Twilight in Kuta

by David Nesbit

  Well, this made me feel a bit better, and a short while later we got on another plane and went to see Daddy. This time it was only Mummy and me that went on the plane and Um Ritchie didn’t come with us. I think I was more excited when we got on this plane, because I knew that not only was the journey going to be fun, but at the end of it my daddy would be waiting for me. When we landed I was right. There was my dad! It was his turn to wait outside in the hot weather but he told me he didn’t mind and now we were going to have lots of fun again.

  Daddy was staying in his own house and it was a bit bigger than our house in Sidoarjo. When I came inside it, the first thing I saw was the pictures Mummy and me had sent to him when he was in England. Daddy had put them up on display in his living room. He had also made a bedroom ready for me, and I spent some time putting my toys inside it and arranging them all while he and Mummy spoke outside on the sofa. I don’t know what they spoke about, but when I came back out of my new bedroom they stopped talking and just smiled at me. Daddy asked me if I liked our new house, and I said of course I did and I was so happy we were all going to be living together again and I was sure I had the best mummy and daddy in the whole wide world. They both smiled when I said that.

  My time in Jakarta didn’t last long that first time, just a couple of days, and then Mummy and me had to go back to Surabaya and Sidoarjo again. I wasn’t too sad this time, though, because I knew there wasn’t much longer to go until we all lived in the same house forever again.

  We went back home and Mummy carried on working with the schools, while Daddy kept his promise to come and visit us in Sidoarjo a couple of times over the next month or two. Um Ritchie and Mummy were still busy, though, and I didn’t see them very often. I was usually at home alone after I got from school and I spent more time with Mbak. I drew many pictures of our new house in Jakarta and I also drew some pictures of what I thought Daddy looked like in his new office.

  One day, Mummy told me she was going to sell all the schools. This was so we could all start our new life together in Jakarta with Daddy, she said, and also because she was too tired. I asked her why she was too tired always and then she told me it was because I was going to have a little baby brother. I was confused again. How come?

  Mummy told me there was a baby growing inside her tummy and the doctor had told her it was going to be a boy.

  Wow! I was going to get a new house, a new school, a new bedroom and now a new brother as well. What a lucky girl I was.

  The big day finally arrived and we flew to Jakarta to be with Daddy. Some things were exactly the same as before: I drew a nice picture and the nice lady on the plane who looked after the passengers gave it to the man who flew the plane who then invited me into the cockpit to have a look and to talk to him. Some things were different, though. For example, we flew in the evening so it was dark when we arrived, and also my daddy didn’t pick us up at the airport. I asked Mummy why not, and she said she wanted to surprise him by just coming to his house. Mummy said Daddy didn’t even know we were coming and so it would be fun to see his face when we arrived. I giggled then, and said that sounded like a good idea.

  Our taxi drove through the dark streets until we arrived at the complex where Daddy lived. Mummy told the taxi driver which house was Daddy’s and we stopped outside. I think Daddy was inside watching TV or something, because he didn’t come out while Mummy paid the driver and he helped us with all our bags.

  I asked Mummy if I could be the one to knock on the door and she said I could. So, I gave three knocks and then waited. I could hear the TV inside (I was right, he was watching it) and then I heard the locks being turned and … Daddy opened the door!

  Wow! He was so shocked!

  He looked really amazed to see us and for a few seconds he didn’t say anything at all, but then he picked me up and threw me up in the air like he always used to do, and then we came inside.

  Once he had helped to take all our bags inside the house, I ran to my new bedroom and started playing and jumping on the bed while Daddy said to Mummy again how surprised he was to see us all. I heard Daddy ask Mummy why she hadn’t let him know earlier, but I didn’t hear Mummy’s reply.

  Now, I have just remembered something. Sorry, I forgot to tell you guys that it was not just Mummy and me who came to live with Daddy. Um Ritchie also came to live with us too.

  Well, that first night I was quite tired so I didn’t play for too long and I went to sleep not long after I went to my bedroom. When I woke up, I was a bit surprised that Mummy and Um Ritchie were also asleep in my room. Mummy was sleeping on the same bed as me while Um was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. I got up and went outside into the living room, and Daddy was already there watching TV and talking on his phone. Actually, he didn’t look very happy when I first saw him, but after he saw me he smiled and looked a bit happier.

  I came to sit with him on the sofa and he talked about our new life here in Jakarta. He told me he had found a nice school for me near our home and he also told me that I could join lessons in the English school he taught at. I asked him if Mummy was going to come to his school and be the boss there too, but Daddy just smiled and said no. He then asked me a few questions. He asked me if I knew Mummy was going to have a baby and I said I did. He asked me if Um Ritchie often slept in our house in Sidoarjo and when I said he did sometimes, Daddy then asked which room Um usually slept in, and I told him that sometimes he slept in the living room but usually he shared a room with Mummy. Daddy didn’t ask any more questions after that.

