When life bites

By Yusrizal KW

"You must agree, Yum. You must."

Yumi wiped her tearful eyes with the back of her hand. She looked closely at her mother and father and then looked down, feeling full in her chest. Then she heard her mother speak again, softly, but her meaning hurt Yumi's heart.

"You are my only hope, Yum. You are the only daughter that your mother and father have. You are the only one we can depend on to shelter us in the future. You know, Yum, your father has been sickly. And me, Yum, I can only do the cooking. Everything is expensive you know. We must live. We must live decently and to be able to live decently we need money. The rice fields are dry and we cannot expect anything from them. Really, Yum, I just want to have a peaceful life. We need heroes, Yum, to ensure that we won't continue to live in poverty. Now the price of rice is very high. Come on, Yum, just don't go to school anymore!"

Yumi, for the umpteenth time, again wiped the tears from her eyes. Her father was coughing and he folded his legs and pressed both knees against his thin naked chest.

"Master Pi-i will take you to the city. He is rich. You can lighten our burden. Come on, Yum, you must realize that we need a hero for our lives."

Yumi began sobbing, louder and louder. She was only a second grader in senior high school. She imagined her school. She imagined Ina, the daughter of Mr. Jarul, also a poor man. She hoped to have good marks and enter a university in town and work part-time. Then she remembered Syahriyal, from the classroom next to hers. Once he gave her a love letter through Latifah. If only she could just enjoy the pleasure of love, oh!

"You agree, Yum, OK? Tomorrow Master Pi-i will be here. He will ask for your hand, marry you and take you to the city. Then you will live in a luxurious house and have everything ready for you. He also has a shiny car. You know his car, don't you? He often parks it in front of our poor house."

Yumi did not say a word. She hurried into her bedroom.

"Think about it tonight. Tomorrow Master Pi-i will come. Don't worry about his age. He's only 41. Just imagine your fate and the fate of your parents. Our fate must be changed before we die. It is a shame to die in poverty, Yum," Father said, lighting his cigarette.

In her room, Yumi collected her clothes and put them in a bag. It was a few hours after midnight. She wanted to run away from her house before dawn. Suddenly she hated her parents. They were too ready and too willing to give her away to Master Pi-i, a man whose origin was dark to them. Can poverty exert such a great influence that it can shake someone's faith? she asked herself, but did not know the answer, because she was still only in second grade. What she wanted was to continue her schooling. She did not want to get married. She wanted to be the heroine of the family because of her own capability. She wanted to be another Kartini.

When the first crow of the cock was heard the next morning, Yumi was ready to jump through the window. With one jump she would be free from her parents and would be able to go anywhere her feet would take her. But suddenly her mother's words were echoing in her ears. "We need heroes in our lives, Yumi. You are the only one we can pin our hope on for the future ..."

Yumi became restless. There was a turmoil in her heart. Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. Oh, no, I shouldn't run away, she said to herself.

Then she closed the window again. Master Pi-i arrived very early. She eavesdropped on the conversation between Master Pi-i and her parents.

"After this, both of you do not need to worry about money any more. You no longer have to go to the dry rice fields. I will send you money every month."

"Oh, thank you. Of course ... of course, Yumi will be happy to be your wife. She is a good girl, Mr. Pi-i" Yumi's mother said. Master Pi-i then said, "Pi-i. Just call me Pi-i."

"Are you not ashamed to have parents-in-law as poor as we are, Mr. Pi-i, oh, sorry, I mean, Pi-i?"

"No need to be ashamed of this. What counts is not one's riches or poverty but one's good conduct," Master Pi-i laughed, while Yumi's parents could only grin.

Finally, a wedding party, a splendid one in the eyes of the villagers, was held. Yumi was finally married to Master Pi-i. Right after the marriage Yumi's parents became materially much better than before. The whole village talked about it, especially because shortly before the marriage the house of Yumi's parents was hurriedly repaired.

"You have really taken our burden from our shoulders, Yumi," her mother told her. "You are a good daughter. God must love you," she said tearfully as she let Yumi go with her husband to the city.

Yumi's parents were very happy indeed. For the next three months they received large sums of money from their son-in-law. Yumi's parents changed their attitudes and habits. They put on nice clothes now and they smiled a lot. Yumi's father gained weight while her mother talked more than before. She had more self-confidence. Recently she donated some money for religious purposes. In her letters, Yumi always wrote about her rosy life.

"Mother, we have a good fortune here. Bang Pi-i is successful as a businessman. I myself have got a job and earn a lot. Sometimes I work till morning. Of course, I am tired. Next month I'll send you some money for house repairs. Also to buy new furniture and all your necessities. Life must change, mustn't it?"

