Intan Paramaditha, translated by Stephen J. Epstein
Published as a part of Asymptote Journal – Summer 2017, Jul 18, 2017
First published in Gentayangan: Pilih Sendiri Petualangan Sepatu Merahmu
Illustration by Emma Roulette
This isn’t your usual ghost story, you know. It’s a completely ordinary tale, nothing special. My grandmother expired, as most grandmothers do, four days after I turned twenty-nine. I chose to skip the scene of her funeral—women in headscarves chanting prayers and men in peci heaping soil on her body, far away down yonder. I, beloved granddaughter that I was, hoped she’d forgive me for not shelling out fifteen hundred dollars to see her wrapped in a shroud. There’s no point in running after the dead.
Read the full story here.