What’s In A Name? Let’s See

Ask first for the name of person you want to find out, and you will save a lot of questions afterwards. By asking a person’s name, they say, you will get much more information. Can you really tell a person’s gender, religion and nationality just from their names?

I determined to prove this suggestion. “What’s your child’s name?” I asked my friend’s, who recently became a proud father, instead of the standard inquiry, “Is it a boy or a girl?”.

Mars Memburu Matahari

Tukang ojek menyodorkan helm merah menyala itu bahkan sebelum Mars membuka bibir, mengarahkan ke mana mereka harus pergi.

Mars tidak menyentuh helm yang disodorkan. “Nggak usah pake helm.” Ia muak dengan helm yang suka gonta-ganti kepala. Tapi hukumnya tak wajib memberitahukan alasan pribadi.

Mata tukang ojek menoleh seperti belati bermata ganda, “Pake.” ucapnya hemat kata, dengan mata belati yang pertama, “atau loe cari ojek yang laen!” dengan mata belati berikutnya.

Sihir Perempuan

Golden memerintahkan sepeda motor yang memboncenginya untuk berbelok kiri, masuk ke tepi jalan yang tidak bertrotoar.

Halaman tepi jalan yang tidak bertrotoar tersebut sebenarnya adalah gerbang keluar dari gedung bertingkat, di samping kantornya, yang sudah pensiun menjaga akses keluar itu.

Golden hapal dengan tulisan yang terpasang pada bagian tengah-atas gerbang tersebut karena setiap pagi selalu dibacanya: “Dilarang Keras Parkir Di Depan Gerbang Ini!”

Tukang ojek keberatan: “Kenapa tidak bisa berhenti di sini?” tanyanya sembari melambatkan kendaraan di tepi jalan, tiga meter dari belokan tersebut.

Stories In 140 Characters (Twitter)

Stories in 140 characters

Until You Come

Borus wakes up. Passing his study desk, he reaches for his mobile and searches for any message. “How was tonight’s meeting?” He’s reading the message from Hannah. This woman always texts him late in the night, doesn’t care whether the response she needs is urgent or not.

He texts the reply with the speed of Ferrari. “A ‘party’ is not a party without Hannah.”

When Borus returns from the bathroom, the reply message from Hannah has arrived: “It’s not a ‘party’ without Abang [older brother] Borus Komang.”

“It’s like you watch a movie for a thousandth time; you know all the scenes by heart, dialogue by dialogue. And when one scene missing you just know it; you get lost because the dialogue in your head doesn’t match with the one on the screen. It won’t be the same again until you restore the missing piece.” He types the reply and changes his clothes, word by word and piece by piece.

Two minutes later his mobile shrieks with the message tone. “Come on Borus. It’s still early in the morning, and you start playing words again to seduce and attract a woman?”

“You don’t attract love, Hannah: it comes to you, it chooses you because you deserve this honour.”

“Here you again, attempting to charm an innocent girl. Spare your words Mister, it’s still early in the morning! Give me the wing instead when the day is falling, and shadow of the night is fast approaching.”

“Whatever is true –the truth- is always charming and transforming. You could also say hypnotic.” He’s ready to leave for work.
*****

(Jakarta, 28 September 2009)