N/B – Kebanyakan dialog entry ini dalam bahasa Inggeris, untuk menyesuaikan dengan situasi. Maaf kalau menyinggung mana-mana pihak…
Matahari membahang di atas kepala. Tetapi Balqis masih terasa segar dari midafternoon showernya. Dia melihat kanak-kanak yang berpusu-pusu berlari ke dewan makan sekolah, yang letaknya serelung dari klinik. Sekali imbas, Jisu, letaknya lebih kurang 20 kilometer dari base camp di Maputo, tak ubah seperti Chuping. Bahangnya sama, damainya sama, cuma minus the paddy field.
“Sister, you look pretty today.”
Balqis tersengih. Kepala kanak-kanak lelaki itu diusapnya. “Good one, Moses. But still only two cookies for you.”
Wajah Moses jatuh. “Sister… I help you bake tomorrow?”
Balqis menjungkit kening. “You sure? You won’t be able to play at the field then.”
Moses mengangguk laju. “Yes.”
“Alright, run along now. Or else you’d miss your lunch!”
Kanak-kanak itu tersengih, kemudian turut berlari ke dewan makan bersama-sama rakan-rakan yang lain.
“Lady, can I help you bake too?”
Balqis memusingkan badan, kemudian ketawa kepada empunya suara. “Tiko, you want more cookies too?”
Tiko, pemandu klinik itu turut tersenyum. “Of course. My wife asks for recipe, but I forgot to take it from you. She invited you and Jasmin for tea tomorrow.”
Sengih. “Aww, Victoria invites us for tea every week, Tiko. I feel so bad. I promise, once we’re settled in the new quarters, I’ll cook up a feast.”
“Lady, if I weren’t already married, I would ask your hand for marriage,” ujar Tiko. “Or maybe my son would.”
“Tiko, I told you I’m married,” balas Balqis, tersenyum. “You are very sweet, Tiko.”
“A good husband wouldn’t let his wife go away for such a long time.”
Balqis menjungkit kening. “Oh, now you’re saying you don’t like my company?”
Tiko ketawa. “Balqis, no, no. Child, you always confuse my words.”
Balqis turut tersengih. “He’s a good guy, Tiko. I wish you could meet him someday. He knows I love doing my job,” tutur Balqis perlahan. Angin bertiup sepoi-sepoi bahasa ke wajahnya. “You will like him, Tiko.”
Tiko memerhati wajah wanita
warga kampung. Walaupun dengan bahasa Portugis yang merangkak-rangkak. Kehadiran mereka bukan sekadar medical officer di kampung itu, malah sebagai guru bahasa Inggeris di sekolah rendah berhampiran.
Kadangkala Tiko hairan. Setelah suku abad bekerja sebagai pemandu di klinik itu, itulah kali pertama wanita
Tutur kata dijaga, adab sopan dibela. Agaknya inilah kelembutan wanita
“Your husband must be a very good man. You love him very much, yes?”
Balqis tersenyum. Hatinya tersentuh apabila ditanya begitu. “Yes, I do.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Jadud, stop pulling the feathers off. I’m going to make you buy me a new featherduster if you keep doing it,” Balqis memberi amaran. Bulu-bula ayam yang berserakan di atas meja dikutip.
Jadud, pembantu perubatan berbangsa Negro dari
Balqis tersengih. “I’d be glad to plant this scalpel into your thorax.”
Jadud ketawa. “Ouch, babe. A way to go and stab my heart.”
Senyum. Syringe-syringe di dalam kotak dipindahkan ke dalam peti kecemasan. Sterile bandage turut disumbat sekali. “Why don’t you go and do the counts on penicillin or something?” Dia memukul tangan Jadud yang tidak berglove dari menyentuh syringe. “Hands off my syringe, man.”
“Qis, I wanna watch some pornnnnnnn.”
Balqis ketawa. “Right after your Friday prayer, or is it before?”
Jadud turut ketawa. “Ouch, ouch and ouch. Malcolm X wouldn’t have said it better.”
“Well, I figured Gambini wouldn’t be too thrilled to find out you tuning in to Playboy Channel on his satellite dish, dude,” tutur Balqis, merujuk kepada ketua jabatan hospital di kampung itu.
