The Ghost of Ice Seller

"Have you ever had an incident that an inmate who was sentenced to a dozen years was found outside the prison?" asked Uncle Dirj. Of course there is if that person escapes from prison and becomes a fugitive. But that's not what Uncle Dirj meant. He said, many prison officers flirt with prisoners who have lots of money. "With a wad of money everything can be arranged. What are the detention rooms going to do? One with air conditioning, spring mattresses, or other luxuries. With money, the prodeo hotel facilities can be transformed into a seventeen star hotel. The rule is that in prison there are no cellphones for inmates, but in fact, in prison there are those who sell pulses."

"Oh, what are you tell, Uncle Dirj?" said Ndul-ndul.

Cipo seriously listens to Uncle Dirj's words. "How can you speak like that, have you ever been imprisoned?" asked Cipo later.

"Eit, don't expect me to go to jail," argued Uncle Dirj. "What I said earlier I saw in a film."

"Yee… just a movie. Films are just lies," said Jalu.

But Uncle Dirj said that the film was made from a true story. "His body is in prison, but his brain is free because he can control his evil business from prison using a cell phone. That way, even though he is in prison, he has a very large income. You know, to get out of prison, someone is looking for someone who can replace him in prison. Looking for similar people, very similar even."

Cipo interrupted, "Is there anyone willing to replace him in prison?"

Uncle Dirj immediately replied, "You don't know the game yet. The person is paid. If necessary, be paid like an employee. Of course this involved the warden of evil. For example, at night the person takes his place, while the original inmate is dancing in a discotheque."

"It seems that Uncle has been adding to the film," said Jalu. Uncle Dirj walked away with a smile, leaving the three children dumbfounded.

"But if Uncle Dirj is imprisoned, it will be difficult to find a replacement. Uncle Dirj is second to none in the world, his reflection in the mirror is very different," said Jalu. Cipo and Ndul-ndul laugh loudly at Jalu's words. Fortunately, Uncle Dirj was far away from them, if he was still close, he will tweak Jalu's ear.

***

Klining! Klining! Klining! There was an ice seller passing by. "That's Mr. Kadir!" exclaimed Ndul-ndul, "Cipo, do you still have money? Let's buy ice, poor Mr. Kadir!"

"I feel more sorry for your dry tongue," said Jalu while intercepting Mr. Kadir. "Buy one, sir. Please cut it in thirds. "

"Okay Boss," said Mr. Kadir, stopping his bicycle. Four ice flasks hung on either side of the bicycle. Mr. Kadir has been an ice seller for more than thirty years. If he is sixty-five years old, then he had start selling ice at the age of thirty-five. "I sold ice after my third child was born. Previously I was a pedicab driver in Ciamis, West Java."

His battered bicycle, he said, was an used bicycle that given by someone. Even though he is a poor man, Mr. Kadir is helpful and likes to help people. Of course, not money, but manpower. For example, if someone is having a hard time lifting the grain clothesline when it is going to rain, Mr. Kadir volunteers to help him. When Cipo's father was lifting sand to fill in the yard, Mr. Kadir helped. When he was given money to buy cigarettes, Mr. Kadir refuse itu.

"How Mr. Kadir never rode the bicycle? Wouldn't it be faster if you ride it so you could go around further?" asked Cipo to Mr. Kadir, one day.

"If I ride a bicycle, I will pass quickly, so those who are just leaving the house to buy ice don't find me anymore. Especially if I go speeding," Mr. Kadir answered. That's the only reason. Because said people who knew him, Mr. Kadir really couldn't ride a bicycle.

So Mr. Kadir always leads his bike to sell ice. He sells ice taken from ice skippers in the regency city. "The quality of Babah Liong's ice is very well maintained, so I've never changed boss. Another ice skipper likes to make carelessly so it doesn't sell and go bankrupt. Babah Liong's house in front of a Surabaya noodle shop."

