The Trial

By Umadah

That afternoon Asmirah looked at the clock on the wall of the sitting room. It was only 3.40. Still quite early afternoon but one got the impression that it was already close to evening. It was pitch dark just like the time after sunset. There was still no sign that the downpour, which had begun earlier in the morning, would abate. The sky was overcast with dark clouds and the wind was blowing hard, yet not hard enough to put a stop to the falling rain. Usually, a strong wind will disperse dark clouds and cause the rain to stop.

Asmirah was sitting restlessly in the terrace of the house. Her husband had ordered her to wait for a guest, a gentleman who would devour and suck her body sexually, crushing her dignity as a woman.

Once she refused but this was tantamount to challenging her husband, who would easily beat and slap her hard in the face. That afternoon, despite the heavy rain, her husband had gone out; God knows where. Well, that was what he would do every time a guest would come to see his wife. Before he left, her husband said harshly:

"Come on, put on your makeup!"

"You are inviting another man here?"

"Shut up!" her husband growled.

Asmirah knew exactly that every time her husband asked her to put on her makeup, a guest would come to see her. And she had no courage to resist. She went into her bedroom and put on her make up. Powdering her face and applying the color of red to her lips with her lipstick. Then she tidily combed her long hair. Her husband followed her into the room and watched her put on her makeup.

"You really are pretty, As."

"You are the craziest husband on earth, you know!"

Two hard slaps landed on her cheeks.

"Come on, cry! If you cry, I'll give you more."

"I can stand up no more, Mas Jantu. If only our daughter Tini had not been born ... "

Another hard slap on her face.

"Shut up! I'll gag you up for ever!"

"Why don't you just kill me, Mas!" Asmirah said, challenging her husband. She offered her body close to her husband. Strangely, seeing Asmirah so resigned, Jantu could only do and say nothing. "Come on, kill me! Don't hesitate. You must be keeping a mistress so that you are willing to ... "

"Calm down, calm down," Jantu said, trying to pacify his wife.

"Which is prettier, Mas, me or your mistress? Which one. You must have given all your money to her. Come on, where is the money. Show me the money that you have asked me for all this time. Where? I don't believe that you have spent the money bribing Mr. Mul so that you can get accepted to work as an office boy. I don't believe you."

"Really, As, I have given the money to Mr. Mul."

"No way. I don't believe you!" Asmirah said rudely.

"Right! I have given the money to Mr. Mul!" Jantu insisted and raised his voice.

Asmirah was no longer afraid of her husband. Her eyes became wildly red. Suddenly she seized the scissors on the table and offered them to her husband.

"Come on, take these scissors. Hold these scissors and kill me!" Jantu took a few steps backward. Asmirah kept on moving forward. Jantu left the room. Asmirah banged the door and locked it. She shouted.

"You are crazy. You are a mad husband. You are out of your mind, Jantu!"

It was still pouring with rain, beating against the room and producing a uniquely tingling sound. Asmirah was still sitting on the terrace of the house. Her eyesight was empty, looking towards the falling rain. She let the cold wind bite at her skin. She let splashes of rain water wet her body. She let a hungry cat lick her legs. The cat let out its meow several times but she seemed oblivious to this sound. She made herself deaf to all the sounds around her. Her mind was fraught with problems, none of which could be solved. She had a headache thinking about her husband's behavior. He could only ask for money, slap her and drink.

Her broken home started when her husband was fired from the peanut factory as a result of embezzling dozens of sacks and hundreds of packages of peanuts otherwise ready to be dispatched to the agents. This dismissal brought great trouble to her family. Rows between them gained intensity. Jantu himself was rarely at home. Rumors had it that apart from looking for a job, he was involved in the underworld. Once Asmirah looked for him when their only child, Tini, became ill. She wanted to take Tini to the doctor. When she found her husband, he was happily engaged in gambling.

Days passed and never returned. Asmirah had done the job that her husband ordered her to do for three months already. At first she was shocked. A man came to her house.

"I've got permission from your husband. I have given him some money," the man said calmly.

"Whaaat?" Asmirah opened her eyes wide, disbelieving.

Asmirah had no more time to ask as the man hugged her right away and devoured her body passionately.

Jantu often said to her that what she did would not last forever. It would be only temporary, just to get enough money to bribe Mr. Mul so that he could find a new job.

"You know our debts are getting bigger and bigger. We need more and more money. I cannot find a job yet. I don't think I can afford to take a new loan. Nobody is willing to lend us money any more because we have not repaid our old debts. Also our own siblings. Really, As, you will not do this job for ever. After we can collect enough money to bribe Mr. Mul, you have to stop."

Asmirah could only wonder with her mouth agape.

The buzzing sound of a motorcycle entering the yard of her house woke her up. Two men got off. They smiled to Asmirah, letting out the sound of pleasure.

"Asmirah, right?" one of them asked.

"Yes."

Without waiting to be let in, they entered the house.

It was still pouring with rain. The clock showed 6.23 p.m. He and the two men were still talking in the sitting room.

"I'll make you a drink, okay?" Asmirah said. The guests nodded.