“Oh, would he be thrilled if we switch to ESPN instead? I heard
“Hey, no dissing my
Jadud sengih. “You Brits are too much. Now, Giants are IT, Qis. I tell ya, you’re gonna hook up with American Football fine, girl. Now, this is the real sport for men.”
Balqis ketawa. “Do you realize you’re not making any sense with your grammar, dude? Even my first graders know not to put ‘it’ and ‘are’ in the same sentence,” gurau Balqis. “And typical Yankee you are. Oh, my bad. Isn’t that the rounders team or something?”
Jadud ketawa berdekah-dekah. “It’s baseee – balll. Sheesh, Yankees are so gonna whip yo’ ass, girl.”
“Save whipping my ass for later. Can you please check on Jas before she gets the thread up in a bundle and choke up on it?” ujar Balqis, tersengih. Dia menuding ke arah Jasmin yang sedang menjahit luka seorang lelaki tua di sudut bilik.
“Damn. I saw her knots the other day, I thought she’s trying on cross-stitching on the poor dude,” tutur Jadud. Dia bingkas bangun menuju ke arah Jasmin.
Balqis ketawa lagi. “I’m telling! Jas!”
Lapan minit berlalu.
“Yeah, right. Cross-stitching, huh? Then what are these? Knitting?”
Jasmin ketawa. “Right on, babe.”
Jadud menarik muka. Terkial-kial jarinya
“Yeah? Move big guy, let the lady handles this job,” tutur Jasmin, sambil menolak Balqis untuk duduk di kerusi di hadapannya.
Balqis menggeleng-gelengkan kepala. Dia mengambil hujung benang dari tangan Jadud. Surgical knots, sekelip mata, siap. Lelaki di hadapannya menarik nafas lega. Mereka tersengih.
“Pesaroso,” tutur Balqis, tersenyum.
Sebaik sahaja lelaki itu beredar, Balqis menjeling ke arah sahabat-sahabatnya. Tersenyum.
Jasmin ketawa. “Itu material zaman bila-bila ntah. Mana aku nak ingat maa. Ko
“There ya go. That alien language again. Go on, just pretend I’m not here.”
Jasmin dan Balqis serentak ketawa. “We love you too, big guy,” tutur Jasmin.
Jadud tersengih. “What I would do without you guys?” Dia mengemas jarum, benang, bandage, botol antiseptic dan Novocain di atas meja. “Wanna jet off to
“You? Volunteering yourself to go to a football match?” soal Jasmin, menjungkit kening. “What happened to your Giants?”
“Seasons playoff sucks. I reserve my adrenalin for finals,” terang Jadud. “Well, what say you, Qis?”
Balqis tersenyum. “Gotta take the raincheck.”
Jasmin menyiku Jadud.
“What did I do?” komplen Jadud.
Jasmin menjulingkan mata terhadap Jadud.
“You know what? Let’s camp in front of the TV this weekend. We’re gonna rock
Mereka tersenyum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dia membuang pandang ke
Fikirannya menerawang pula ke Ampang. 14 hari and counting. Terasa dari hari ke hari, hatinya semakin digigit sepi. Rindu dengan gelak ketawa lelaki itu. Dengan gurau-senda yang tidak pernah putus. Jodoh mereka selama setahun, banyak pahit dan manisnya. Namun pahitnya tenggelam dek rindu yang begitu kuat. Sayangkah dia dengan lelaki itu? Sayang, namun tidak dapat diucapkan dengan kata-kata.
“Balqis?”
“Knots again?” Dia bingkas bangun dan menuju ke dalam klinik.
Jasmin tersengih. “Sorry la sayang. Agaknya waktu kelas surgical knots dulu aku ponteng aa. Tu sampai sekarang ilmu tak berkat tak lekat kat kepala.”
“
“Layan blues ek?”
“Hmm…”
Masing-masing terdiam. Selepas selesai menjahit kening kanak-kanak yang terjatuh tadi, Balqis berlalu ke stor. Ingin mengambil antiseptic yang hampir habis.
“Qis!”
“Ko nih, apahal,” gumam Balqis seraya berlari-lari anak keluar dari stor. “Kenapa?”
