THE MOUNTAINEER'S STRUGGLE
Eps.2

The rain was pouring down, all the children of SD students were getting fun by running around. Rain is their happiness, joy, and their beautiful world. The slide between wet and muddy ground is more fun than the snow slide belonging to the country of four seasons.

They laughed and chased each other in happiness and shouted cheerfully. Not for Ayu lestari. Tears mixed with rainwater make it even more silent. Sometimes it sounds like a pleasure.

The return journey is not an easy one with asphalt roads and vehicles that are always available to deliver. Walkways with slippery red soil when the rain arrives. Being dust that irritates the nose and eyes is a common sight when drought arrives.

Trees and shrubs flanking the trails are sometimes passed by poisonous snakes or***wooden forest. No parents delivered, even though their children were only first grade in Elementary School. They become independent despite their youth. Their parents were too busy with rice fields and fields without having time to drop off to school.

Only the first day of school so the ceremony is important to take to school. Then they would go and go home without being taken. That is the villagers who educate small children are also not good at whining but good at being independent from childhood.

It took 45 minutes to get home but it was too late today for Ayu. Brown-skinned girls even tend to be black because of the sun's exposure allowing heavy rain to splash on her body. Hope it cools his mind.

Still clear asa Bu Tias so that he can become a srikandi who achieves dreams by attending high school. Honey is just a dream and it can't happen.

Drawn by increasingly shaky steps. Asa and dreams make stuffing increasingly become. Rinai was cheeked into the river with the swiftness of the sky troops who seemed to understand the raging feeling.

"O Allah, Ayu, why are you raining? Looky! Your body turns blue, take a shower and keep the bag.! mother's voice welcomed the arrival. The baffled woman with the full face line of the struggle was exasperated. His voice overcame the sound of thunder that had previously understated each other along with his lightning.

Mother's hand stalling the towel and took a bag of crackles containing clothes and Ayu's bag. Mom immediately opened and kept it.

Take a shower next to the house. The shower is in addition to washing clothes and bathing as well as watering a fish pond owned by his family. Ayu no longer wet the rain. The shower was covered, made like a simple little house, with a bamboo-woven roof and wall to his left right.

In a towel that covered his body, Ayu sat with the Father in front of the fireplace. His bluish and wrinkled hands were warm when brought close to the burning flames. A large cauldron filled with water on top of the furnace seemed to be boiling. It explodes with a high puff of smoke. My father was a sugar maker. This sight is common.

Silent. Only a faint sky troop crackle sounded on the zinc roof. Surrounding with a burst of water that almost thickened. Ready to be stirred into palm sugar.

Father shrink the fire fearing the water becomes charred.

"From tomorrow Ayu does not want to go to school again," said Ayu slowly but you can still hear clearly.

"Why, Neng?" ask father astonished.

"Ih, the shy old man, time has no degree. Is that a general champion every year of dropping out? Shame on people." Nia ayu's sister commented.

"What's school for, Nia? To become a babu or shopkeeper can read and count only not a diploma. School is expensive, pity you must be tired of looking for money. If it is not school. Teteh can make money for Nia and adek snacks." Ayu replied with a blank look. Staring at the fire that seemed to burn all hope and excitement for the future.

He took a heavy breath. Load in chest squeezing. The man in black clothes typical of pasundan stopped his hand that was stirring up in the fireplace.

"You should go to school, Neng, in a minute's exam. Minimum diploma, son. Not out of date. True said Nia, the time of smart children to not have an SD Degree. Tomorrow's school again yeah, baby," he persuaded gently.

"No sir, Ayu won't go to school anymore. Ayu wants to go to Junior High School and I said no need. What the school does. So Ayu didn't have to wait until she passed the exam. From tomorrow you will see Ayu will help with housework and rice fields. Let Nia go to school. Ayu instead wants to work and can make Nia go to school without bothering Father and Mother again. God willing Ayu wants to see Nia go to high school."

