4321 (2017), a Social-Realist Novel by Paul Auster: summary

I really enjoyed the book until chapter 1.4, but I was so confused after that. It was said Aunt Mildred and her husband Henry had already moved to California, but in other chapter she just married to a writer, Don Marx. Then, Archie’ father was dead in burning store, but in another chapter he was still alive. Then I said to myself, something has been wrong with this book, so I skipped hundred pages and finally found the answer on page 975-978. The story was about a boy who transformed to be four boys. There were four Archie Fergusons at the same time, lived at the different place, but identical. He was described as a voracious reader, a book lover, her aunt and uncle had supported him books since he was only small kid. The pretty girl Amy was always to be attractive to him, except when she was as his stepsister. There is a journalist Archie, a successful writer Archie in Paris, and an ordinary Archie.

Then he turned to be a successful writer, it was only Archie’s imaginary in his new book 4321. Ferguson was inspired by his paternal grandfather, who had three names at a short time, while his landing in Ellis Island in 1900. The book drives the reader to some puzzles on the four of Fergusons, the author is so brilliant at creating a boy in four bodies, four childhood’s lifes, four families, and four teenager’s lifes, until he got his twenties.  

I found the book is extremely well-written one, smart and beautiful narration and rich information almost in every pages. The setting of time was linked to some historical days of WWI, of Korean War, of Vietnam War, great classic and modern novels, and great persons: numerous great names in literature. To be honest, the story is too long for 981 pages for me, and is too tedious. I received this fiction as a Christmas gift from a friend last month, the social-realist novel was published by Picador in USA in 2017 with 981 pages. The book does not fit for younger reader, it exposes sexual (bisexual) activity, and I noticed the editing needed some more works on double quotation marks.   

4321 (2017), a Realism Novel by Paul Auster: summary

His mother, Rose Adler, told him about his grandfather who had three names only in hours. The story of his grandfather has inspired him to write a novel 4321, about a young man’s life named Archie Ferguson, who lived at three four houses, since the boyhood until he got 20’s at the same time. But Ferguson had same biological father and grandfather. His grandfather, Isaac Rezkinoff, had transformed his name three times since just landed in Ellis Island in 1900. His fellow, a Russian Jew, had suggested him to have a new name, an American name, Rockefeller, but when immigration official had asked him what his name was, he had forgotten instantly, then he answered it in Yiddish: Ikh hob fargassen, to the man from immigration it was Ichabold Fergusson, a.k.a Ike Ferguson. A man with three name in hours.

Ike Fergusson’s offspring

Archie’s grandfather had died 1923, the unexpected death at age forty-two- gunned down in a hold-up at the leather-goods warehouse in Chicago where he had been employed as a night watchman.  The leather-goods company made a small settlement with Fanny, his wife, to compensate her for her lost. Ike Fergusson had left three boys. Fanny took left Chicago with the boys and, moving to Newark, New Jersey, at the invitation of her husband relatives, who gave her the top floor apartment in their house with small nominal monthly rent.

Her eldest son, Louis (Lew), was fourteen. The middle was twelve, had taken to calling himself Arnold, meanwhile his real name was Aaron. And Stanley, the nine year old, was commonly known as Sonny. Times was tough, Fanny took in laundry and mended clothes, soon, the boys also contributed to the household finance, they took an after-school job. Archie was not yet two when his grandmother died, he retained no conscious memories of her. Fanny was a difficult and erratic woman, prone to violent screaming fits and maniac burst of uncontrollable sobbing, who bet her boys with broom. No one knew where she had been born, but word that was said she had landed in New York as a fourteen year-old orphan and had spent several years at a place making hats.

It was Millie, Lew’s wife who passed the story that Stanley, Archie’s father, was only eighteen, when his mother died. According to Lew, there was a fourth Ferguson child, a girl born three or four years after Stanley. Ike Ferguson was gone when Fanny gave birth to the child. Ike was an ordinary seaman. With couple reasons, including extreme poverty, Fanny drowned her newborn daughter in bathtub. Stanley never told the story to his son.

Both Lew and Arnold had fathered children, when Stanley met the twenty-one-year-old Rose Adler on blind a date in New York City. So pretty she was, Archie’s mother, and Stanley the twenty-nine year-old who had never once been burned by the fires of love.