That is, many traders do not think for the long term. Let's say the ice is delicious now, but after the selling well, a month later the taste of the ice is bad. Early in the morning Mr. Kadir left for Babah Liong to take the money he had sold and get some new ice. "The ice that was not sold yesterday by Babah Liong not be sold again. The ice is all new, so customers have more confidence in the quality of the ice." But many said that his fatigue is not worth the money he gets. After all, in fact, he is just having fun with it.

The ice seller always greets the children by their names, even memorizes the names of the children in each hamlet where he trades. "Since I was a child, Mr. Kadir has been selling ice. But before, he didn't use a bicycle, but carried it," said Cipo's father. Mr. Kadir lives alone in his house. Only accompanied by a white dog named Gonggong. He found the dog on the side of the road, run over by a car. The scar is there until now, namely its left leg was limping.

It's not mean that Mr. Kadir doesn't have a family, his wife passed away fifteen years ago, while his children were married and live in another district. The children, including Cipo, Jalu, and Ndul-ndul, already know Mr. Kadir's house. The house is small and simple in the middle of a large garden. A tidy house, people said, because Mr. Kadir was a very diligent person. The Gonggong often joins him selling ice. Because the dog is tame, the children often take it to play. By throwing wood or something else, the Gonggong then ran to get it. Children love to feed it. Sometimes the dog doesn't come. "Gonggong looks after the house," said Mr. Kadir when asked why his dog didn't come with him.

***

No day off for Mr. Kadir. Every day he goes around selling ice. Especially if it is rainy season, then it could be a bit late at night to go home, or the merchandise doesn't run out. However, for almost a week Mr. Kadir did not sell ice. People wonder, what's wrong with him? But on the eighth day of his absence, he had appeared again. "Ice! Ice!" shouted Mr. Kadir, rarely ringing the his bell. Even better, Mr. Kadir is now riding his bicycle, not being guided anymore. There are those who make fun of Mr. Kadir's day off, not selling ice but for bicycle riding lessons.

"Great, Mr. Kadir can already ride a bicycle!" said Jalu, amazed. He was happy that Mr. Kadir could ride a bicycle so he was not so tired.

Mr. Jlog said, "It must to be emulated. Even Mr. Kadir, who is old, is never ashamed to train."

"But, I can already ride a bicycle, should i learn to ride a bike again? " said Ndul-ndul.

"Hus, whose enthusiasm is exemplified, is not that you have to learn to ride a bicycle again," said Uncle Odar, grumpy. "It's okay if you misunderstand, you are still a child!"

But after Cipo observed him for several days, he thought that Mr. Kadir was strange. The first oddity is that he never wants to greet the children that he meets anymore, let alone call the names of the children, he seems to be ignorant. The second oddity, of course, is that Mr. Kadir can ride a bicycle. The third oddity is that Mr. Kadir is now shouting more "ice-ice-ice" than using his bell. Previously, he never shouted to offer his wares. One more thing, since his appearance after being absent from selling, the Gonggong has never even been with him. What's wrong with Gonggong, does it hurt?

***

Cipo, Jalu, and Ndul-ndul were helping Uncle Odar dig up the soil in the garden. "Mr. Kadir has become arrogant since he could ride a bicycle," grumbled Jalu.

Cipo said, "Don't you see anything odd about him?"

"Yes, his cigarettes is different," said Ndul-ndul. What are kretek or filter cigarettes? Kretek cigarettes are cigarettes that do not use cork to filter nicotine. As for filter cigarettes, at the base there is a nicotine filter cork. Even so, whether it's kretek or filter, it's still dangerous because nicotine can still enter the lungs.

Suddenly Ndul-ndul found a pottery mask. The mask was just the head. Ndul-ndul was very happy, he felt had a treasure. "This is Gajah Mada's mask, look, his face is the same as the one in the book," said Ndul-ndul.

"That's my mask," said Uncle Odar. "At that time when I was in junior high school, the teacher told me to make a craft, I made Gajah Mada mask."

