The House 1937's
18.Reprimands From Above the Cage

The atmosphere this morning was quite serious with grandma and dad sitting at the dining table in the kitchen. Grandma complained to papa about some of her missing entoks. Not only entok is missing, even the eggs are deliberately placed in the cage is also missing.

My grandmother did diligently count the number of entoks every day when feeding the entoks in the morning, it was, do not forget to also collect the eggs and then he stored in a special place to store the eggs in the cage. But today the grandmother was surprised by the number of entoknya reduced by 6 tails and all the eggs that he stored in the cage was lost. The grandparents' pet is actually the property of my late grandfather who he used to buy for his livestock both entok and eggs and will be resold at once to fill leisure time activities. Not only entok, grandfather also deliberately bought some chickens both roosters and hens and built a small hut near the house for his cage. For the cage itself is at the back of this house, shaped like a small house with jaro as the wall, a kind of fence made of bamboo slats and there is a special place in the cage to store the eggs. My father who thought for a moment maybe because rarely the house and cage is quite far away, coupled with the absence of lighting installed there and the door of the cage that is only smuggled in usually makes it an easy target for irresponsible people to steal the entrance belonging to grandmother.

"His cage must be restored Well, the door is padlock so it is safer.", Papa explained his opinion to my grandmother with a slightly upset expression. Upset because of the irresponsible actions of humans who have dared to take the entrance belonging to grandma.

"I see.., yes already if you can cook it now only.", my grandmother slightly massaged her temple and really hope this incident will not happen again.

"Ga just put a padlock Well, we are also the badger who the thief.", Papa fold his elbow by showing his face that always looks serious.

"Where do you think Jun.", My grandmother frowned a little at the idea of papa which she thought was quite dangerous.

" Jun won't himself Enah, Jun will tell Pak Tani, Giman, same Najim Nah.", later...", Papa immediately remembered Mr. Tani and his two sons to ask them for help to carry out his plan.

*****

"The rich should be in the koh.", replied Mr. Tani who was also upset with the incident of entok and eggs, he had experienced the same thing when his rooster was stolen and not only he lost his chicken but there were other neighbors who also fared the same and finally the thief was successfully arrested after supervision during some days done by the people. Mr. Tani took a boiled cassava that was brought by his aunt from the kitchen and ate it.

"Yes sir, so dizzy me, You're complaining about Mulu from this morning because of this. Enah emang ngurusin really because entok it was Babah who bought.", Papa sipped his black coffee is still warm.

"Yes I know Koh.., from still a little Ampe already a lot tuh entok.", Mr. Tani chuckled and began to light his kretek cigarette.

"So what time do we go behind him.?", Giman looks shy when taking a boiled cassava in front of him.

"But if we go back now what will be the turn of the date tonight as well?", Najim scratched his chin and looked at his father and brother.

"My estimation is that he's going to Dateng tonight.., we're getting ready...."

******

Papa who is now hiding among the pandan trees with Pak Tani, Giman, and Najim and a little bit of itch on his cheeks due to mosquitoes that pretty much surround him not to mention with the sound of mosquitoes that are quite disturbing. Although feeling a little uncomfortable, but he determined tonight should be able to snatch the thief. He wore a mixed-white and gray sarong with a large enough machete that he brought from inside the house. Not only papa, Pak Tani and his two sons also brought their own weapons, Pak Tani brought a machete and a medium-sized celurit as well as his two sons.

"A little more, if it still does not appear, we look again tomorrow malem.", firmly papa while wicking the sheath.

For a long time they watched the cage while occasionally feeling disturbed by the many mosquitoes that surrounded them finally they heard a sound that seemed to approach the cage. They were watching very closely and were sure to see two gloved people wearing knit hats on their heads and shining flashlights around the cage, like wanting to ensure safety around the cage. Fortunately, Papa and the others hid far enough away from the cage that they did not notice.

"Koh.., they were already on the deck of Koh's cage.", Mr. Tani pulled the tip of the papa holster with a huff.

"Come.", Papa moved slowly by removing his sandals so that his footsteps could more freely move followed by Pak Tani, Giman and Najim who walked on tiptoes slowly behind Papa. The four of them who had been near the cage and were shocked by the two thieves who ran off the roost out of the cage and immediately papa, Pak Tani, Giman and Najim rounded them up mercilessly. Papa even hit them both in the face and would probably hit again if Giman and Najim did not prevent it. Now the two thieves had been tightly tied near the cage and they had taken it to the side porch of the house. Papa asked them in an angry tone if they had previously committed theft elsewhere. They admitted with a lethargic face that this was the first time they did the action because it was so squeezed with economic problems that they were forced to do this.

"Continue on, why did you run away in fear out of the cage??", Papa looked at them with a judgmental look. Holding his machete is big enough. Mr. Tani who has known papa for a long time is not surprised by his nature which is very scary if he is angry like this. While Giman and Najim only fell silent stiff the first time they saw the wrath of the father with their own eyes.

"A.anu Koh.

"Why?!", Papa shouted out loud enough to shock everyone who was there.

Eventually the two thieves told him what had really happened.

*******

Udin and Acup managed to pass through the already weathered jaro and slowly walked through the empty land that is quite large. Many wild plants that grow there that allow the presence of snakes that habitat in this empty land because they find dead skin snakes with the flashlight rays they carry. They remain vigilant staring at the situation around and continue to step towards the cage of entry that became their goal. If they pass through the cage and walk further out of this vacant land there is a large house with peranakan Chinese architecture that they both know is the owner of the cage and also the owner of the rice barn, the chicken coop, and of course this vacant land. They knew about the cages from someone who had bought the crib there when the male owner of the house was still alive. The previous night they successfully carried 6 entoks following with all their eggs and they were lucky enough that the cage was far enough from the back of the house that they were less likely to be caught and caught. Because their previous action was successful, without a second thought they finally decided to return to action tonight. Although they succeeded the night before, they still had to be careful because they heard the owner of this cage was a young man who was the son of the late owner of a house that was notoriously fierce.

"Bae-Bae Cup, he said Engkoh who has a fierce bow.", Udin warned his friend he thought very eager to "bring" back entok from inside the cage.

"Please Din, the cage is far from home, will not be found as long as we are not noisy.", Acup with "ngeyel"he is very confident that the action this time can also be successful like last night.

They finally arrived at their destination and slowly opened the cage after seeing the surrounding situation then entered with a tiptoe step which was greeted with several sounding entoks, knowing someone had entered their cage. As soon as they were in the cage and ready to "bring" the bow, they heard a pretty goosebumps that they knew it was not from these entoks. They just fell silent and felt the strange sound from the top of this cage and their reflexes looked up to the roof of the cage which was also made of jaro. They were shocked and immediately frightened to see a strange and frightening face at the top of this cage with their mouths wide open, pale faces, and empty eyes, the figure's hair was long and irregular until it went into the sidelines of the roof of the cage which made it like roots hanging on a banyan tree.

"YOU NYOUOPEET YAAA......???" Not only his face is scary but also his voice really makes the book goosebumps.

The brand that saw the sighting thoughtlessly ran straight towards the door of the cage, not caring about the crackling sounds. Indeed, if they remember back, last night they heard the same screeching sound when entering this cage.........

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