Not Just a Television - Part 1
“Dad, please, don’t bring the TV. I can’t spend my days without watching TV,” I desperately begged.
But he didn’t say any single word. His right hand grasped the cable connecting the TV to the outlet while the other gently touched the top of TV, therefore it wouldn’t fall down.
Then carefully he put it on the floor. I sat down on the floor although there were five bamboo chairs around. My face was covered by my both hands, but I could still see through among my fingers.
Daddy picked up an undersized cartoon from our garage, though I would rather not call it garage, it was just the room where we kept piles of used staffs. In a little while, he was already with the TV and the cartoon. I was really in the dark what my dad was going to do with our TV, but I knew for certain I was going to lose it for good.
I sluggishly walked up to my dad and tried to win our TV back. “I am begging, you, dad. Please! please! Don’t take this TV away from us,” I cried gently.
Unintentionally, my tears welled up covering my cheek. I wiped it right away, so my dad didn’t notice what had just happened or at least he didn’t get angry at me.
He in fact couldn’t stand seeing a crying boy. He once told me that crying was a weakness, especially for a boy, though, to me, crying is normal for an 11-year boy like me. He once was very angry at me when I got incident of falling down from my bicycle, I scratched my both knees. I was unbearably in pain, so I cried out loud like a baby. Since then, I never cried again.
All of sudden, a very loud knocking of the front door stopped my dad from what he was doing. It was a middle aged man with a very thick mustache stood stiffly as my dad slowly opened the door. He didn’t say a word, or even looked at my dad. Instead that strange man looked around inside the house seeming like searching something.
A second later, I thought that man would take our TV. So It was impossible for me to defend our TV. “Oh boy! I don’t want to lose my TV. Not this time. Not again. Never again.” I said to myself.
My mind brought me just about a decade earlier when my daddy went bankrupt since his tile factory couldn’t produce any. I didn’t know why since I was in kindergarten, not big enough to understand what was going on.
In order to survive, my dad had to lay off some employees and spent much money to pay his debt. Besides that, he had to sell our house and everything on it. We lost pride and fortune. We left everything there, our house, my school, my toys, and my friends, as well as our sweet memory there.
Although we had lived long enough in Surabaya, the capital city of East Java, since I was born there, it didn’t stop my daddy to leave the city, where every sweetest moment we had was there. In desperate time, my family and I flew to Kalimantan, exactly in the southern part of Kalimantan. It was a small city, where you can find river anywhere. My pleasing story began here. A new page, a very brand new chapter, was about to start. I didn’t know what the next chapter had in store for me.
It was on Sutoyo S. Street, where My dad rented a very small and cheap house without electricity. Actually it was not exactly on that Street, our house was within 20-minute walk from highway.
Our house was fairly far from convenience. It had two bed rooms, the small one for my big sister and the bigger one for my dad and my mom, while my two younger brothers and two younger sisters had to share either with my parents or my big sister.
I preferred to sleep on the floor since the two beds were not big enough for all of us. And the last was we had one tiny kitchen while the bathroom was next to it. All the materials of the house were made of woods. The doors, the windows, the wall and the floor were made of wood even the foundation and roofs were also made of wood. It was called “Ulin” wood, the strongest wood ever- strong enough to bend some steel nails.
Every single day would not be the same as we were in Surabaya. My dad did not have a job yet. It was not easy anyway to get a job, at least for my dad, whose father used to be actually a successful businessman in logging company before he finally passed away a couple years ahead.
My daddy used to have everything he wanted, but then it was nothing. I felt grateful though we did not have a lot of fortune, but we still had a wonderful house which covered us from the sun and the rain. Every night we lighted up some oil lamps in every room, so we didn’t sleep in the dark. And the next day all of us woke up with black smudge inside our noses. It was not the best, but it was enough for all of us.
Like the other days after school in the afternoon around 4 pm, when I was in Surabaya, I used to watch my favorite cartoon on TV, even I watched TV till very late every night, but this time was different. It would never be the same again, not any more. We did not have TV, besides there was no electricity at home. I was thinking how I could possibly watch it.
Then I remembered my neighbor next three houses to mine had a TV because every time I passed through that house I could hear the loud noise of TV. Probably my neighbor could allow me to watch it there.
Then because of not having enough courage to pay a visit my neighbor and knocked the door and said” Could I watch TV here? Never crossed in my mind. So, I decided to watch it in secret.
The house had no fences and there was large wooden floor in front of it. And the TV was in the front living room. The door was usually closed. Slowly and gently I laid myself on the dirty floor seeing through under the door. Through that tiny space under the door, I could watch my favorite cartoon though I could barely hear the sound, but I was so happy. It had been a week I watched my favorite cartoon and I never missed a single day without watching TV.
That day as soon as I went back from school, I remembered that it was the last episode of my favorite cartoon. I could not wait myself to watch it. So, I ran as fast as I could, then I hopped on the left, then on the right, then right. A minute I finally managed to come to that house.
As usual, I tried to lay on the floor and watched through the tiny space under the door. My eyes were searching every corner in that living room, but It was nothing. I didn’t see any TVs. “Where is it? Where is my TV?" I thought. Then suddenly creaking sound of the opening door shocked me to death. “Oh God! It was my neighbor.” I ran and I ran as far as I could. And I didn't stop and I didn’t look back. Since then I never watched my neighbor’s TV.
“Langit! Don’t you ever go to aunt Linda's house and watch TV there, again?”, shouted my big sister, Rina.
“But why?” I asked curiously. “You just can’t. Do you hear me, Langit?” another warning words from my big sister.
