No Rice

By Yusrizal KW

Saidi closed the doors of his wooden house. The night mingled with a flame of light shooting from the kerosene lamp in the room. Eight o'clock. The stars studding the village sky, whose light he had briefly enjoyed before closing the door, looked like thinly-shaped twinkling lights, smaller than usual.

Perhaps they looked so thin because he could not open his eyes any wider - he could not strain them any further for the simple reason that his life had given rise to a problem which sometimes tempted him into committing a crime.

Becoming a criminal? No way! He quickly stamped out the alluring thought by snuggling into his wife's armpit. It stank with the all too familiar smell of rotten onions.

His wife, Jainab, who was as thin as a rake and had protruding front teeth which her upper lip could hardly cover, was stroking Buyung, who, since the afternoon, had been whining that he was still hungry.

His mother, Jainab, had barely fed him six mouthfuls of rice, not enough to fill him up. He finally stopped whining after Jainab promised to buy him a helping of rice with chicken as soon as she could.

But his words: "Mother, Uyung still wants to eat. Uyung is still hungry ..." pierced deep into Jainab's heart and made tears well up in Saidi's eyes. Rice had been avoiding their cooking pot like the plague since he lost his job one month earlier.

"Forgive me, Uyung," he said, half-whispering beside Jainab, his hand stroking the hair of this five-year-old boy. Then he hugged Jainab and whispered something.

"Hungry?"

Jainab said nothing. It was still fresh in her memory that she had eaten some cassava two days earlier. Here eyes were empty and hollow. They seemed to need something to make them shine.

"Very early tomorrow I'll be leaving to find rice. Galib has asked me to visit his former boss, Mr Jibun. He runs a rice milling business and is a big rice trader in the sub-district market ..."

"What has it got to do with us?"

"Galib will borrow some rice. He'll get a little more than he needs so that he can give us some ..."

A glitter of hope flickered in Jainab's eyes. Then she stared long at Buyung, now fast asleep along with his acute hunger. He had to stop eating just before he went to sleep because there was no more rice left to eat or cook.

Jainab and Saidi could cope with their hunger, but, if things got worse, well, only God knew what would happen.

"Let's hope that God will help us through Galib's former boss ...", said Jainab. "At least, for Buyung ...."

Saidi took a deep breath. Lying down, Jainab stared at the holes in the ceiling. Jainab felt Saidi's hand stroking the sensitive parts of her body.

Outside, a dog let out a long howl. It was still not very late at night. Saidi began to breathe heavily. Jainab let him grope and touch her smelly body, weakly, tiredly. She let his body lie upon hers. Then she thought she had lied to her acutely biting hunger.

***

Saidi left the house with Galib, his mind befuddled by thoughts of the expense and scarcity of rice. The night before, his son woke up several times and complained that he was hungry.

He found sleep difficult because the music in his stomach and in Jainab's transformed itself into unfavorable mental pictures. Another fear was that they had no money and that Buyung would soon become lifeless and stiff because they were unable to feed him.

Saidi and Galib deliberately left just before daybreak. They walked to the house of Galib's former boss at the sub-district market, only five kilometers away.

They carried no money, and even if they had they would have spent it on cassava or a piece of salted fish rather than take the bus.

Arriving at the sub-district market, they found that Mr. Jibun's the rice shop was closed. Galib glanced at Saidi.

"Let's go to his house," Galib said.

At the house, Galib was greeted by Sjafri, one of his mates when he worked at Mr. Jibun's rice mill.

"Is the shop not going to open today?" Galib inquired.

Sjafri looked left and right, then replied: "Mr. Jibun's policy".

"Policy? What do you mean?"

"A tactic. He's waiting for the right time to sell the rice. He'll sell at a higher price and make a bigger profit. He won't sell it here. He'll send the rice to the city. Hungry people are queuing for rice there."

"You mean, Mr Jibun is hoarding rice?"

"Sort of."

Saidi watched the two men exchange words in a slight whisper.

A short while later, Mr Jibun appeared with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. Galib offered Mr Jibun his hand right away and the latter took it with an expressionless face.

"Mr Jib, I want to have a word with you. I've got something to tell you."