***

One day, a motorcyclist asked Cipo for Mr. Kadir's address. "I was looking for him because I was told by Babah Liong the ice skipper to collect money from the ice seller. Unlike in the past, now Mr. Kadir is often absent, the money he trades is not being deposited. Why has this person changed his nature lately," said the man. So they're not the only ones who feel the change in Mr. Kadir. Even Mr. Kadir was no longer friendly, and was always in a hurry. The children who asked about the Gonggong were answered curtly. Cipo was watching him carefully, Mr. Kadir's skin was whiter and slightly fatter, his voice was a little different from usual, maybe he had a sore throat. But why did its nature turn one hundred and eighty degrees, how could it change in a very short time?

"Did Mr. Kadir get the lottery that he is now so arrogant," said Mr. Cardov, who was herding his cow. His greeting to Mr. Kadir was not answered. "Don't even a smile," said Mr. Cardov. The oddities that Cipo discovered in Mr. Kadir disturbed his investigative instincts.

"We have to investigate Mr. Kadir," said Cipo to two of his friends, "Let us know what disease caused Mr. Kadir to change his temper. Have you bought the ice recently?"

"Yes I did and the taste was badly. It's not the ice which often he sold," said Ndul-ndul. Surely Mr. Kadir has not taken the ice from Babah Liong. Because he did not deposit the money from selling the ice, he changed it to another skipper.

Jalu expressed his opinion, "Investigating him is for what? You think that he changing his temper is a crime?" After all, even though the change in attitude was unwelcome, it was not a crime.

But Cipo's curiosity must be satisfied. "If you don't want to come, I'll do it myself." However, Jalu and Ndul-ndul not left Cipo alone. Finally they went to Mr. Kadir's hamlet. They watched from afar where the house was. It's lonely, and it's dirty here and there. Leaf litter was left in the yard, not swept away. Because Cipo was carrying an air rifle, they entered Mr. Kadir's garden to hunt squirrels, so they would be scolded. Luckily there was the chirp of sparrows on the yellow tree.

"There is the sound of a young sparrow!" exclaimed Ndul-ndul, "Jalu, did you hear that?" Jalu nodded.

"That's the nest!" said Cipo. "Shh, did you see Gonggong?" Ndul-ndul and Jalu shook their heads. On the shady yellow branches there's fibers from straw, it's sparrow nests. The sparrow is feeding the chick so that the bird baby was scrambling noisily. When Jalu was about to take the nest, Ndul-ndul forbade him, it was pity for the chick to die if it was in their hands. Because in the past they had taken nests and chicks that all died.

While watching the bird's nest, the dog growled. Apparently the Gonggong was digging the ground. Probably looking for a mouse or ferret in the hole. "Wow, how dirty the dog is!" exclaimed Cipo. The feathers hit the ground so it were no white. Seeing the children, the dog did not care, continued to dig and growl. But then the dog stopped its activities, circling over the hole it had dug while wagging its tail. Several times the dog made the same movement. Maybe it wanted to show them something, but the three kids didn't know what it meant because they didn't understand dog language.

Suddenly there was a loud yell, "What are you doing there! Let's get out!" exclaimed someone who turned out to be Mr. Kadir. Cipo, Jalu, and Ndul-ndul were very surprised, then they came out of the garden area. But Cipo wondered why the Gonggong only stared at Mr. Kadir from a distance, not wanting to approach his master.

When they came out of the garden, they bumped into an old woman who carrying vegetables, perhaps returning from the fields. She looked at them. "Yes, Grandma. We're wrong to enter people's gardens without permission, "said Cipo.

She smiled, then said, "The garden is not well maintained now. I don't know, Mr. Kadir is so upset now. Just lie down and work. Previously, this garden was neat, there were vegetables, such as spinach and water spinach. See, the ripe papayas are left hanging on the tree and eaten by the birds. Usually ripe fruit is picked up, sold, or given to neighbors. Now, this man is strange." So, the neighbors also felt that Mr. Kadir was odd.

