The Tropical Sun - Belief, Love and Hate
Page 12
~~~~~
Ayu, Melati and Sukma were weaving fabric on the porch. Being busy seemed the best way to cope as they waited for Bandri and Agung’s return.
They heard the commotion, and then Harta ran towards them shouting:
“Agung’s back! Agung’s back!”
The sisters looked at each other nervously.
“Di mana Dri?!” - “Where’s Dri?!” Sukma asked.
Ayu was feeling the same question.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled.
They ran towards the edge of the village, as people reached the oncoming figure of Agung, carrying his backpack. Her brother had a serious expression on his face. People looked at her as she ran with her heart hurting. Ayu could only hear the question on everyone’s lips:
“Di mana Bandri?!” - “Where’s Bandri?!”
“Di mana Bandy?!” - “Where’s Bandy?!”
Agung was looking for her - ignoring the others and holding his great arms out for her. She reached him and he said:
“He’s alright – Bandy is fine – he’s staying with friends.. He’s alright.”
In tears of relief she hugged her dear great brother.
Everyone wanted to know what had happened.
“Bandy is fine,” said Agung. “He hurt his leg – he’s staying with friends.”
“Which friends?!”
“First I will tell Ayu all this.”
“What’s wrong with his leg!?”.. “When is he coming back?”
“He’s alright.”
“Which friends?”.. “What’s wrong with his leg?”
“I will tell all this to Ayu first.”
After the questioning had calmed down, Agung was finally allowed to speak to her alone. Meanwhile, the rest of Bandri’s family would have to wait their turn for the all important details of where Bandri was, and what had happened to him.
Ayu looked at her brother who had plonked himself down on their couch. She sensed that he wanted to tell her many things, but just needed somewhere to start.
“Agu – tell me about Dri’s leg?”
“We were coming back from Bitung – carrying the ore, when it happened – but he’s going to be alright.”
“What happened Agu?”
“He got a snake bite.”
Ayu felt her heart stop.
“Where?!”
“On the ankle – but it’s alright – we bathed it in a river – the swelling is going down now. It was difficult for him to walk all the way back – he’s staying with friends at Pantai.”
She breathed again.
“Pantai? – is that a fishing village?”
Agung nodded.
“Do you know them – at Pantai?”
Ayu detected from her brother’s demeanour that there was much more to find out. She had recovered her composure and now her eyes were glinting.
“Dri told me about the bronze bird..?”
She sat close to him, and then leant in to tweak his midriff.
“Aah Tuhan!.. Ayu..” – “Aah God!.. Ayu..”
Only she knew how to do that him – the light touch of her fingers instantly moved the large muscled torso.
“Tell me then?” she said, threatening him with her fingers.
“Sehat, sehat.. terdapat dua – dua wanita..”- “Alright, alright.. there are two – two women..” he confessed.
“Duaaa..!?” and she tweaked him a second time.
“Tell me – tell me everything Agu!”
Everyone else waited in the shade of their porches. In Ayu’s porch sat Endah, while Praba paced up and down the length of the porch, muttering in bad humour about having to wait so long to find out what was going on.
Eventually, Ayu opened the door and invited them in.
“Dri is quite alright – there is no need to worry,” she said in good humour.
Endah slowly got up off her seat and moved through the door, followed by Praba who was trying to suppress his anger.
“Why did we have to wait to find out?!” he retorted. “You have shunned our mother!”
“We’re very sorry you were waiting – it was a long time – but there is some good news.”
Ayu showed Endah to a seat on the couch next to her brother. Since her husband’s death Endah had become a pale shadow of her former self. Her children had all been trying to coax her out of a deep depression.
“Endah, are you alright?” asked Ayu gently, kneeling down and placing her hand gently on Endah’s.
Endah nodded and then she gazed up at Agung, and smiled.
Ayu glanced up at Praba.