"Why mah always does, start again want high school. Though see Mother does not have a diploma is also good at taking care of family. Children are not abandoned. Yu, don't keep talking about school. Not tired." Mother spoke while holding Ratih adek Ayu who is another toddler. The little guy was crying in his arms.

"Makanya, Ayu said from tomorrow Ayu will stop school, Mak," Ayu replied as she walked to her room. He slammed his body into an iron bed. There was a sound coming from the old bed. Fortunately it did not collapse. Ayu buried her face in the pillow and hugged the bolster. Only pillows and bolsters understood his feelings all along.

Father sighed. Actually really want to see Ayu high school but for what? Ayu is only a daughter whose nature is only to take care of the house, children and husband. The important thing is that Ayu must be good at cooking, washing it is enough for her life.

\*\*\*\*\*

A week ago Ayu did not go to school.just help with homework, take care of her sister and go to the fields and rice fields. Such a small child already worked like an adult despite his weak energy. Without complaint. His heart had tried to accept the nature of self without but again. Hope and despair about the future were silenced and buried with the rain in tears that day.

"Assalamu'alaikum ... ?" the voice of the afternoon guest disturbed the concentration of the Father who was babysitting Ratih.

"Wa'alaikum salam" opened the door wide.

"Ohh, Ma'am teacher. Please come in, ma'am" replied the Father to his guest.

Miss Tias, the guest of the afternoon came in. Sitting in a rattan chair while looking for something. Where is the boy. Her thought.

"Sorry, ma'am what does the teacher need to come here for?" ask the Father. Though it is well known what the arrival of his son's teacher means.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you. Can I meet Ayu? Ayu hasn't been to school for a week. I asked his friends. Ayu wants to quit school. I just want to meet and ask her directly."

The look on the face of the Father immediately in a cloudy blanket. About Ayu who does not want to go to school is always a burden on her mind. Repeatedly persuaded Ayu to refuse school again. You get confused for him.

"Assalamu'alaikum." Ayu's voice that came made Bu Tias very excited. Thank God it was finally the way he came.

"Wa'alaikum salam. Neng, the teacher's coming. Sit here" said the father waving his hand. As Ayu's code to get close.

Ayu's eyes were perfectly rounded seeing the presence of her beloved teacher. Reluctantly Ayu approached. His footsteps were dragged away by force. Ayu's clothes were full of mud that had now dried up. A day helping her mama to take rice in the rice fields. His face was full of mud.

Bu Tias almost cried seeing his beloved disciple like that. The smart girl of the class champion is not fighting with books but a muddy land in the rice field.

Ayu sat down clumsily. Uncomfortable with the view of Bu Tias that looks nanar.

Ayu bit her lower lip. Glanced at the father who nodded slowly. Code for Ayu to answer questions.

"Yes, teacher. Ayu has decided not to go to school anymore. I want to help my Mom with my Dad." Ayu answered without looking at her teacher's face.

Bu Tias tried to hold back the tear ducts that almost escaped from the net end. His heart was broken hearing the pride disciple's reply.

"Don't Ayu want to be a teacher? If Ayu doesn't go to school, how can she be a teacher?"

"Let's not going to be a teacher, Mom, when there's a graduate teacher. Mr. Ayu said that he could only go to school until Elementary School. So it's better for Ayu not to go to school from now on."

Bu Tias stared intently at Father. Furious at Ayu's reply. The parents turned out to be the cause of Ayu's school strike.

"Sir, please excuse me in advance. Why can't Ayu continue her schooling?" Bu Tias stared intently at the lowered Father. Ayu answers like a dagger that sticks in the heart. Injuring.

"That's just a woman, Mom, enough to read, write, and count. Ayu's smart. The woman was in any high school just at home. I also have no fees for Ayu school." replied Mr.

Bu Tias took a deep breath. It feels tight on the chest if you always hear the same reason from the lips of the village people. I don't know when their understanding might change.

