Wet

short story
Wet
Journey
20 | DIALOGUE
t was raining outside. I hated
this situation. The weather felt
Icold and there was a lot of water
on the ground that would make me wet
and dirty.
Stella walked along the corridor of
this campus. Her body was not too
heavy. She was slim enough for me.
Stella and I had been friends for years.
Stella always saw me and my sister
every time she went to campus.
“Nice shoes, Stella.” That's
such nice words I'd ever heard
from Stella's friends.
Stella walked fast to the
corridor. By the place she stayed,
she looked around to find Rey.
“Rey, I've been waiting for
you.” She looked a little bit upset.
She kept her cell phone back in to
her bag.
I saw Stella was getting
bored. I thought she wanted to
leave the place and went home. It
was better because I would be in
the shelf. It meant that I wouldn't be
wet and dirty like this.
“I'm so sorry, Honey. I've
tried not to be late, but I am late.”

short story
That was Rey's voice. I
had counted his lateness to
meet Stella, 31 times. So, it was
not an odd thing if Stella felt a
little bit upset every time she
wanted to meet Rey.
Rey.”
“As usual. It's too late,
“I'm so sorry. Really. I
have to pick Carina up.” He
tried to calm Stella down,
”Come on, don't be upset.”
“You love her so much?”
“I don't know, but I can't
leave her...” he paused, ”and
you.”
“But you have to leave
me. I don't wanna have this
affair anymore. It hurts.”
I saw Stella weeping.
She covered her face with
her hands. I did not have any
word to say. I couldn't. If I
were her, I wouldn't have
such an affair with Rey.
Carina cheated on her best
friend. What a bad girl she
was!
Hon?”
“What's wrong with you,
“I shouldn't have such an
affair. Carina knows it.”
“What?” Rey was a bit
surprised.
“Yes. Leave me.” She
paused, trying to stop
her tears, “or you'll lose
both.”
Stella left him alone, ran
in the rain through the
pavement. She didn't think
about me. I got wet, wet, and
wet. I knew her feeling, as
the thunder crashed the big
tree, breaking it. And I… I got
this wet journey.
Anita Galuh, Recipient of
Beasiswa Unggulan 2012
English Language Education
Study Program
Sanata Dharma University
DIALOGUE | 21

short story
Photo by Ouda Teda Ena
Hidden
22 | DIALOGUE
Dragon
MThere
was a hawk
onday was always
crazy. It was 5.30 p.m.
flying and growling in my stomach. I did not
have my lunch. I rushed to the China
square to find something to eat. The
restaurants were quiet. The restaurants
owners or managers were sleepy, staring
at their cash registers. Most tables were
empty. It might have been busy or it might
have been empty earlier. The waiters were
holding menu lists, waiting for customers
by the doors.
The hawk in my stomach led me into
one of the restaurants, a small clean and
quiet restaurant. The lady behind the cash
register lifted her slanting sleepy eyes
gazing at me as I entered the restaurant.
The waiter, a woman in her 30s smiled
faintly, seated me in the deep corner and
gave me the menu list.
“Welcome. Please choose what you
eat, ok?” she left me with the menu list.
She came back with a cup and a zinc tea
pot. She put the small white porcelain cup
and poured the Chinese tea.
“You, ok?” she asked.

short story
“I'm still thinking.” I said trying to figure out
what to eat. I was often indecisive.
She stood still with a smile on her pale face in
front of me. I began to hear strange roaring noise
from her stomach. A similar growl to the one from
my stomach but of a different kind of animal, it
must be a dragon. The hawk in my stomach and
the dragon in hers began to talk.
“You haven't been fed by your master?”
“No, I haven't.”
“But you're lucky. You'll be fed soon,” the
dragon in her stomach said jealously.
“But your master works in a restaurant. She
can feed you any time she wants.”
“No, the master of my master will not let her
eat while she is working. We will eat after this
place closes after 10 p.m.”
“Oh, really. Why doesn't your master find
another job,” the hawk in my stomach asked
simplifying things.
“She doesn't speak the language of this
land. She only knew few words.”
said.
“You are a dragon. You are strong,” the hawk
“Nothing compares to when we came here. I
almost died. We were on a kind of big vessel. I
wasn't fed for weeks.”
***
“You, ok?” asked the lady whether I was
ready to order. The dragon and the hawk
stopped talking.
“I think, I will have beef broccoli and rice.”
“Chinese broccoli or American broccoli?”
She asked.
“What's the difference?”
“This… Chinese broccoli and this American
broccoli.” She pointed at the pictures on the
menu.
“I'll have the Chinese broccoli please.
Thank you.” She took my order, took the menu
list and left. The dragon in her stomach was still
roaring.
Few minutes later she came back with a
bowl of rice, a plate of beef broccoli, and the
chopsticks. She smiled as if she had said “Enjoy
your meal.”
I began eating quietly. She went back to her
post, stood still to the right of the entrance
holding the menu list and wore a light smile on
her pale face. I could still hear her dragon
roaring faintly.
She looked at me through the corner of her
eyes and learned that I had finished eating. She
gave me the bill and a fortune cookie on a small
bamboo tray. I paid the bill and left two one-
dollar bills and few coins on the table.
“I hope that you will be fed soon. My master
left some tips on the table,” said the hawk in my
stomach.
tips.”
her.
“No. The master of my master takes all the
I took the fortune cookie and gave it to the
“For you, for your good fortune,” I said.
She took it in her hands, held it cautiously.
She said nothing but I could see a smile on her
face, a sweet smile of a dragon.
Ouda Teda Ena
Sanata Dharma University
DIALOGUE | 23