He was soothed a little, but still annoyed. Praba found it difficult to remain annoyed in Ayu’s presence. Indeed, he found her sheer fragrant feminity disarming to the extent that he envied his younger brother the good fortune to have Ayu as a wife. However, in their small tribe he knew it was necessary to disguise the attraction he felt towards her.
“There is a good family who would like to join us,” Ayu explained.
Endah turned her head and they could see that she wanted to say something.
“Do we know the family?” she said quietly.
“Perhaps you know them Endah,” Ayu replied softly. “They are from Pantai?”
Endah raised her hand slowly to point in the general direction of the beach.
“Is the family by the sea?”
“Yes – a family of five – a fishing family.”
“Are they from Java?”
“Agu tells me they are a good family.”
Praba interrupted the conversation, since this was a keen point and he detected Ayu’s hesitation.
“Are they from Java?”
“Agu tells me they were from Bitung – there is the mother and father, two daughters and a son.”
“Are they Java?” he asked firmly.
“They are taking good care of Bandri,” Ayu said, smiling at Endah as if she hadn’t heard Praba’s question.
“Where did Bandri go?” said Endah, evidently confused.
Praba winced at the frailty of his mother.
“He went with Agung on a walk,” Ayu told Endah while gently holding her hand. “He’s coming back soon.”
Praba remained quiet, trying to come to terms with the way Ayu and Mel now responded to his mother. He himself refused to talk like that to her.
“That’s good – are you going on a walk?” asked Endah.
“I don’t think so – but Bandri will be here with you soon.”
Endah seemed happy with this explanation, and then she put her trembling hand into Agung’s large hand and resumed smiling at him. Agung accepted Endah’s attention and sat placidly with her. Ayu stood up and spoke quietly with Praba, away from Endah’s hearing.
“Dri is recovering from a snake bite at Pantai. Agu couldn’t explain it to everyone straight away – he wanted to ask if you would like to visit the family because they have asked to join Likupang?”
Praba looked at her, stunned for a moment or two by the conciseness of the explanation, before nodding in understanding.
“Maybe you can call a meeting,” she suggested. “So we can see who else would like to visit?”
When Melati heard that Agung had come back on his own she felt her heart almost leap out of her breast with anxiety about Bandri. But then thankfully she learned that her brother was just injured and he was recovering. And then she learned about a family of five at Pantai that might join the village.
During the afternoon, Melati studied Agung from a discrete distance. She watched and listened as he talked to the others. Sometimes he looked at her, and she quickly averted her eyes, and then she watched him again. Now she was looking at him in a new light and seeing a different man.
With increasing confidence, she sat closer to him in the beach shelter as everyone gathered for the village meeting. He turned towards her and smiled.
“Suk tells me you have been weaving,” he said quietly.
At first she couldn’t reply,
such was the surprise. Overcome with nervous anxiety, she avoided looking him straight in the face. Her heart pounded and she felt her face grow hot.
“Yes,” she answered after a pause. “Yes, we’ve been weaving and..” She hesitated, not able to express whatever she was feeling. Instead she asked “Is Dri alright?”
“He’s getting better.”
“That’s good,” she said, feeling inadequate. “I love him,” she added, feeling the need to try and express her emotions. Tears came to her eyes and she turned away in embarrassment.
“I understand,” he said thoughtfully from behind her.
Seeing her distress, Ayu came and sat down beside her, with a hug. She knew tears were rolling down her cheeks and she held on to Ayu. How could she have been so wrong? She had discovered the sensitive thoughtful man inside the hard brutal man, the gentle man inside the strong man. Agung evoked feelings in her that defied clarity, feelings that made her want him, feelings that made her want to give herself to him.
“Dri is hurt, isn’t he?” Melati flustered to Ayu, even though she had already been reassured that her brother was going to be alright.
“We’re going to see them tomorrow,” Ayu told her. “He’ll be back soon.”
When she finally turned around, Agung had got up and was talking with Andhika instead. Melati smiled inwardly at her own foolishness. Today she might have discouraged Agung from talking to her, but at least, she thought, there was plenty of time for them to get to know each other better.