Tobe continued…
But he didn’t say any single word. His right hand grasped the cable connecting the TV to the outlet while the other gently touched the top of TV, therefore it wouldn’t fall down.
Then carefully he put it on the floor. I sat down on the floor although there were five bamboo chairs around. My face was covered by my both hands, but I could still see through among my fingers.
Daddy picked up an undersized cartoon from our garage, though I would rather not call it garage, it was just the room where we kept piles of used staffs. In a little while, he was already with the TV and the cartoon. I was really in the dark what my dad was going to do with our TV, but I knew for certain I was going to lose it for good.
I sluggishly walked up to my dad and tried to win our TV back. “I am begging, you, dad. Please! please! Don’t take this TV away from us,” I cried gently.
Unintentionally, my tears welled up covering my cheek. I wiped it right away, so my dad didn’t notice what had just happened or at least he didn’t get angry at me.
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He in fact couldn’t stand seeing a crying boy. He once told me that crying was a weakness, especially for a boy, though, to me, crying is normal for an 11-year boy like me. He once was very angry at me when I got incident of falling down from my bicycle, I scratched my both knees. I was unbearably in pain, so I cried out loud like a baby. Since then, I never cried again.
All of sudden, a very loud knocking of the front door stopped my dad from what he was doing. It was a middle aged man with a very thick mustache stood stiffly as my dad slowly opened the door. He didn’t say a word, or even looked at my dad. Instead that strange man looked around inside the house seeming like searching something.
A second later, I thought that man would take our TV. So It was impossible for me to defend our TV. “Oh boy! I don’t want to lose my TV. Not this time. Not again. Never again.” I said to myself.
My mind brought me just about a decade earlier when my daddy went bankrupt since his tile factory couldn’t produce any. I didn’t know why since I was in kindergarten, not big enough to understand what was going on.
In order to survive, my dad had to lay off some employees and spent much money to pay his debt. Besides that, he had to sell our house and everything on it. We lost pride and fortune. We left everything there, our house, my school, my toys, and my friends, as well as our sweet memory there.
Although we had lived long enough in Surabaya, the capital city of East Java, since I was born there, it didn’t stop my daddy to leave the city, where every sweetest moment we had was there. In desperate time, my family and I flew to Kalimantan, exactly in the southern part of Kalimantan. It was a small city, where you can find river anywhere. My pleasing story began here. A new page, a very brand new chapter, was about to start. I didn’t know what the next chapter had in store for me.
It was on Sutoyo S. Street, where My dad rented a very small and cheap house without electricity. Actually it was not exactly on that Street, our house was within 20-minute walk from highway.
Our house was fairly far from convenience. It had two bed rooms, the small one for my big sister and the bigger one for my dad and my mom, while my two younger brothers and two younger sisters had to share either with my parents or my big sister.
I preferred to sleep on the floor since the two beds were not big enough for all of us. And the last was we had one tiny kitchen while the bathroom was next to it. All the materials of the house were made of woods. The doors, the windows, the wall and the floor were made of wood even the foundation and roofs were also made of wood. It was called “Ulin” wood, the strongest wood ever- strong enough to bend some steel nails.
Every single day would not be the same as we were in Surabaya. My dad did not have a job yet. It was not easy anyway to get a job, at least for my dad, whose father used to be actually a successful businessman in logging company before he finally passed away a couple years ahead.
My daddy used to have everything he wanted, but then it was nothing. I felt grateful though we did not have a lot of fortune, but we still had a wonderful house which covered us from the sun and the rain. Every night we lighted up some oil lamps in every room, so we didn’t sleep in the dark. And the next day all of us woke up with black smudge inside our noses. It was not the best, but it was enough for all of us.
Like the other days after school in the afternoon around 4 pm, when I was in Surabaya, I used to watch my favorite cartoon on TV, even I watched TV till very late every night, but this time was different. It would never be the same again, not any more. We did not have TV, besides there was no electricity at home. I was thinking how I could possibly watch it.
Then I remembered my neighbor next three houses to mine had a TV because every time I passed through that house I could hear the loud noise of TV. Probably my neighbor could allow me to watch it there.
Then because of not having enough courage to pay a visit my neighbor and knocked the door and said” Could I watch TV here? Never crossed in my mind. So, I decided to watch it in secret.
The house had no fences and there was large wooden floor in front of it. And the TV was in the front living room. The door was usually closed. Slowly and gently I laid myself on the dirty floor seeing through under the door. Through that tiny space under the door, I could watch my favorite cartoon though I could barely hear the sound, but I was so happy. It had been a week I watched my favorite cartoon and I never missed a single day without watching TV.
That day as soon as I went back from school, I remembered that it was the last episode of my favorite cartoon. I could not wait myself to watch it. So, I ran as fast as I could, then I hopped on the left, then on the right, then right. A minute I finally managed to come to that house.
As usual, I tried to lay on the floor and watched through the tiny space under the door. My eyes were searching every corner in that living room, but It was nothing. I didn’t see any TVs. “Where is it? Where is my TV?" I thought. Then suddenly creaking sound of the opening door shocked me to death. “Oh God! It was my neighbor.” I ran and I ran as far as I could. And I didn't stop and I didn’t look back. Since then I never watched my neighbor’s TV.
“Langit! Don’t you ever go to aunt Linda's house and watch TV there, again?”, shouted my big sister, Rina.
“But why?” I asked curiously. “You just can’t. Do you hear me, Langit?” another warning words from my big sister.
Tobe continued…
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