Bumil’s Day Out

Sosok itu mengangguk dari balik kemudi. Jok samping dan belakangnya kosong. Ia menepi.

Ayu melirik Shanti. “Duluan gih. Biar gue naik taksi berikutnya.”

“Ye, mana bisa gitu. Lu kan hamil empat bulan. Gue aja yang naik taksi berikutnya!” sergah Shanti.

Ayu berdecak. “Nah lu! Hamil sembilan bulan!”

Urat leher mereka menegang.

“Ngeyel!”

“Sok heroik!”

“WOY! Naek, naek! Enggak, enggak!” maki supir taksi. Kepalanya melongok kesal dari jendela. Taksi tancap gas, mengepulkan asap di hadapan dua wanita hamil.  

Senyap.

“Sori,” cetus mereka bersamaan. Senyum mengembang.

Di kejauhan, sebuah taksi mendekat. Kosong.

Mata Ayu berbinar. “Eh, gue duluan ya!”

“Enak aja! Gue kan hamil sembilan bulan! Gue duluan!” balas Shanti sewot.

“Gue hamil empat bulan! Derita gue masih panjang!”

“Pelit!”

“Egois!”

Di atas medan pertempuran, langit menghijau. Biru yang terlunturi kuning oranye mentari yang tenggelam.

Sungguh satu petang yang indah.

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Jumlah kata: 139 kata

Diikutsertakan untuk kuis cerpelai persahabatan. 

(Latihan) Puitisasi

Teks asli:

IN THE BEGINNING there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.

(Latihan) Riset Istilah

Teks asli:

New Hampshire’s forty-shilling note was printed on a rectangular piece of paper, and the text read from top to bottom, like a page out of a book. The bill was adorned with a large royal seal and various images: columns of acanthus leaves wreathed its borders, scrolls coiled and unfurled across the page, a pine tree stood at the center. The note’s designers had introduced these flourishes to dissuade counterfeiters, who couldn’t reproduce such elaborate designs without real technical skills. These details had another, more abstract purpose: they gave the bill a certain gravity, so as to reassure people that an inked slip of paper equaled a certain quantity of silver or gold. Aside from discouraging forgers, the intricate handiwork helped bolster people’s confidence in the colony’s currency.