Mr Jibun stared at Galib and then drew on his cigarette. A puff of smoke billowed out of his mouth and nostrils.

"I mean, I mean, I need help, just this once ...."

Mr Jibun snorted, "Hggm..." Galib turned his head right then left. Sjafir was nowhere to be seen. He found himself standing with Saidi and facing Mr Jibun.

"I, I need some rice, Mr Jib. We have not eaten for three days now. Would you please lend me some rice just for us to eat for two days. When I get some money tomorrow or the day after, I'll pay for it ..."

Saidi prayed in his heart than Jibun would be touched by Galib's imploring voice. If Jibun was generous, Galib would give some rice to him.

Mr Jibun stared long and hard at Galib, then cast his eye over Saidi and laughed.

"Now, now, Galib .... Have you been to the sub-district market? If you have, you must have seen that my rice shop is closed. Well, it is these bad conditions. No more rice to sell. I've only enough rice left to feed my family. Sorry. We are in the same boat ......"

Saidi and Galib looked crestfallen. Saidi thought Mr Jibun must have a heart made of ice to lie to poor people like that. Many people were starving. Rice had become unaffordable. The price had soared because rice was being smuggled out of the country. Well, if all rice traders were just like Mr Jibun, it would be extremely hard to get cheap rice at the market. Although the government sometimes sold cheap rice, it was not easy to get. You had to vie with others in the queue and then you would end up realizing that you had been all the more impoverished.

"Can't you just let me have some rice, just for today, Mr Jib?"

"I've told you we are in the same boat. Now go home, Galib. Strengthen your heart to get through these difficult times ..."

Galib signaled to Saidi with his eyes that they should leave. Saidi felt a great pang pierce his heart. There was simply nothing he could do.

Before leaving empty handed, they came across Sjafri, who had realized the nature of Galib's business with Jibun.

"I'm in great difficulty, Sjafri ... Mr Jibun said he has no rice. I asked him to lend me some rice. He told me he too was in great difficulty. I did not ask him to give me some rice. If I had asked him so, he would have told me that he was in much greater difficulty ..."

Sjafri took a deep breath.

"I am still working for that tight-fisted boss but even I cannot borrow a single grain of rice, let alone you, Galib. He dismissed you the other day because he said he could no longer afford to pay you? Many people in this area are starving. Many have come here for help only to be abused by Mr Jibun, instead...."

Saidi did not say anything, but spoke to himself in his heart. He felt pain and sadness, even though it was Galib who had been rebutted. He though of Buyung and Jainab, who persuaded Buyung to ignore his hunger. Well, how much longer could she go on doing that?

"I'm going now!," Galib took his leave. He walked on a few steps then heard Sjafri call.

"You can find tons of rice in the warehouse behind Jibun's house. Yesterday, many poor people came to see him but he told them he was out of stock. In truth, he has plenty. He is simply waiting for the price to peak and then he will send it to the towns. He is waiting to make a big profit ...."

Sjafri's words weighed more heavily on Saidi's saddened heart. He felt a deeper pang when, just before leaving the place, Galib asked Saidi to look through a hole in the wooden wall of the rice warehouse, which was quite a distance from Mr Jibun's house. The warehouse was full of sacks of rice.

"Damn it!" Saidi shouted angrily. Galib hit the wall of the warehouse with his fist.

"We've got to do something," Galib said.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's break into the warehouse tonight!"

***

"Mom, I'm hungry. I want to eat."

Jainab hugged him, tears dripping from her eyes. Saidi had just returned empty-handed and was tired from the walk home. Buyung's whining tortured him. It seemed as if his stomach had shrunk. He had only taken only some clear water early that morning.

While trying to comfort Jainab and soothe Buyung, Saidi secretly urged the night to fall. Then he would make good on his plan to break into the rice warehouse and take some rice home. He would do it with Galib, of course. He was planning to take a lot of rice and distribute it to those who were hungry.

However Marni suddenly burst in to the house.

"Brother Saidi, help me. Mas Galib has taken ill. He has a temperature and an acute pain in his stomach,"

Saidi went immediately to Galib's house, where he found him lying helpless. His eyes were fading. His lips were pale. His movements weak.