"I see, Grandma," said Cipo. Coming home from Mr. Kadir's garden, Cipo pondered a lot. Something was wrong with Mr. Kadir. Everyone felt that there was something strange about the ice seller. Not only humans, but even dogs, according to Cipo, saw the oddity, the proof was that Gonggong did not want to approach him.

***

Two days later, when he saw Mr. Kadir selling ice, Cipo took Jalu and Ndul-ndul to Mr. Kadir's house. "While the person is not at home," whispered Cipo. When they entered his garden, it was seen that the Gonggong was lying down near the hole it had dug. There was a squeaky sound from his mouth, maybe that's how the dog is crying. When it saw three friends coming, the dog stood wagging its tail and circled the hole several times. Cipo approached the hole, but was immediately caught by the stench of carcass so they immediately covered their noses, very pungent smell. Where did that smell come from? Maybe Mr. Kadir was hoarding the carcass.

But what a surprise when observing the hole that Gonggong dug, there was a big toe sticking out of the ground. "Corpse!" cried Cipo, and retreated away.

"Corpse? What do you mean?" asked Jalu, in surprise.

Cipo said while trembling, "Look, there is a big toe!" Ndul-ndul was shivering in fear, his right hand was holding Cipo's shirt and his left hand was holding Jalu's shirt. "We have to get out of here and report to the police!" Because they very frightened, when someone passed by, he was stopped and told, "Sir, there is a corpse in Mr. Kadir's garden!" The man was surprised, between believe and not. "Yes sir, there is a big toe!"

The man was curious, then came to the garden and proved Cipo's words. As soon as he looked at the designated hole, that person was very surprised and then ran to invite people around. Soon Mr. Kadir's garden was full of people. Someone immediately contacted the police. The police immediately arrived, among them Briptu Anwar and Briptu Sanusi. By police, land which buried the bodies dug up. Surprisingly again, it's Mr. Kadir's body! Mr. Kadir's body was taken to the hospital for an autopsy.

The people looked at each other, in unison they asked, "Then who is selling ice now?"

"Ghost!" they shouted.

The people were scared. The discovery of Mr. Kadir's corpse and Mr. Kadir's ghost had spread everywhere. Moreover, Mr. Kadir's bicycle and ice flask were found on the edge of the rice fields, not far from Cipo's hamlet. The ice was still hard, not yet melted. Mr. Kadir's ghost had left his wares. Cipo was confused, what about this, if a ghost, why could sell ice? And the ice was real, not ghost ice. "Who bought the ice today?" asked Cipo. There were many, but the ice tastes like ordinary ice, but not Babah Liong ice.

"So you think he is a ghost?" asked Jalu, in a whisper.

Cipo replied, "I do not believe that the person selling ice is a ghost. We both see Mr. Kadir's oddities after not selling for a week. Mr. Kadir, who can ride a bicycle, buy different cigarettes, has a slightly changed voice. Moreover, it is not Mr. Kadir's character."

In its development, after an autopsy was carried out, there were no signs of abuse on Mr. Kadir's body. So, his dying was natural. But strangely again, how come it was Mr. Kadir who buried Mr. Kadir himself? His ghost could dig into a grave hole. But if it's an ordinary human, what's the motive for burying Mr. Kadir like that? Bury Mr. Kadir by himself and did not tell his neighbors and relatives about Mr. Kadir's death. Even if they saw Mr. Kadir making a hole in the garden, the neighbors would not be suspicious, they would think that they were making a garbage hole or planting a banana tree.

Cipo remembered Uncle Dirj's story the other day about the person hired to replace prisoners in detention, that what he was looking for was a very similar person. So, is it true that Mr. Kadir's ghost is a very similar person to Mr. Kadir, or could it be his twin brother? "Are you sure he is a ghost? A ghost that able selling ice and smoking?" said Briptu Anwar when Cipo asked about Mr. Kadir's ghost.

"But why is it gone now?" asked Cipo.