Jasmin yang berdiri di muka pintu tersengih. “Err, erm. Aku rasa tak payah lah ko join kitorang tengok final kat rumah Gambini nanti…”
Balqis menjungkit kening. “Aik? Aku lupa book tiket ke beb?”
“Eh, tak aih. Nanti ko bukan busy ke weekend nih?”
“Eh eh. Ko tak sudi ke aku tengok finals dengan ko?” soal Balqis kembali. “Ye lah, aku tak berebutlah Garcia tu dengan ko.”
“Eleh, tak berebut konon. Agaknya ko tu yang beriya pegi ngorat Garcia kat
Balqis menjungkit kening.
“Over my dead body.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sangat cantik. Baju
“Over my dead body,” tutur Danial yakin. Dia melihat wanita di hadapannya kaku tatkala mendengar suaranya. Danial menelan liur. Resah akan reaksi wanita itu.
Perlahan-lahan Balqis memusingkan badan ke belakang untuk menghadap Danial.
“I’d be willing to treat you to
“Danial…”
“Nasib baik you ingat nama I. That’s the only password required for you to win these.” Danial mengunjukkan sampul
Perlahan-lahan Balqis mencapai sampul
“Ebay and its magical ways…”
“Ebay? Auction? Mesti mahal tahap kambing aa!” celah Jasmin, yang terdiam dari tadi. Dia mengambil sampul
“Crazy for love,” ujar Danial. Matanya dan Balqis bertembung.
Jasmin tersengih. “Oh, ok. Itu sign aku untuk blah,
Danial ketawa, namun matanya masih memfokus ke arah Balqis.
“I’m off, people.”
Diam.
“Am I dreaming, Danial?” bisik Balqis.
Danial menarik senyum segaris. Dia melangkah untuk berhadapan dengan Balqis. “No. The sun’s still shining outside. See?” tuturnya, sambil menunjuk ke arah tingkap.
“Kenapa…”
“To get back into the heart of the woman I love…”
“Danial…”
“The visa was a nuisance, I agree. Nasib baik bila pa faxkan
“Relocation? Danial?”
“Uh, huh. Then Ebay pulak letak 10-day policy. I pun tunggu lagi. Hari-hari I doa supaya you tak give up
Balqis terpana. Relocation? “Relocation? Ke mana?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you? Sekarang I’m the new Operative Manager dekat
“Danial?”
“Hush,” suara Danial berubah nada. Bisik romantis. Dia meletakkan jari ke bibir Balqis. “I’m sorry, sayang. Coward, I was. Hati I turut sakit mengingatkan bagaimana I tinggalkan you, lukakan you. I’d never do that again, Balqis. I promise…”
“Relationship should be based on trust. I don’t trust myself around you, sayang.”
“I tertunggu-tunggu. Waiting for the words I’ve been wanting to hear so much from you. Tapi I harapkan sesuatu yang I sendiri tidak pernah ucapkan untuk you.”
“I sayangkan you, I cintakan you. When I clasped my hand around your dad’s a year ago, it’s a vow I made to God, to love you, to cherish you. I bersalah dengan you, Balqis. I tak tunaikan tanggungjawab I sebagai suami.”
“I merayu untuk you berikan I satu lagi peluang untuk menjadi suami you, Balqis Amani…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Balqis mati kata-kata. Tidak semena-mena, baru dia terperasan tangannya yang berada elok dalam pegangan Danial. Sebutir air mata mengalir dari kolam matanya.
“Please let me know whether that’s a happy tear you’re shedding, sayang…”
Balqis menyeka pipi dengan jari.
“First of all, macam mana I tak tahu yang suami I sendiri is being relocated ke
“Sayang, please don’t start with a list… I’m sorry… Balqis…” Wajah Danial tidak keruan.
“And fourth, how could you think that I would ever give up on you?” sambung Balqis, suara jatuh gemersik.
Danial mati kata-kata.
“Would it put a smile on your face, if I told you I loved you…?”
Danial melepaskan keluhan ‘Alhamdulillah’, seraya itu, tubuh isterinya diraih dalam pelukan.
If I said I loved you
Would you say it back?
When I back down on you
Would you hold me in tact?
Those feelings I have
Indescribable, incomprehensible
God’s shower of love
gile best citer nie hope ada citer baru
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