Archie Ferguson’s mother, Rose Adler

She, too, was the child of immigrants, a Warsaw-born father and an Odessa-born mother, both of whom had come to America before the age of three. Rose’s father left Detroit the day after he graduated from high school, and headed for New York, where distance relative had secured a job for him as a clerk in a downtown clothing store, but young Adler gave up the job within two weeks. After stints sales door-to-door-salesman of house cleaning products, a soldier in World War I, a car salesman, he now earned his living as one of three minority-share partners in a Manhattan real estate firm, with income large enough to have building moved his family from Brooklyn to a new building in 1941, six months before America entered war. There were doomed to a life conflicts and misunderstanding, but marry they did, and even tough Benjamin Adler had trouble staying faithful to Emma, his wife, after their daughters were born.

Rose adored her older sister. By the time the girls were twelve and ten, it was already clear that Mildred had exceptional mind, that her success at school was the result not just of hard work but of superior intellectual gifts. Rose gradually stopped competing on Mildred’s term. When she met Stanley, she had been employed for the past two years by a portrait photographer named Emanuel Schneiderman. Old Schneiderman was in his mid-sixties by then, a German-Jewish immigrant who had come to New York with his wife and two sons after World War I. The war had taken love from her. Before she met Stanley, she had been engaged to, David Raskin, the Brooklyn-born future doctor who had entered her life when she was seventeen. Raskin had been killed in a freak explosion during a basic training exercise in Georgia. She would never recovered from David’s death, he would always be the secret ghost who walked beside her as she stumbled into the future.

It was Nancy Fein who set up the blind date for her with Stanley. In Nancy’s words, Stanley Ferguson was about six feet tall, good looking, a bit old, in business for himself and apparently doing well, charming, polite, and a very good dance. Nancy met him at a weekend dance. Only a year after married to Stanley, Rose’s uncle, Archie Adler, dropped dead of heart attack.

Stanley was now working in collaboration with his brothers, both of whom had also been exempted from military service because they had flat feet and poor eyesight. Rose wanted to be a mother, but three times she miscarried, three times in her third month of pregnancy, and when they celebrated their second wedding anniversary in 1946, they were still childless. It was in 1947 her only son, Archie Isaac Ferguson was born.

Early Life of Archie Ferguson

His father left the house early in the morning, often before Ferguson was awake. Sometimes his father would come home for dinner, sometimes he would not come home until Ferguson had been put to bed. His father worked. His parents had two cars, his father’s the blue DeSoto and his mother’s green Chevrolet. His mother smoked cigarette, but his father smoked nothing.

The New Jersey Fergusons, the big families with two aunt, two uncles, and five cousins and the Adlers, the small family with grandparents and Aunt Mildred. It was not just a temporary problem, he now realized, it was eternal. The doctor told his mother that was it was too risk in having another baby. His mother No siblings ever, he created imaginary brother for himself. 

Two best places to visit were his grandfather’s office in New York and his father’s store in Newark. There were many things in his father’s store: row of small gadgets and large appliances and a whole area on the second floor for beds and table and chairs, numberless numbers of beds and tables and tables and chairs. Not long after Ferguson’s fifth birthday, his aunt Mildred married Henry Ross, a tall man with thin hair who worked as a college professor, as did Mildred, who had finished her studies in English Literature four years earlier and was teaching at a college.

When he was seven-year-old, his older uncle, Uncle Lew, had suffered us and downs as a gambler over the years Ferguson, consistently losing more than winning. His mother started bad-mouthing Uncle Lew to his father. Uncle Lew had been owing his father’s money. Just after Thanksgiving the following year, his father warehouse was emptied out in a nighttime burglary. It would be taken out of the warehouse by man named Ed, a big man with mermaid tattooed who had served on an aircraft during the war.

Time passed, no robbers were found, but his father managed to get the loan from bank which mean Archie and family were spared dishonored of having to relocate to the poorhouse. The police and insurance company were still working on the case, they had both come to the conclusion that Uncle Arnold, his father’s brother, had related to the robber. Since then Uncle Arnold and Aunt Joan moved to California.

Uncle Lew

Archie’s cousin, Andrew Fergusson was shot down to death in Korean War. It was 1952, Archie was only five-year old. The extent of Lew and Millie’s grief over the death of their son, compounded by the fact that they saw themselves as failed parents. Lew and Millie had taste of alcohol. Lew’s drinking was increased, spreading beyond parties, the cocktails hours, and the booze began affect him his work at store. Another fact bout him Lew was his penchant for gambling.  He was thirty-six thousand dollars in hole, and Ira Bernstein, the man who had been handling the bets for the past dozen years, was running out of patience. Some check form check book had been lost, later Lew talked about his loan, for Bernstein had begun charging interest, and every day the mount was going up. He was so scared, Bernstein’s men would hurt him and family. Stanley just said nothing, because the only thought in his head at the moment was how much he wanted to kill his brother.