"Sir, I'm sorry if I was sassy. Not patronizing, do you believe that Allah is the master of fortune?"

" Yes, of course, teacher. What does this have to do with Ayu's school?"

"When you have one child what is the father's fortune? Then the increase of other children also God remains sufficient. Don't be afraid of not being able to finance. Allah has guaranteed the sustenance of every creature on this earth. Is not a bird that leaves its nest in the morning hungry never let God go back to the nest hungry. Wh why? Because Allah has guaranteed his fortune if he wants to pick him up. Not just staying in the nest. Do not doubt the assurance of Allah's fortune."

Mr. speechless.

"If because Ayu is a woman, then should not women also get education? Women are the pillar of the state. How can it be a buffer if women are stupid and uneducated. If his mother is smart then it will produce a quality generation and become a brilliant generation in the future.

Mother is the first madrassa for her children. So, what happens if the mother of a Pandir child. Do not expect the generation produced will be a generation full of hope." Bu Tias' voice trembled.

The experience of fighting for education is stifling. Not people's words. I have experienced it myself before. Not for economic reasons but breaking down that tradition that makes him have to rack his brain explained to his parents.

Silence of a thousand languages.

"Do you know what Ayu did at school? If his friend plays, Ayu will only write or read. This is Ayu's writing. Bu Tias gave a stack of paper to Father. Please read it! it's Ayu's hope and dream. May it be a consideration. Sorry, if I'm so annoying. I can't stay for long. I have to say yes sir."

Ms. Tias stood up and immediately went home.

Father and Ayu drove in the doorway. Bu Tias hugged Ayu, no matter the clothes should be dirty exposed to mud on Ayu's body and clothes. I wanted to scream when I saw that boy had to lose his future. State assets must be lost due to the mistaken understanding of parents. When can this country progress, if the thinking always retreats regularly.

"It shouldn't be mud on your shirt, son, it should be an ink blot when you study. Not the smell of soil but the smell of books in your hands" he murmured.

"Mother wait for you at school tomorrow, son," Ms. Tias said hello and left with a tearful tear to accompany her.

Ayu just shut up. No more tears. Only the wounds of his soul were growing.

"Ju just don't want to go to school anymore, sir, Ayu doesn't want to be a burden on you anymore. Ayu promises to be diligent in saving. Later if Nia wants to go to school to SMP Ayu savings already a lot. Don't think about Nia's school fees. Let's take a shower, sir."

Ayu left the Father whose pride was torn apart. God, my son has even been thinking about his sister's future. However, I even planned to marry her at a young age after coming to a proposal to the family. Aib is great if age increases but no application arrives.

You're not a burden, dear. The obligation of every parent to meet the needs of food stamps and your board. Sorry, you made you think so. I squeezed a pile of Ayu's writing on the polio paper.

\*\*\*\*\*\*

The clock shows 07. 30 WIBS. All students have entered class. Everyone had read the do'a and prepared to listen to the explanation of the Indonesian history lesson that morning.

Bu Tias sighed. The bench in front of him was already ten days empty. It was in vain to come to Ayu's house. Ayu remained in her stance. And always misses the challenge of the little girl asking about school lessons or answering questions from him.

"Assalamu'alaikum." Ayu's voice in the doorway

"Wa'alaikum salam," answered the class.

"Dash? Maa is Allah. Enter Nak! Alhamdulillah." Bu Tias' happy voice greeted Ayu who timidly came late.

"Well can you come in, Mom?" ask her with a blush.

"of course. Come on in and we'll learn again. Come in, we'll have a test in a week. Today we learn the simulation of the test, so that your test results are satisfactory" Ms. Tias guided Ayu's hand and invited her to sit on her stool.

Thank you, O God. May this be the beginning of Ayu's happy day in the future of hope and hope. Pinta's a hero with no sign of merit. May all his hopes be real. Not just for Ayu. But for each child.

To be continue~