Asmirah went to the back of the house. She did not go to the kitchen to make the drinks. She went into the bedroom to look at Tini, who was fast asleep. She kissed her gently several times. Her tears streamed down and drops of them fell on the child's cheeks. She opened her suitcase and put all her dresses into it. Yes, I have to run away from this goddamned house. After getting money from my two guests I have to run away. Far, far away. Mas Jantu will never find me. I will start a new life. If I have to do this job again, it's all right. I will let myself drop into a dark abyss as long as I don't do it because of the order of my own husband, a man I used to love. Can I still love him now?

After putting all her dresses into the suitcase, she went into the kitchen to make the drinks.

The rain had never stopped at Karang Gempal village. Usually on such a rainy cold night the villagers preferred to stay indoors, lying in bed, wrapping their bodies tightly with blankets. Yet that night it was really festive. People crowded at guard posts.

" I do not want our village to be rocked by rioting. Tonight we must put a stop to the culprit that has brought filth to this village," said the chairman of a group of neighborhoods. "Arifin, did you rally see a man come to Asmirah's house after the sunset prayer?"

"Right, sir. I even whistled, showing my cynicism. Sa-Lo-Me, one hole for many. Come one, go ahead. I provoked the men to be emotional. If they were emotional, I had the courage to duel with them."

"What time is it now, Run?" the neighborhood group chairman asked Sakirun.

"Ten to ten."

"Come on, let's take action. Let's raid Asmirah's house!" the neighborhood group chief said.

"Better not now, sir," said Wak Matrun. "Better after midnight."

"Then the men will have gone."

"But perhaps they will deny their act, Sir," Wak Matrun argued. "They would say that they are guests. We can suspect them if they stay until after midnight."

"Wak Matrun is right, sir," Poce supported Matrun.

"You are all wrong. We have a strong evidence as long we find Asmirah's house in a locked condition. And the men are in her bedroom. Am I right or not?"

They all nodded.

"Are you ready to act?" the neighborhood group chief asked again. "Poce, contact other posts and tell them we are ready to break into Asmirah's house."

Wak Matrun, Arifin, Sakirun and the neighborhood group chief braved the pouring rain on the way toward Asmirah's house. The neighborhood group chief knocked at the door several times. There was no reply. Again he knocked and again there was no response. Then the sound of a window being opened and two figures were seen jumping out of the window. Asmirah, still in the bedroom, panicked. She jumped outside, too. Tini, who was sleeping in the next room, woke up. She cried, calling her mother.

"Mother ... Mother ... ," Tini kept calling her mother.

Wak Matrun, Arifin and the neighborhood group chief ran after the two figures, who ran very fast. In the meantime, Sakirun ran after another person, assumed to be Asmirah because this one did not run fast enough.

The bamboo drums at the guard posts were beaten several times. A signal of alarm. People left the guard posts and also left their houses.

The two figures ran towards a sugar cane field. Wak Matrun, Arifin and the neighborhood group chief went there too. In a matter of minutes the field was crowded with people. Flashlights were on. The field was noisy with people shouting, the buzzing wind, the rain and the sound made by sugar cane leaves being broken down by the two figures and those in their pursuit. The two figures disappeared in the darkness of the sugar cane field.

"Bastard!" Arifin swore, because the prey could get away.

In the meantime, at another place, Sakirun, followed by many people, was running after Asmirah. This pretty woman kept on running along the edge of the river. She ran under leafy bamboo trees and despite the biting cold, she ran and ran. But then she missed a step and instantly she grabbed out for a tiny tree. The tree broke and she fell into the river. She could hardly breathe. Her head popped up and down.

Seeing Asmirah trying hard to fight against the fierce whirlpool, the people running after her shouted happily and clapped their hands. In a short time the edge of the river was full with people.

"Death to you!"

"Hurraaay ... "

"Let this cheap woman die."

"Hurraaay"

"Let this whore die. Let this whore get drowned."

"Hurraay ... "

The night was filled with the festivity of the villagers of Karang Gempal.

"You savages!" someone shouted loud in a thundering voice. It was Sakirun. He jumped into the river and lifted Asmirah's body to the river bank. He continued to carry her and did not stop until they arrived at the terrace of the house of a villager.

"You are savages! I don't like this way of torture," he shouted amid the roaring thunder.

Sakirun pushed down on Asmirah's belly and water spurted out. After half an hour the woman whom the whole village had despised came to.

She sobbed like a child.

"Respectable residents of Karang Gempal village, I am sorry for my filthy work. I am dirty and a cheap woman. You must remember, though, that I have become what I am now because of my husband. Please, take my husband here. It is he that you should give a trial to."

The people crowding around Asmirah did not say a word.

"My husband has sold me. He is the culprit in all this ... "

People mumbled and mumbled.

"He always takes the money I have got from whoring. He spends the money gambling. He also wants to use the money to bribe someone so that he can get some work. Take my husband here and it is he that you must give a trial to."

The people around her kept quiet. She sobbed again. One by one the villagers left her.

The rain was still pouring down. It was getting late. Asmirah kept on shouting hysterically like someone possessed.

"Mas Jantuuuu! Come here. You will be tried by the respectable gentlemen of Karang Gempal. Come here quick. Mas Jantuuuuuu."

Glossary:

Mas = literally means older brother, a Javanese term of respect that a wife uses when addressing her husband.

Wak = uncle

-- Translated by Lie Hua