DEAR ARDHAN
DREAM AND CHASE THE SUN

There is a saying that if you want to do something, do it at the beginning of the day. Then good will come.

Esther believed that.

After getting off the train he and his mother walked down a thin cobbled road next to the railway track. The atmosphere of Bandung morning was so cold, there was still a fog hanging between the buildings.

To get to the boarding place he had booked before it took an hour on foot. About four kilos more. Unlike using public transportation, it is enough ten minutes if the road is not jammed.

"We took an angkot aja ma'am, the location of the boarding house near the new campus Ester because."

"What if the distance is Ice?"

"Yes, I'm sorry mom's leg hurts."

The barambut longhaired woman hinted with an arm, stopping one of the passing city shuttles. Make sure his mother goes up first before him.

"Sir is through college, right?"

"Green cube?"

"yes."

"Oh, through neng. Want to go there, right?"

"Yes." Yeah."

"Beauty, pinter the neng can get in there."

The angkot driver looked over for a moment, Esther replied with a smile. Bandung people are famous for being friendly to immigrants. Maybe Esther should start changing her attitude so that it's not as cold as Ice cubes like Ardhan's nickname.

Ah Ardhan!

He hasn't been notified yet. Esther's phone is still dead, right now that guy must be really too busy looking for Esther. Especially if until the news of her eviction from home is heard. Esther fears the fate of her stepfather.

"Think Ardhan?"

Ester nodded.

"When you get to Kostan, you just call him."

"I'm afraid he's making trouble with you."

"Don't worry, Ardhan is strong ...."

"What I'm worried about isn't Ardhan."

"Want to?"

"Sir."

Mom laughed, even though she coughed. Esther hurriedly gave him some drinking water.

More and more days the mother's cough is getting worse. Esther is worried that she is exposed to TB, especially many times she finds blood spots in her cough.

"We're going to the doctor, right?"

"Eh, no need .. I'm not okay."

"Mom's cough is getting worse,"

"No, I'll be fine."

Inevitably Esther complied, though worry still lingered in her mind. She was afraid something bad would happen to mom, afraid of being left behind like dad used to be.

***

They arrived in front of Kostan before nine, had been blocked by a severe traffic jam.

The new school year is a busy day for most people. Moreover, those who want to enter schools and universities, the arrival of people from outside the city and the region causes a surge in vehicles.

The plot of the house that Esther and her mother would inhabit was in a narrow alley, the towering walls of the building blocking the sunlight that was trying to enter. The alley was dimmer than it should have been.

"You must have been ironing Ice a lot,"

Mom looked around. Esther just smiled as she put their luggage into the boarding house. There was only a closet and a Queen size spring bed mattress without a pedestal in the room. Luckily the bathroom and the place to cook are inside. Esther was thinking of buying basic furniture.

"When I grow up, I'll make energy-efficient, cheaper washers and dryers. Let nothing difficult anymore to wash clothes and dry as we are now." he said.

Mom laughed, really not a laugh because she thought it was just a joke. Mother laughed because she believed her daughter would make it happen. Esther is typical of people who are inspired by meaningless little babbles.

Like when mom complains of waist pain because it's hard to dry clothes;

"If yes there is a tool that can make mothers dry clothes without the need for levels under the clothesline."

Neighbors even to give wages and ask to be made. His son is creative and clever.

"Mother why?"

"Ah no, I just remember the clothesline pulley you made."

This time Esther laughed. Remembering himself who suddenly famous as a complex because of being a manufacturer of clothesline. Mbah Urip who had a contract even called it little Habibie. It was too much for Esther, she was just doing what she liked, that's all.

"Mom want me to do it again?"

"Can, but this is the sun that can go up to the top, huh? We're after the sun."

The girl fell silent, her eyebrows twitched together as if she was thinking, "Pursuing the Sun?"

"What are you thinking about again?"

"Eng ... If for example clothesline can chase the sun, then we can also pursue the sun dong bu?"

"What's the real term?"

"Continue dong!"

"Well, I won't understand Es if it's his business. Is the sun hot? The hunt is the one who chases him."

"That means it's Esther's job to make tools and spacecraft that withstand the same heat of the sun. As cold as possible, mom? Up to 20:10 of the sun's heat."

"You're this, there's just nothing."

"Ih, really, ma'am, if we could create such a sophisticated spacecraft we would be able to reach the plains of the sun."

This time the mother shook her head, laughing at her daughter's distant imagination. Even so the mother never protested, she preferred to support all her children's imaginations. Because with all the creativity and ingenuity of his son that's what brought them here.

"Life is like chasing the sun."

Knowing that mother was speaking again, Esther looked at him inexplicably.

"You knew? Chasing after the sun was so exhausting, so far away and hard to reach. But in fact we keep running, even though we don't know whether or not to get to the sun."

Esther throws a grin,

"Make sure we'll get to the sun, whether it's figurative or real."

***

"Mom, Esther's leaving, huh? Breakfast is on the table."

While wearing his sneakers Esther said goodbye to mom. Today is the time of first orientation, he can not come late. Fortunately, there is no need to wear silly attributes like the previous generation. He only wears black trousers and a white shirt, just like people would apply for a job. In his bag was already crowded with items requested by senior students.

Namtage reads "Es puTer" Nangkring on the left chest. Esther smiled looking at the reflection of her strands in the mirror.

"Be careful on the road, Ice? Mother again nanggung nih, can not nganter ahead."

From behind the bathroom, my mother screamed. Esther agreed and closed the door, breaking through the cold of the morning. Joining other children who are also dressed like him.

"PuTer's ES? a pun of what?"

A man who happened to walk one way with her asked, Ester smiled, the glasses guy in front of her looks cute with a pink name tag that says "Fai Jo"

"Ester, man,"

"Your name is good and it's etched so."

"Indeed in the name tag what's the pun?"

"It's not a pun, it's really my name."

The man snatched. Esther hinted with her hand to apologize.

"Say them my name is already bad, so don't need to be listed again."

"Is, justin, seniors are like that."

Their conversation came to a halt as a man in a green alma mater suit and band on his left hand approached. He must be some kind of Disciplinary Commission.

"Not much deck talk! There in! This isn't a gossip spot."

Without answering Esther breezed away. Leaving a shocked look mixed with annoyance at the man before him.

This is the green campus, the campus that will be the dream title that he will achieve. Dreams with a million promises, dreams chasing the sun.