"Not vanishing, but vanishing by himself. He knew there was an uproar in finding a corpse in Mr. Kadir's garden, so he immediately fled," said Briptu Sanusi.

"But something is strange. Mr. Kadir's children said, his father was born with twins, it's just that his twin died thirty years ago on Buru Island when he was a political prisoner," said Briptu Anwar. "The name of the twin was Kodir."

"Well, then who selling ice?" asked Cipo, confused too. "Then, how many brothers are Pak Kadir?"

"Only Mr. Kodir, no others. So when Mr. Kodir is pronounced dead on Buru Island, only Mr. Kadir is left."

Cipo stunned, "It's strange. It's said that his twin had died thirty years ago. Why, is he exist again?" Cipo's fingers are tapping on the table, like a drum. After pausing for a moment and then he said, "The only way we will know who replaced Mr. Kadir selling ice is to find him. Spread his photo."

"We don't have his photos," said Briptu Sanusi.

"Easy ... use Mr. Kadir's photo," said Briptu Anwar. "Aren't they very similar to each other? Mr. Kadir's photo can capture that person." They immediately contacted Mr. Kadir's son, asking for Mr. Kadir's photo. Fortunately, there was a recent photo, taken on the last holiday with his grandson. Mr. Kadir's photo was reproduced, then distributed everywhere. The photo says "Wanted!" True, the man was found wandering in the city of Salatiga. The man was arrested, then a few days later taken to their police station. The man turned out to be Mr. Kodir, Mr. Kadir's twin brother. He admits that thirty years ago he staged his death.

The reason? "I don't want my family, especially Kadir, to think too much about my fate. He really loves me," said Mr. Kodir, crying. "That's my goal. So when I was released five years ago, I didn't come back here. I live vagrantly in Surabaya alone because I am not married."

"Then, when did Mr. Kodir come to this area?" asked Cipo.

Mr. Kodir replied, "This month. I come at night so that no one will notice my presence. Kadir was delighted when he found out that I was still alive. He had thought I was a ghost. It's just that when he suddenly fell ill and died, I was so confused that .... "

Cipo retorted, "Until Mr. Kodir has an idea, if Mr. Kodir can continue to be Mr. Kadir, people will not know, including Mr. Kadir's children."

Mr. Kodir said, "I might be able to trick people into becoming Kadir, but the dog can't be fooled. The dog didn't want to come near me. When my brother's body was found, I ran as far as I could, my bicycle and ice flask left. Taking a bus and going in no direction, wandering," said Pak Kodir.

"But Mr. Kodir's acting isn't perfect. Didn't Mr. Kodir know that Mr. Kadir couldn't ride a bicycle? The smoking is also homemade, not filter cigarettes," said Cipo.

"I don't like homemade cigarettes. But who says he can't ride a bike? In fact, he was able to ride a bicycle earlier than me," said Mr. Kodir. "For those who have never ridden a bicycle, maybe he has a special reason, maybe he has fallen and was traumatized. But really, one hundred percent he can ride a bicycle."

"O, so twins can not know the nature of the twin?" Briptu Andi said with a laugh, "It's because you haven't seen each other for thirty years, right? Cipo is really very observant."

Even though Mr. Kodir did not kill Mr. Kadir, he was doing the wrong thing. Mr. Kodir must be held accountable for his actions. Fortunately, his nephews, Mr. Kadir's son, did not hold a grudge against him. As his father's twin brother, Mr. Kodir was accepted as his own parent. When Mr. Kodir was undergoing trial, Mr. Kadir's children came to encourage him. They promised to wait for Mr. Kodir to serve his sentence, after which they would invite him to stay together so that Mr. Kodir's life would not be stranded anymore.

After Mr. Kadir's riddle was exposed, Cipo made up his story and sent it to the Kriminol magazine. "This is an amazing news, my little journalist," said Mr. Soku, "I pray that when you grow up, you will become a police general." Wow, how come you don't pray to be a great journalist? To be sure, Cipo's pocket money will be full from the revenue of his writing. (*)