That was what Yumi wrote in her letter nine months after she was married to Pi-i. The whole village talked about the change in the lives of Yumi's parents. Then parents of other pretty girls began to nurture the hope that a gentlemen like Master Pi-i would some day come to marry their daughters.

Parents could escape the difficulties of the economic crisis simply by marrying off their daughters to wealthy men.

The next year, Pi-i came home without Yumi. He said he was looking for three young girls to be employed in a company. Yumi's parents were proud when Pi-i told them Yumi had become a leader in one of the company's subsidiaries. And now she needed three girls to help her out. Many girls responded through Yumi's mother. Some even tried to bribe her or promised to give her something, like a rice field, if she could see to it that their daughters were taken to town to work with Yumi.

After a somewhat tight selection process, Maina, Cicih and Lili were accepted. The parents of these three girls were very happy. Before their daughters left for the town, they gave a small thanks-giving party.

"We hope your fate will be as good as Yumi's," they said.

However, one night, Yumi's parents longed to see their only daughter. They would go to the town to see her. Unfortunately, they did not know where Yumi and her husband lived. Yumi's mother was smart enough, and look for an address on the postal money order. Unfortunately she could find only a post box number.

So, three months after their daughters left for the town, the parents of Maina, Cicih and Lili began to receive quite large sums of money. News of this spread quickly through the village. Many came to the house of Yumi's parents. Now it was a brick house with a fence. There was a satellite dish and a beautiful garden at the front. Many visited also wanted to send their daughters to the town to work for Yumi and Pi-i. Yumi's parents could only thank God.

"If he had not convinced Yumi then, our lives would still be poor," Yumi's mother said.

"God will always give a hero to man when he is very poor!"

"Who could have expected that our lives would be so comfortable?"

"That's life. A puzzle. A mystery."

While they were watching television, Cicih's parents came. Their faces were beaming.

"Cicih has sent us almost Rp 1 million. Crazy. What kind of job does she do to get such a big salary?" her mother said, becoming curious. On other days, Maina's parents and Lili's parents also came to the house of Yumi's parents.

"Sometimes our fate is changed through our children, right?" Lili's parents said to Yumi's father and mother.

Three years had passed. Yumi came home alone. Her hair, previously flowing freely to her hips, was cut short, reaching the nape of her neck only. Her skin was fairer. She had a slimmer figure and her dress was tight and scanty.

All the neighbors and relatives warmly welcomed Yumi's return. She had brought with her many used dresses and gave them away to poor teenage girls.

Her parents were very happy, too. Yumi was all smiles. She used to be taciturn but now she spoke a lot. She always had a cellular phone in her hand.

In her first two days at home, Yumi was visited by many girls who had finished their secondary schooling. They wanted her to take them to town. Yumi simply smiled. Sometimes she would say, "It's hard work. You must deal with all sorts of people. Are you good enough for this kind of job?"

"What kind of job, Sister Yum?"

"Well, you collect money from rich people."

"We must be trained first, mustn't we?"

"Yes. Master Pi-i will give you the training before letting you do the real job."

Even the village head asked Yumi to share her experience with the young. Yumi said no to this request.

After dinner one night, Yumi's cellular phone rang.

"Hello?"

"How is it, Yum?"

"Bang Pi-i?"

"Yes. Any good ones? Mr. Broto, the bank director, wants to have you the whole night. The day after tomorrow. Come home quick, OK?"

"What about Lili, Cicih and Maina?"

"Very busy. Many to attend to."

"I'll take with me five new ones. Very pretty."

"When?"

"Tomorrow. The day after tomorrow we can let Mr. Broto enjoy them."

"Are they really plump and sexy?"

"Very. If they were their school uniforms, they will be our money spinners. This is a gold mine. Businessmen will be ready to stay a week in a hotel with them. Okay?"

"Yum, how are your parents? One more thing, just keep quiet about your job. You know the consequences."

No answer. Yumi hung up. Well, how dirty is the family heroine, she said to herself. Oh, God. Full of bites.

Then she imagined the innocent and pretty faces she was going to take to town the next day. "God, forgive me for doing this, but I am forced to."

When she was deep in thought, her mother turned up.

"Yum, I'm really curious about your job. Can you tell me a little about it?"

Yumi took a deep breath. Silence. "A whore," she shouted in her heart. Then she sighed again, long and deep.

Padang, May 22, 1999

Glossary:

Bang: Elder brother, a respectful term for a man.

-- Translated by Lie Hua