Clara Ng, translated by Pamela Allen
Published as a part of Myth and History: Writing from Indonesia, Aug 01, 2015
Originally published in Cerpen Koran Tempo, Mar 07, 2010 as Penjual Dongeng.
“Abel saw vultures in the back garden as he was climbing out of the window of the house he had just robbed . . .”
A driving rain was pouring down outside, hammering the roof of the house and seeping through part of the outside wall. Every summer Husin would reinforce the cement so the seepage would not cause too much damage, but every rainy season he could only watch as the rain roundly mocked him. Completely defeated, he would stare blankly at the water droplets slowly emerging through the gap in the wall like some kind of organized magic, then slowly descending like a swarm of termites inching toward the floor.
Read the full story here.
