiga puluh tahun membisu.

"What if you can't fix it?" Dalibor asked.

"Bagaimana kalau Anda tidak bisa memperbaikinya?" tanya Dalibor.

"Then I will have been paid to be sad in a pleasant place," she said. "There are worse jobs."

"Maka saya dibayar untuk bersedih di tempat yang menyenangkan," katanya. "Ada pekerjaan yang lebih buruk."

Outside, a pale line appeared along the horizon. A guard walked past with a flashlight, and somewhere ahead a door slammed. Dalibor checked his watch. The woman checked hers. They were an hour apart.

Di luar, sebaris garis pucat muncul di cakrawala. Seorang petugas lewat membawa senter, dan di suatu tempat di depan sebuah pintu dibanting. Dalibor memeriksa arlojinya. Wanita itu memeriksa arlojinya. Selisih mereka satu jam.

"Border time," she said. "We have been sitting between two clocks all night, and neither of them wants us. If I were in charge of the border, I would put a clock in the middle, set to nobody's time."

"Waktu perbatasan," katanya. "Semalaman kita duduk di antara dua jam, dan tak satu pun menginginkan kita. Kalau saya yang mengurus perbatasan, saya akan menaruh sebuah jam di tengah, disetel pada waktu milik siapa pun."

They talked about that for a long while, starting with the clock in the middle. Did a person belong to the place they had left, or to the place they were heading for? She said she had been moving between towns for eleven years and had never stayed long enough to be asked a hard question. He admitted that he had spent the whole journey afraid of holding the baby wrongly.

Mereka membicarakan hal itu cukup lama, dimulai dari jam di tengah. Apakah seseorang milik tempat yang ditinggalkannya, atau milik tempat yang ditujunya? Wanita itu berkata bahwa ia sudah sebelas tahun berpindah dari kota ke kota dan tak pernah tinggal cukup lama untuk ditanyai pertanyaan yang sulit. Dalibor mengaku bahwa sepanjang perjalanan ia takut menggendong bayi dengan cara yang salah.

"You will hold him wrongly, and he will forgive you," she said. "Babies are surprisingly flexible about it."

"Anda akan menggendongnya dengan salah, dan dia akan memaafkan Anda," kata wanita itu. "Bayi ternyata sangat luwes soal itu."

By four, the sky had turned the color of weak tea. The apricot tin was empty, the crackers were gone. Dalibor had been laughing for ten minutes at something she had said about customs officers and their stamps.

Pukul empat, langit sudah berwarna seperti teh encer. Kaleng aprikot sudah kosong, biskuit sudah habis. Sudah sepuluh menit Dalibor tertawa karena sesuatu yang dikatakan wanita itu tentang petugas bea cukai dan stempel mereka.

Then the train gave a long groan, as if waking from the same sleep. Something clanked beneath the floor. Dalibor felt it first in his spine and then in his teeth, and the lights of the platform began to slide slowly past the window.

Lalu kereta mengerang panjang, seakan bangun dari tidur yang sama. Sesuatu berdentang di bawah lantai. Dalibor merasakannya pertama di tulang punggung, lalu di gigi, dan lampu-lampu peron mulai bergeser pelan melewati jendela.

"We're moving," the woman said. Neither of them reached for a book. She was still halfway through her sentence when the train gathered speed, and Dalibor leaned forward to hear the rest of it.

"Kita bergerak," kata wanita itu. Tak satu pun dari mereka meraih buku. Ia masih di tengah kalimatnya ketika kereta menambah kecepatan, dan Dalibor mencondongkan badan ke depan untuk mendengar sisanya.