Lew was in danger. They were threatening to blind him to kill his daughter Alice and his wife Mille. The burglar did not know that Staley was sleeping in the back room when he lit the match. The fire was burning its way through the door of the back room, it rushed over to the desk where Stanley was sitting and ate him alive.

Uncle Lew was in prison, along with the gasoline man Eddie and his friend, and the master mind of the operation Ira Bernstein. His father’s death had forced them to leave New Jersey suburbs and were leaving in New York, His father’s life insurance policy had provided with large money. There were no financial burdens.

Aunt Mildred was an associate professor of English, and Uncle Don Marx was a writer, and although they must have made money from those jobs, enough money to live in in any case, it was clear to Archie that they lived for other things besides making money.

Uncle Don had already had a son from his previous marriage. The boy’s name was Noah, he was three and a half months younger than Ferguson. Much to Ferguson’s regret, the two of them had been kept apart during the years of sinful cohabitation, since Uncle Don’s ex-wife, justify angry having dumped in favor of Aunt Mildred, had refused to allow his son to be tainted by contact with home-wrecker and family, which extended beyond Adlers and Fergusons as well.

Noah was the first cynic motormouth, so smart, both smart and funny at the same time. He lived his mother, and saw his father only thirty days a year.

Mr. Scheinederman had two grown sons, Daniels and Gilbert both of them around Ferguson’s father age, Daniel and his wife had come to Archie hose or lunch. They had two children, a thirteen-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl, Amy, was about the prettiest little girl Rose had even seen.

The school year ended, and the following weekend Archie was sent off to sleepaway camp in New York State. It was the first time he had left home, but he went without dread because Noah Marx was going with him.

Fortunately, Camp Paradise was not rough sort of place. In his first days there, Ferguson began to adjust to the new environment, he made several discoveries. Among of the fact that he was only boy in his camp who lived in suburbs. Everyone else came from New York and surrounded by multitude city kids. He learned the names of scores of boys and girls, first name and last name both, he understood that everyone was Jewish.

Camp was better than home, he realized. Life among friends was richer and more fulfilling than life with parents. Something was wrong, Uncle Don supposed to have driven to the camp with Ferguson’s parents. Don and Mildred have spilt up, their marriage was over.

The warehouse robbery of November 1955, followed the car crashed, had removed both Ferguson’s uncles from the family circle. The disgraced Uncle Arnold now lived in far-off California, the deceased Uncle Le had left the world for good, and the store, 3 Brothers Home world no more. Ferguson’s father returned his father’s in law’s loan and open up a new, significantly smaller store in Montclair, Stanley’s TV and Radio.

His father new business happened to be on same block as Roseland Photo. Money was less plentiful than it had been in the days of the old store. In 1958, when Ferguson was in need of a new baseball glove, his father had to make long drive only to save money in the grand scheme things but a crucial savings.

From his earliest childhood, Aunt Mildred had been in the habit of buying him gifts, an abundance of gifts that usually come in the form of books and records. The numbers of books and records she shipped to him from California. They were fairy tales, fantastical novel by Lewis Carol, E. Nesbit, Greek and Roman myths, and others. She was on her visits back east with Uncle Henry, she had come out to Montclair to spend some days with him.

He loved baseball, he exulted in plying quarterback. He had been paying football steadily from the age six. In November 1961, as a fourteen and a half-year-old nine grader, he was sacked by the line man and wound up in hospital with a broken left arm. He had been planning to try out for high school, but his had mother refused to sign parent’s permission form. His parents were so upset when he broke his arm. Ferguson’s career as a football player ended.

His parent held a large gathering in his house, New Jersey. A family from New York, Dan Scheneiderman with his family, were there. There was the sixteen year-old daughter, Amy. Ferguson and Amy had known each other as small children and played together a few times.

January 19, 2018

Sekapur Sirih

Tulisan pada lembaran-lembaran awal novel drama realis ini banyak dibumbui sejumlah peristiwa penting dan sejarah dunia, dari PDI, Perang Vietnam, perang Korea, gejolak demonstrasi pembebasan kulit hitam, nama-nama besar dan karya-karya besar dari sastrawan klasik hingga modern, sungguh menarik. Namun, sempat dibingungkan, apa penulisnya salah, sempat terpikir. Bagaimana tidak, dalam satu bab disebut ayah Archie Ferguson, dikatakan tewas dalam kebakaran, tapi pada bab berikutnya ayah-ibunya masih lengkap padahal saat usia yang sama. Menguji pemahaman, sengaja tidak membaca review atau ringkasan, informasi apapun tentang novel ini. Agak aneh dan menjenuhkan, hingga akhirnya, saya temukan pada halaman 970 ibunya bercerita tentang kakeknya yang memiliki berubah menjadi tiga orang, dengan tiga nama hanya dalam waktu pendek. Memang, di halaman pertama telah dikisahkan kronologis kedatangan kakeknya, hanya saja tidak terpikirkan, penulisnya seorang brilian.

