Mona Sylviana, translated by Toni Pollard
Published as a part of Myth and History: Writing from Indonesia, Aug 01, 2015
Originally published in Cerpen Koran Tempo, Dec 29, 2013 as Dongeng Penebusan.
The man turned. Coffee and cocoa leaves were piled up, all stuck together. Branches were rubbing against each other roughly in the wind. Samsu pushed the low door open, its hinges silent. He paused briefly. The quiet of the outside was shattered by the noise from the television on the wall. Almost everyone in the café was talking, commenting on the discussion taking place on the television.
If it were not for this being the between-season after the dry, when the weather was so changeable, no one would have noticed Samsu’s arrival. Just as he entered, a gust of wind blew up bringing in dry leaves and chill air. Several of the men looked up at the same time.
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