"I, I feel as if thousands of rats are eating my stomach....," Galib said, groaning. Saidi looked at Marni, Galib's wife. Mr Jibun's face suddenly formed in his mind and then turned into a giant warehouse rat.

"He has not eaten anything for three days now. If he had any rice he gave it to Marti, our child. I ate some sweet potato that Marti had left over. Oh, what can we do now?" Marni said, greatly worried.

"Saidi, let's cancel our plan for tonight. I cannot make it. Or, you go somewhere else to find some rice. How your child and your wife are to be pitied ...." Galib said with great difficulty. Saidi grasped Galib's hands. They were cold and trembling.

"I will do anything, even if I have to be a criminal, just for the sake of this life!" he said with a heavy heart.

***

A starry night. It was quiet and lonely around Mr Jibun's warehouse. A 25-watt bulb cast a dim light on the courtyard. The warehouse, set apart from the houses, looked just like an old rat-ridden building.

At daybreak, Saidi was beside the warehouse, three plastic bags of gasoline in his hand. His heart beat harder as he poured the gasoline around the warehouse. Then he struck a match and watched fire leap up the wooden walls. Saidi ran and nobody saw him. He took a short cut home through rice fields, leaving the burning warehouse behind him.

Saidi left a great clamor behind him, above which Mr Jibun's voice could be heard requesting help. The fire grew, engulfing the walls, roof and sacks of rice within. Local residents simply stood and watched the fire; none lent a hand. They watched the flames shoot upwards along a billowing column of dark smoke to a timpani of crackling timber.

Jibun was frantically trying to extinguish the fire, cynically encouraged by residents, some of whom sarcastically applauded his efforts.

"Come on, Mr Jibun, pour more water on the fire. Come on, quick, or your rice will be burnt to ashes and you'll go hungry like the rest of us. Come on ....!" they shouted. Finally, Mr Jibun was overwhelmed with exhaustion and the fire burnt on until there was nothing left to feed its voracious appetite.

The next day, a crowd gathered in front of Jibun's house. They wanted to gloat over his ill fortune. The goaded him with taunts like: "Mr Jibun, rice is now Rp 10,000 kilogram. Come on take your rice out of the warehouse. We would like to buy ...."

The end was lost in laughter.

Sjafri elbowed his way through the crowd and called out to his boss. "Mr Jib, Mr Jib, the rice shop in the market has been looted. The door has been forced open and all the rice given away."

Hearing this, Mr Jibun fell into a fit of trembling, oblivious to the watching crowd.

"What?"

"All the rice has been looted!"

Jibun fainted.

***

Jainab cooked some rice. Buyung sat near the stove. Saidi was smoking. "Still long before you finish cooking, Ma" Buyung asked. Jainab smiled. "Just a while longer."

A little later Saidi went to Galib's house. Galib was still lying prostrate and Marni was washing some rice.

"Thanks a lot, Saidi. You've given us half a sack of rice. How did you get it?" Galib inquired.

Saidi smiled coldly.

"Last night I broke into the rice warehouse of your former boss. No one knew. This morning I broke into his rice shop at the sub-district market. I told many people to take the rice. So, they say we have looted the rice. I got one sack, half for me and half for you."

"So, Mr Jib hasn't got any left now?"

Saidi nodded. "He must learn how it feels to be poor."

"And we learn how to be criminals!"

"Hunger can lead to practically anything. It can change good to bad!"

It was quiet for a moment.

"Come on. Here's some money for your wife to buy food!" Saidi gave him an Rp 5,000 note.

"Where did you get that?"

"I sold some rice!"

"The looted rice?"

Saidi nodded then took his leave. He opened Galib's door then his heart missed a beat. A fear gripped, sending him quickly back inside, the heartbeat getting faster and faster.

Galib, puzzled by his friend's pale face, said: "What's up, Saidi? You look worried ...."

Saidi bit his lower lip. He was trembling.

"What's up outside?"

Before Saidi had the time to answer, someone knocked on the door. Saidi looked at Galib in horror.

Tok ... tok ... tok ....

"Who, Saidi?"

With a trembling voice, he said, " Ppppolice ...!"

Padang, September 1998

Translated by Lie Hua