THE STREET

VOCABULARY
Sabina Thipani (081214032)

A little girl was sitting in a plain-small-wooden chair which was put in front of her home. She was staring at the night sky. There were no stars tonight. No, there were no stars almost every night. The smoke from the factories chimneys in the town never let them show their light. Only some stars which still could shine this night.
She was a thin girl with brown skin. Her black hair had turned to reddish because of the heat of the sun ray. She sang her songs every day under the heat of the sun with her small guitar among the luxurious cars in the traffic light. She knows she was not good enough in playing that small guitar, but some people said they like her voice. Mas Topo had thought her how to play that guitar for about a year ago. A year ago when her father was fired because of something that she never know exactly. All she knows was her father loved her and her mother. Maybe the factory where her father worked didn’t know that, she often thought. Maybe they didn’t know that now her father had to work harder than before. Maybe they didn’t know that her father was a very nice people. Her father always told her to be an honest girl. Maybe they didn’t know that her father wouldn’t disappoint them. Her father always told her to respect people. Maybe they didn’t know that she had to work in the street because father didn’t work in factory anymore.
“Why don’t you tell them about us, Dad? That I have to work now, that I can’t buy the books anymore, that mother now sleeps lately because she has to work as a chip seller. Maybe they will understand,” she asked her father.
“No little girl, they don’t really understand,” father answered.
Oh, what do they need, then? She thought. Ah, maybe there were better people than father.
“You will understand someday,” her father said again. “That’s why you have to be a smart girl.”
“You don’t have to sing every day, Honey. Or if you have bored you can stop to sing,” her mother said while she was stroking her hair. Her mother was no spring chicken.
“No, Mom. I like to help you and Dad, but I just don’t understand why Dad can’t work in the factory anymore. Beside I really want to have books to school.”
The conversation a couple of months ago appeared again that night. She was in the 3th grade of Elementary School. She was a little girl but unfortunately the problem she had to face was not as little as her age. A doll was not the most important dream for her any more. She wanted to be a smart girl just like her father said.
The night was deeper. The wind which blows gently made the night was getting colder. The little girl felt sleepy. She came to her home after her mother called her to come in. She was actually so tired. She went home at 1 p.m. from school today. Then she sang in the street again till the sky turned orange.
She often thought if the people really listen to her voice or not. Sometimes they gave her money before she sang or before she finished her song. That’s not bad, she thought. But honestly, she prefers if people heard she sings first then gave her money.
She came to her small room and went to bed. Her thin mattress didn’t mind to support her thin body. She closed her eyes. Let her tiredness dulled together with her slower breath. Tomorrow she had to study again to be a smart girl her father wanted, to sing to help her parents, sing with Anto and Tina. While the darkness was covering her, she thought about Anto. He never tasted study in school. He often asked her how it felt to study in school. She finally slept tighter.

***

A young girl was walking slowly through the stores in a mall. She was about 16 years old. She had walked for about two hours. She seemed didn’t feel tired. Her tiredness was covered by her passion to find the dress she wanted. She finally found a store, like boutique. She saw a wonderful, legged, sleeved, open-necked, red dress.
An hour latter she had sat in a food court, waiting for the fast food she ordered five minutes ago. She was not alone now. She was sitting with her friends which all were girls. They were four. She was wearing black short with red shirt and sandals in her foot. Her black hair was totally smooth. She had done cream bath yesterday.
The room where she sits was really comfortable. The brown table in front of her was glancing. The sofa where she sat was really soft and elastic. Air conditioner didn’t let her felt hot. The (perfumed) of the room was really fresh.
It seemed that she didn’t felt the comfort at all. She felt tired, sleepy, and really hungry.
“O, God. Why is it too long? I could eat a horse!” she finally spoke what her stomach meant.
“This place is not good enough, isn’t it?” her friend with the tank top responded her.
“Well, yeah. I’m really hungry,” she said.
“How is your hunt? Did you find the dress you wanted?” another friend of her who had curly hair asked her enthusiastically.
“Oh, yes of course. I am always the first than all of you in fashion,” she said arrogantly. Her friends were just smiling each other. They aren’t really simpatico to her. If that was not because she was rich and had money to pay all of their clothes and food, they would leave her soon. She never appreciated people and thought that she was every thing.
“How much is the dress?” the girl who had kept silent finally spoke.
“Cheap. Eight hundred IDR,” she answered. “If it was not because Lena invited us suddenly and gave me very short time to buy dress, I would buy the better one,” she spoke something annoying again.
“Or the more expensive one?” the girl with the tank top licked.
Thirty minutes later, they had finished their lunch. They ate like birds, left the plate more than half food. Every girl did that, they thought. The “central girl” left the money on the table above the (bond). Two thousand IDR for the wasted food.
The super power girl and the flatterer were walking out of the restaurant but they never walked out from the material world.

***
The night was getting dark but the little girl didn’t want to go home now. She walked in the sidewalk. The cars which competed with the motorcycles to full fill the road had passed two hours ago. The traffic wasn’t loaded any more. She felt so tired. Her leg had been so stiff.
“I wanted to buy the books tomorrow,” she thought. She was satisfied by the money she got today.

***

She had been waiting for fifteen minutes. She felt very upset. “Why is she so long?” The beauty in her face was dull by her anger. The girl who had been waited finally came out and went to the car.
The light of the road was passed fast from the car. They were in a hurry. The party began five minutes more and they were still fifteen minutes from the place where the party was held. The girl with the red dress was driving the car. The road was empty. The traffic light would turn into red five seconds more but they were too far to pass the green light. She volatilized the gas. But suddenly unexpected figure appeared two meters in front of her car. She couldn’t control her car. She clashed the figure. She finally could stop the car but it was too late. The figure had fallen through the side of the car. She was shocked. She was in a pickle. She really wanted to go to the party. She had been waited for a long time. She had lost many things, much energy, and much power. Now the figure was fallen powerless beside her car. She didn’t know what to do.

***

The tough woman was waiting in the door. Her little girl hadn’t come back. Usually she had come home two hours ago. Her husband touched her solder.
“Don’t worry honey, she is strong,” he said.
“I will go there to find her,” she said. She was panic.
“Let me do that. Just wait here,” her husband finally left her in the door. She was staring at the night sky. There were no stars tonight. No, there were no stars almost every night. The smoke from the factories chimneys in the town never let them show their light. Only some stars which still could shine this night.

***