Bald-headed
Ch. 7

When asked, he said his erratic behaviour was due to stress. It was the perfect excuse, everyone understood, including Ali, and that was why he did not argue back when he wanted to leave for a few days.

Wedding plans stress everyone involved. Nearly five hundred people were invited, including the governor, several councillors and an ambassador. That's too much, he says, but their engagement is news and has dominated social pages since they announced their plans six months ago.

Sometimes she felt like running away with Ali to get married without any fuss. But he knows he won't agree, like an aspiring politician, he enjoys being the center of attention.

He took a deep breath and stood up again. "Now or never" he whispered, then took his things and went to the door.

He paused for a while before opening the door and getting off. The manager smiled as he passed by, and he could feel his gaze as he left and stepped into his car. He slipped behind the wheel, saw himself one last time in the mirror, then turned on the engine and turned right towards the main road.

He was not surprised that he still knew his way around the city very well. Although he had not been here for many years, even though it was a big city but he navigated the streets easily. Enjoying the path of General Sudirman increasingly organized, until finally he turned to the gravel road and began his last journey.

It's beautiful here, in the lowlands, as always. Unlike the Bandung area where he grew up, the land is hilly, but has a fertile and muddy land that is used as a vegetable plantation, although basically more ideal as a conservation forest.

The head of the local Agriculture Service once said that the condition left the government stuck in a dilemma. Although it cannot be denied that the area had contributed greatly to the amount of vegetable production of its territory, but personally and the agency never wanted the area to become a center of agriculture.

Situ Gintung for him, it did not change at all. The sunlight that broke through the twin rubber kebo trees soared with the roots of its mounts wrapped around the trunk until it dangled to the ground. The rubber tree is on the edge and directly adjacent to the back of an international sports club.

Situ Gintung was created between 1932-1933 with an initial area of about 31 hectares. The water source from it comes from Mount Salak and Mount Pangrango and is part of the Cisadane River flow. This is a legacy lake of the colonial era which later developed into a tourist attraction. Life hasn't changed much since before their grandparents were here.

The firmness of the place brought back a flood of memories, and Birundasih felt her entrails stiffen as one by one she recognized the places she had long forgotten about.

The sun hung right over the trees to his left, and as he turned, he passed by an old building, which had been abandoned for years but still stood. He had explored parts of the city, looking for souvenirs from some of the famous shops, and as his car passed by, the memories of that day became stronger, as if it had just happened yesterday.

A magnificent oak tree by the river began to be seen, and the memories became stronger. It looked the same as it used to be, its branches low and thick, stretched horizontally along the ground with Spanish moss covering the branches like a veil, a Spanish moss which to the local people is referred to as the prophet's beard.

He remembers sitting under a tree on a hot day in July with someone looking at him with a longing that took everything away. And that's when she first fell in love.

The man was two years older than him, and as he was driving along this road, he slowly became focused once again. He always looked older than he really was, he thought. His appearance was like someone who was slightly weathered, almost like a farmer who came home after hours in the fields.

He was tall and strong, with black hair, and handsome in his own way, but his voice was the one he remembered most. He had read to her that day, reading as they lay in the grass under the tree with a soft and fluent accent, the quality almost like music.

It was the kind of sound that was on the radio, and it was like hanging in the air when he read to her. He remembered closing his eyes, listening carefully, and letting the words he read touch his soul.

Life is balanced, sir. Whoever looks only at his cheerfulness is a madman. Whoever looks at his suffering is sick...

He flipped through old books with yellow pages, books he had read hundreds of times. He read for a while, then stopped, and the two of them would talk.

He will tell her what he wants in his life - his hopes and dreams for the future - and he will listen carefully and then promise to make it all happen. And the way he said it made her believe him, and she knew how much that man meant to her.

Sometimes, when she asks, she will talk about herself or explain why she chose a particular poem or quote and what she thinks about it, she said, and at other times he just studied it in an intense way.

They watched the sun set and ate together under the stars. It was late, and she knew her parents would be angry if they knew where she was. However, at that moment, it didn't matter to him.

All he could think about was how special the day was, how special he was, and when they walked to his house a few minutes later, he held her hand and he felt how it warmed him all the way home.

Another turn on the road and he finally saw her in the distance. The house had changed dramatically from what he remembered. He slowed down the car as he approached, turning into a long dirt road with rows of trees.

He drove slowly, looked towards the house, and took a deep breath when he saw her on the porch, watching her car. He was dressed casually. From a distance, he looked the same as back then.

The car kept on going, rolling slowly, then finally stopped under the oak tree that shaded the front of the house, a tree that is not common here. He turned the key, never took his eyes off it, and the machine stopped.

He got off the porch and started approaching her, walked leisurely, then suddenly stopped cold as he got out of the car. For a long time all they could do was stare at each other without moving.

Birundasih, approaching thirty years of age and engaged, a socialite, seeks answers she needs to know, and Sugiono, the dreamer, thirty-two, is visited by the ghost that dominates her life.