Eka Kurniawan - Beauty is a Wound

“Child, you are going to be married soon, just like your older sister Alamanda,” said Dewi Ayu.

“I’ve heard that getting married is easy,” said Maya Dewi.

“That’s quite true. What’s difficult is getting divorced.”

Then Maman Gendeng reappeared, coming out of the bedroom with the pale face of a sleepwalker, and sat in a chair, reluctant to look at the little girl sitting next to her mother. “I had a dream,” he said. Neither Dewi Ayu nor Maya Dewi responded, because they were waiting for him to continue. “I dreamed I was bitten by a snake.”

“That’s a good omen,” said Dewi Ayu. “You two will soon be married. I am going out to look for a village headman.”

That was how Maman Gendeng, about thirty years old, married Maya Dewi, who was twelve, in the same year that Alamanda married Shodancho. Their brief and simple wedding ceremony was celebrated by cheerful gossip throughout the city about what had really happened. But at least the marriage made the Halimunda men quite happy, because they could once again visit Dewi Ayu at Mama Kalong’s whorehouse.

Dewi Ayu left her house and two servants to the newlyweds, while she and Adinda moved to a complex of newly renovated homes left behind by the Japanese. Dewi Ayu liked those houses because the Japanese had big tubs, almost as big as swimming pools.

“If you want to get married too, just say the word,” she told Adinda.

“Oh, I’m not in such a hurry,” said Adinda. “The apocalypse is still quite a ways off.”

Before they left for good, Dewi Ayu prepared a luxurious room for the newlyweds, with the scent of jasmine and orchids floating in the air. The new bed that she had ordered, the best mattress in the city with the latest spring-bed technology, had arrived directly from the store that afternoon and was surrounded by an elegantly pleated pink mosquito net. The walls of the room were decorated with crepe-paper flowers. But this was all sort of pointless, because those newlyweds didn’t really spend their first night together then.

Instead, Maya Dewi, who was wearing her pajamas, jumped on the bed with the lightheartedness of a child. She wanted to test out its springs, just as her mother had done so many years ago at the brothel for the Japanese. When she tired of admiring the mattress and the splendorous room she lay down, hugging a bolster and waiting for her groom. Maman Gendeng appeared in a state of indescribable awkwardness. He did not jump into bed, embrace his wife’s body and ravage her mercilessly like so many careless new husbands do. Instead he just pulled up a chair to the side of the bed and sat there looking at the little girl’s face with the tortured gaze of a man watching his lover die. Her miniature beauty was really quite charming. Her black hair shone, unfurling beneath her atop the pillow. The eyes that returned his gaze were clear and innocent. Her nose and her lips and everything about her was marvelous. But see, everything was still so tiny and adorable. Her hands were still the hands of a young girl, as were her calves, and underneath her pajamas her breasts were not yet full grown. There was no way he could sleep with such a little girl.

“Why are you just sitting there so quietly?” asked Maya Dewi.

“Well what should I be doing?” Maman Gendeng retorted, in a complaining tone.

“You could at least tell me a story.”

Maman Gendeng was not good at making up stories, so he told her the only story he had ever heard: the story about Princess Rengganis.

“If we have a daughter, let’s name her Rengganis,” said Maya Dewi.

“That’s just what I was thinking.”

And so every night passed in the same way: Maya Dewi would lie down first, in her pajamas, and then Maman Gendeng would appear in the same confused state. He would pull up a chair and look at his new bride with the same old dejected face, and Maya Dewi would ask him for a story. The story that he told was always the same, almost exactly word for word, about the Princess Rengganis who married a dog. But the two passed those evenings just as happily as most newlyweds, and there were no signs of boredom on their faces. Usually Maya Dewi had already fallen fast asleep before the tale was done. Maman Gendeng would cover her with a blanket, close the mosquito netting, turn off the lamp and turn on the night-light. After looking at her peaceful sleeping face, he would leave the room, close the door gently, and go up to the second floor to sleep in an empty room until morning, when his wife came to wake him up with a cup of hot coffee. Living in their new home, Dewi Ayu and Adinda laughed at such ridiculousness.

Maman Gendeng started a new routine. He woke up in the morning and drank the coffee his wife had made for him. A half hour later Mirah served breakfast, and the two of them would sit at the table just like most happy families. At first this was a miserable annoyance to Maman Gendeng, who was used to sleeping in. But after eating breakfast, his wife would allow him to return to his bed, and it turned out his sleep was even more restful with a full stomach. Maman Gendeng would wake up again around ten o’clock, to find his clothes neatly ironed and laid out next to his bed. He would go take a bath, something he rarely used to do, and put on those clothes. It felt strange to see himself in the mirror wearing a button-down shirt and slacks accented with a crisp pleat ironed straight down the front. Even though he only did it for Maya Dewi, he would put on those clothes and, after kissing his wife’s forehead in the doorway, go to his faithful spot in the bus terminal.

After a while, none of it annoyed him anymore, even though his pals at the bus terminal looked askance at his strange new behavior. Feeling homesick all the time, and constantly longing for his wife, he never stayed at the terminal until evening anymore. Instead, the moment afternoon fell he would quickly head for home.

One night, after they had been married for a month, Maya Dewi asked him, “May I go back to school?”

That question was surprising. Of course, she was still of school age, and every girl of twelve belonged in school from morning until afternoon. But she was also somebody’s wife and he had never heard of a married woman sitting on a school bench. That made him think for a while, until he realized that their marriage wasn’t yet a true marriage like the kind other people had. He had not yet slept with his wife, and had no desire to. Maybe it was better if she went back to school.

But then there was a problem. The school wouldn’t allow a married woman to register, worrying it would have a bad influence on the other students. Maman Gendeng was forced to pay a visit and negotiate with the principal so that his wife would be permitted to return to her studies. That negotiation ended badly, with him pinning that principal to the wall and knocking down the two teachers who tried to come to the man’s aid. And many years later he had to do the same exact thing when the school refused to accept his daughter, Rengganis the Beautiful.

After that merciless intimidation, the school readmitted Maya Dewi.

Their marriage continued just as peacefully as before. In the morning, just as usual, Maya Dewi would waken Maman Gendeng with a glass of freshly ground Lampung coffee, only now she was wearing her school uniform. At the table, they would eat breakfast, looking to the servants like a father without a wife and a young girl without a mother. At quarter to seven, Maya Dewi was ready with her school bag. She would leave after Maman Gendeng kissed her forehead, and as she headed off to school Maman Gendeng would head back to sleep.

In the afternoon when she came home from school, Maman Gendeng wouldn’t be there, so Maya Dewi would set everything in order to her utmost ability. In the evening, when they were together again after dinner, Maya Dewi would sit at her desk and finish the homework her teachers had assigned her. Maman Gendeng couldn’t help her with it, all he could do was keep her company with the special patience of a dedicated lover. The routine would finish up around nine o’clock. That was bedtime, but there were no more tales about Rengganis the Beautiful who married a dog. Maya Dewi would put on her pajamas and lie in bed. Maman Gendeng would come to cover her with a blanket, pull the curtain closed, turn off the lamp and turn on the night-light, and then say, “Goodnight.”