Kakeknya seorang imigran Jahudi-Rusia ketika berlabuh di Pulau Ellis, seorang teman imigran yang juga tengah menunggu antrian di kantor imigrasi, mengusulkan agar ia membuat nama baru, nama Amerika. Isaac Rezkinoff pun menerima nama barunya Rockefeller, dua jam berikutnya, petugas imigrasi menanyakan namanya, ia pun menjawab dalam Bahasa Yiddish, Ik hob fargessen (saya telah lupa), petugas menuliskan namanya Ichabod Ferguson. 

Archie, tokoh utama, terinspirasi dari kisah kakeknya dalam menuliskan novel 4321, satu orang membelah diri menjadi 3 orang dengan orang tua biologis yang sama, tinggal di empat rumah berbeda, kota yang berbeda, tapi ada kesamaan lain; dia menyukai membaca buku sejak belia, menyukai gadis bernama Amy, gadis ini kadang menjadi anak dari bos ibunya, kadang saudara tirinya, kadang sepupu tiri.

Kehidupan masa kecil tidaklah sama, tentu saja, karena lingkungan berbeda sama, masa remaja, dan masa ketika ia berada dua puluhan, tentu berbeda. Archie Ferguson menjadi novelis hebat dan terkenal, jurnalis, lelaki biasa, dan penulis biasa. Ada Archie yang kehilangan beasiswa dan tidak mampu mendanai kuliah hingga DO dari kampus, ada Archie yang kuliah di Universitas Princeton, ada Archie kaya, ada pula Archie biasa agak nakal hingga mencuri buku dari toko demi menghabiskan waktu seorang pelacur. Perjuangannya menjadi novelis besar di Paris dimentori oleh Vivian Scheiber, juga seorang penulis, teman ayah tirinya. Kehidupan percintaan yang liar dan kisah biseksual di Paris dan New York.

Banyak hal menginspirasi dari fiksi ini di antaranya: kalimat-kalimat yang bagus hingga semangat kerja tokoh Archie yang tidak mengenal lelah dalam ambisi menjadi novelis hebat tanpa kuliah, walau dalam ratusan halaman kurang nyaman, agak membosankan, terlalu banyak melakukan pengulangan, ditulis sepanjang 981 halaman, terbitan Picador, AS, 2017, terlalu melelahkan, sepertinya 400 halaman lebih tepat. Novel ini kurang tepat bagi pembaca muda, banyak mengandung aktifitas seks vulgar. Memang, penulis buku ini sangat cerdas, seolah ingin membuat teka-teka pada pembacanya.

Novel ini termasuk sulit diringkas karena banyak sekali tokoh bermunculan dan lokasi cerita dan tahun yang saling mengaduk, hingga terkadang membuat bingung, mengesampingkan semua hal yang tidak nyaman dalam karya ini, banyak tulisan bermutu yang dapat dipelajari, kebebasan seseorang mengungkapkan pemikiran, realistis penulis dalam mengungkap gejolak dan kritik sosial. Buku ini saya terima sebagai hadiah Natal dari seorang teman, terima kasih padanya. Sejujurnya, novel ini cukup menjenuhkan, bukan  saja karena pengulangan akitifitas bejibun, karakter membingungkan, juga plotnya terlalu monoton, namun tentu saja, bagi penggemar drama sosial-realis mungkin akan menyenangi fiksi ini.  

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia 4321 (2017), Sebuah Novel Sosial-Realis dari Paul Auster: ringkasan

Tepatnya tahun 1900, ketika Isaac Rezkinoff tiba di Pulau Ellis, dan atas saran teman yang juga seorang perantau Yahudi-Rusia, ia mengganti nama Amerika Rockefeller, namun saat petugas menanyakan namanya ia lupa, dalam telinga petugas imigrasi ia telah menyebut Ichabod Ferguson.

