LindaChristanty.com - Linda Christanty

Babe, I loved your dark skin. I like black. Perhaps in Durban, the town you mentioned many times and I always wrongly thought it was Johannesburg, you were still sleeping in your bedroom hotel, so tired that you had no time to read these words on your laptop. You were asleep before reading my first sentence about your body, where the soul is hidding. 

Helmut Herzog, a German anthropologist, had shown the picture of this man to me three years ago. At the time Helmut was studying immortal men. He went to various places in Kalimantan for two months to collect stories about them.

The afternoon wind was sharp and arid. The air in the park was dusty. The shallow pond resembling buffalo wallow gave off rancid smell of mud. Wilted and rotten lotus leaves drifted on the brown murky surface. In the corner of the pool, a fat woman statue holding a jar had been blanketed with dust. 

KECELAKAAN mobil di Missoula, Montana membuat Ruth harus cuti beberapa waktu. Mobilnya menabrak pohon. Ia mengalami kebutaan wajah, tak dapat membedakan wajah-wajah orang secara detail.

A small dog lies on the street. The soldier has shot him with an automatic rifle. I almost lose grasp of my camera. I am really shocked.

ZAKARIA termenung di kamarnya, yang tak pantas disebut kamar. Ruang ini markas kawanan perabot, tempat kakaknya menyimpan perkakas dapur dan peralatan makan untuk kenduri, hari raya atau menjamu tamu keluarga dari lain kota.

ANJING mungil rebah di jalan. Serdadu itu menembaknya dengan senapan otomatis.

Kameraku nyaris terlepas. Aku benar-benar kaget.

Baru saja kulihat ia berlari-lari kecil, mengendus-endus pasir, lalu menengok sekelilingnya seperti bingung.

Aku bahkan belum memotretnya.

AKU akan terus ada selama kalian mengingatku. Tapi aku khawatir aku justru tidak dapat mengingat kalian lagi. Ingatanku akan musnah, seperti ingatan siapa pun yang ada di sini. Barangkali mereka dulu khawatir juga memikirkan ingatan mereka yang akan hilang, seperti aku memikirkan ingatanku saat ini. Tapi akhirnya mereka tidak memikirkannya lagi karena ingatan mereka sendiri sudah tak ada.