  So, the next few months were like that. Daddy took me to school most days early in the mornings and then he went to his job. He worked in an English language school which was in the mall and he was the boss or the director, or something. I came there to study two times a week in the afternoons and I liked it because I made more friends and I met more people from different countries. Most of the teachers there were like me and Daddy – they were bules. Bule is the name Indonesians give to people who have white skins and there were not many people like that in Sidoarjo, or even Surabaya.

  We lived in a nice place called Cikarang. This is kind of a small village or town outside the main part of Jakarta. Although it is hot, of course, it is not so busy or noisy as Jakarta or Surabaya. It is a bit like Sidoarjo, I suppose. I mean, we could ride our bikes in the morning or evening if we wanted to, and Daddy could go running, too. There were lots of big roads with lots of trees on them and so we didn’t get too hot.

  In Cikarang there was a big mall with lots of shops and a cinema and a big playground too. Daddy and me, and sometimes Mummy, went there a lot when we first arrived there. There was also a bus service that took us from our house to the mall. This was good because Daddy’s new school where he worked was actually inside the mall.

  Daddy had lots more friends now. His friends were the other teachers and they came from many other countries like America, Canada and Australia. They were all very nice to my daddy and also to me, and my daddy started smiling a lot more and I think he was really happy. I told him this and he agreed, and said that he was happy because he had a good job, more friends and most importantly, he had me to play with every day. I cuddled him when he said that.

  Most nights Daddy came home after I was already asleep because he had to work until late in his new job. I felt sorry for Daddy because he always worked hard, but he said it was ok as he didn’t start work in the morning until later than before, and also he said he only had to work in one place, while when we lived in Sidoarjo he had to work in many different places.

  Mummy didn’t seem quite so happy, though. She didn’t have so much work to do now because she didn’t have a job and I think she was a bit bored. Um Ritchie was looking for a job, Mummy told me, and so Mummy and he sometimes went into the centre of Jakarta together, but mostly she stayed home. She told me that she didn’t have much money now because she had no job so if I wanted any toys or sweets I should ask Daddy and not her. Also, Mummy’s tummy got bigger as my baby
brother continued to grow inside her.

  Then, one day, just about when I was six, Mummy had to go to the hospital to have my baby brother. I was a bit excited because I thought it would be cute to have someone little to play with and so I helped Mummy to walk to the car. Daddy and Um also came to the hospital, of course.

  We got to the hospital and Mummy got ready in the bed. She smiled at me, and then Daddy spoke very quietly to her in her ear and I don’t know what he said, but I could see Mummy nodding her head and then she held Daddy’s hand and he kissed her head. I saw and heard Daddy tell Mummy he loved her very much and she said the same to him and they both had tears in their eyes. Then the bed was rolled out the room and my little brother was born.

  My little brother’s name is William Akbar Avery. He was very funny when he was born: very small and wrinkly but very cute. I was happy when he was born, but he didn’t do anything! He just lay in his cot and went to sleep all the time. I thought I was going to have someone to play with, but that didn’t happen straight away, and it was quite boring having a little brother that did nothing but sleep and cry.

  Daddy was a good daddy to William and used to play with him and cuddle him and give his milk, but Daddy never changed William’s nappy. I asked him why not and he just smiled and said because William was too stinky. Daddy said he never changed my nappy when I was small either because I was too stinky also. Mummy usually changed William’s nappy or else Um Ritchie or Mbak did. Um Ritchie still didn’t have a job, so he stayed with us for longer and he spent some time looking after William while Daddy was at work and Mummy was getting better after her operation to have William taken out of her tummy.

  When she was strong again, Mummy started working once more and Um Ritchie helped her with that. In the beginning, Mummy had a little business buying and selling clothes, and then a bit later she started teaching English again. She was teaching English to people in their houses and sometimes in our house, but she wasn’t as busy as before.

  After a few months, Um finally got a job and moved out of our house. I think he got a job as an engineer or something, and he moved very far away. I am not sure exactly where he went but I think he still phoned and texted Mummy sometimes. Daddy didn’t say anything when Um left, and Mummy didn’t seem very sad, either. It was not like when Um Cribo left and Mummy was very sad for a long time.

  The next two years or so were kind of uneventful, I guess. I moved through Primary 1 and Primary 2 in my school; William got bigger and started walking and talking and being someone for me to play with; Daddy still worked in the mall school and I still studied there twice a week; Mummy did more teaching and had more new friends with the neighbours; Um Ritchie visited sometimes but not often; but other things were totally different from before. For example, there were no arguments or shouting between Mummy and Daddy; nobody calling our house late at night; nobody coming in their cars and parking outside all night, and nobody was unhappy anymore.

  I learnt more in my school and I became smarter. I learnt about the world and about different places and things started to get less confusing for me. I was always confused why I was different from the other girls in my class, but now I began to understand why I didn’t look the same as them. Sometimes when I was little, I would be walking in the mall with my daddy and people I didn’t even know, strangers, would pinch my cheeks as they walked by and call me lucu – cute. That used to really annoy me (and my daddy, too) but I learnt that they did it because I looked different. Actually many people here think bule kids are very beautiful. Well, maybe, but they still shouldn’t pinch my cheeks, right?

  My daddy gave me lots of advice about being a little white kid in Indonesia. He said people would always look at me because I was different, and although most people would be kind, some would maybe say cruel things or do things that annoyed me (like pinch my cheeks, for example!) and that if they did, then I had to ignore them. Daddy said everywhere he went people always looked at him because he was white and almost every day people called out to him if he was walking or out running.

  He said it was very annoying wherever he went to hear people shouting, ‘Hey misterrrrrrr, misterrrrrr … misterrrrrrr bean, misterrrrr bean, bule … bule bean …’ and so on, but he just didn’t listen and if someone shouted at him or called him ‘mister’ ‘bean’ or ‘bule’, he just totally ignored them. He said to not even turn my head or look at them when they did this, don’t raise your eyebrows or shrug or look away, just don’t do anything at all and show absolutely no reaction whatsoever, and then the person or people would feel stupid and stop. After all, he said, would I keep shouting at someone in the street if they weren’t paying me any attention at all?

  I tried to do as my daddy said and it worked. Now I don’t care about them anymore.

  When I was nine, I moved school again. This was a new school nearer the centre of Jakarta, and Mummy and Daddy said it would be better for me. I didn’t mind, actually, because although I liked my current school, it wasn’t very big and it didn’t have a sports field or swimming pool like my new one did. The only problem was it was quite a long way from our house and so Daddy couldn’t take me to school in the mornings anymore.

  Not long after this, Mummy and Daddy bought a new house and Mummy opened a new school teaching English there. It was the same as our old house and school in Sidoarjo, but this time it was a bit different because we didn’t live there. It was a very long way from our house, even further than my new school, and it took almost two hours to drive there every day. After I finished my school, our driver sometimes took me to Mummy’s school where I did my homework, and sometimes took me straight home.

  Now that I was bigger, I had lots of new hobbies and games. I liked to play football in my school and with Daddy outside our home, and I liked to play with William and help him to dress and feed himself, but I was not a little kid anymore. I was still very close with Daddy, of course, but now I spent more time with Mummy or at home with William. Daddy was busy and got home late still, and often had to work on Saturdays or travel to different places so we didn’t have so much time together. That made me sad a bit, but as I said, I was not a kid anymore and so I didn’t get sad so much anymore.

  As Mummy’s school got bigger and more students, the lessons finished later and later every day, and sometimes Mummy was too tired to come home to Cikarang, and so she would sleep in the school. At first this was only once or twice a week, but soon it became almost every day. Mummy said it was better for me to also sleep in the school and we would make one of the rooms there into a bedroom and so I could go to my school and back directly from there each day. I asked Mummy if Daddy would move there too, but Mummy said that would not be a good idea because Daddy still had to go to his work in the mall in Cikarang each day.

  I agreed with Mummy that was the best idea because I saw how tired Mummy was if she did too much travelling every day. I was worried about Daddy, though, because who would look after him and clean his clothes or cook his food if Mummy and me and mbak weren’t there? Mummy said Daddy could cook for himself and we would still see Daddy at the weekends and mbak could clean his clothes then.

  When we told Daddy our plan he was OK. I thought he might have been a bit upset or angry, but he agreed it was a good idea and he said it wouldn’t be much of a change from the way things were, because we didn’t all see each other very much now anyway. He said he would miss us all, and I had to make sure I looked after William especially.

  Well, that was about one and a half years ago.

  Now things are different again.

  Mummy and Daddy are not married to each other anymore and sometimes I feel a bit sad about that. I am not sure when and why exactly they decided to not be married anymore, but I think really that is probably the reason Mummy and William and me moved to stay in Mummy’s school.

  To start with, we used to see Daddy every weekend, but after a few months it was only ‘most’ weekends and we stayed more often in Jakarta centre and did not come back t
o Cikarang. I never forgot about Daddy and I always spoke to him on the phone and we had lots of fun when we met, but I think I knew after a while that Daddy and Mummy wouldn’t be married anymore even before they told me.

  When they did tell me, I was upset but not surprised. They said they were both tired and getting old and wanted to be happy in their lives, and although they loved and liked each other, it wasn’t enough for them to be happy anymore. I just listened. I think they expected me to cry and beg them to stay married, but I didn’t. I just kind of agreed with them. I think it is important to be happy, right?

  Now, my daddy has just got married again. I didn’t go to his wedding to his new wife, but I have met her a few times and she seems OK, I guess. She is nice to me and William, and Mummy also says she is a nice lady who makes Daddy happy so we should try and like her too.

  My mummy will also get married again next month. She will marry Um Richie who now has a very good job and has bought us a very big house to live in. Mummy says I cannot call him Um anymore, though, and now I have to start calling him Bapak. Bapak kind of means ‘father’ but not exactly. I think I have to call him this because he will be kind of my dad but not exactly. William will also call him Bapak.

  So, that is the story of my life until now. I have had a happy life, mostly, but maybe a little bit of an unusual life too. I am still young and I want to do lots of things when I grow up, but for now I will be a good student, a good daughter and a good sister.

  Thank you for reading my story.