Hidup dalam kekurangan, kerap berganti pekerjaan, pekerjaan-pekerjaan serabutan, Ike Ferguson pun akhirnya menikahi Fanny. Gadis yang tidak jelas lahir di mana, dibesarkan di sebuah panti asuhan sejak usia tiga tahun. Ia mendapatkan tiga putra, Louis (Lew), Aaron (Arnold), dan Stanley (Sonny). Disebut ada juga putri Ferguson, anak ke empat dan terakhir. Fanny terpaksa membenamkannya di dalam bathup sesaat setelah dilahirkan, kemiskinan yang sangat ekstrim mendorongnya melakukan perbuatan sadis itu, suaminya tidak mengetahuinya. Ia tengah berlayar di lautan, saat itu bekerja sebagai pelaut. Ike Ferguson pun mati muda, mati tertembak saat menjaga malam pada sebuah gudang. Fanny pun membawa ketiga putranya ke New Jersey dan meninggalkan New York, atas ajakan saudara jauh suaminya.

Fanny membesarkan tiga putranya dengan mencuci dan menjahit baju dan pekerjaan serabutan lainnya, saudara itu adalah pemilik apartemen yang tinggal di lantai dasar, Fanny berjuang membayar kamar di lantai paling atas. Ketiga anaknya turut membantunya, semua uang yang mereka dapatkan diserahkan pada ibunya, pekerjaan selepas sekolah.

Saat Stanley bertemu Rose Adler, gadis cantik itu membuatnya tidak bisa tidur, kedua abangnya Lew dan Arnold telah memiliki anak, memang usia ke dua abang jauh lebih tua dari dirinya. Rose dijodoh-jodohkan dengannya oleh seorang teman dari tempat dansa, selain tampan, pendiam, Stanley lihai berdansa. Saat pertama kali bertemu dengan Stanley, Rose masih berduka, belum mampu melupakan tunangannya, David Raskin. Kalau saja, tidak ada perang, tunangannya itu tidak akan meninggal, mungkin mereka sudah menikah. Rose pada usia dua puluhan dan Stanley di awal tiga puluhan ketik mereka menjalin hubungan.

Tiga tahun pernikahan, Archie lahir, dinamai Archie Isaac Ferguson. Nama Archie diambil dari nama paman Rose yang tewas tertembak di Perang Korea, nama keduanya tentu nama kakeknya. Archie kecil sering meminta adik, tapi hal itu tidak mungkin, ibunya sendiri telah mengalami tiga kali miskram sebelum kelahirannya, dokter menganjurkan agar ia tidak hamil lagi yang dapat mengancam nyawanya.

Archie kecil sampai-sampai memiliki adik imajinasi bernama John yang ia ciptakan sendiri, tidak banyak saudara dari ibunya. Adler hanya mempunyai dua putri, Mildred dan ibu Archie Ferguson, Rose. Mildred seorang professor Sastra Inggris, menikah tetapi belum juga memilki anak, ia sangat berharap memilki sepupu. Sementra sepupu dari Ferguson sudah deawasa bahkan sepupu Alice telah menikah, sepupunya Andrew tertembak peluru di Perang Korea. Sementara Paman Arnod telah pindah ke California, orang yang seharusnya  dipenjara atas keterlibatannya dalam perampokan toko miliknya dan dua saudaranya. Toko perabotan dan peralatan rumah tangga terbilang besar, dimiliki Lew, Arnold dan Stanley. Daripada di penjara Arnlod pun membawa anak istri ke California.

Setelah kematian putranya, Lew dan istri jatuh dalam kebiasaan minum yang akut. Pesta-pesta, minum-minum, hingga narkoba. Kebiasaan minum Paman Lew semakin parah, bahkan konsumsi narkoba hingga di tempat pekerjaan. Saat bekerja di toko, ia sering memarahi pembeli, dan bicara dalam keadaan mabuk narkoba. Kebiasaan buruk berjudi dan taruhan pertandingan softball, yang membuatnya telilit hutang. Sang rentenir telah membengkakkan hutang hari demi hari, ia pun mencuri cek toko, sempat membuat adiknya  Stanley kewalahan mencari. Pada puncaknya, ia diancam algojo rentenir, dn mengancam membutakan matanya dan menyakiti istri Millie dan putrinya Alice. 

Stanley kembali ke toko malam itu, dan ia tertidur di kantor, pembakar toko tidak mengetahui, saat ia memantik koreknya, ada orang di dalam kantor toko. Api dengan cepat melalap barang-barang di toko, termasuk memakan Stanley hidup-hidup. Paman Lew telah di penjara, pembakar dan anak buah sang rentenir dan otak pembakar yakni rentenir, turut dikurung

Archie dan ibunya pindah ke New York, memulai hidup di sana dan akhirnya menikah lagi dengan putra bos ibunya. Ada empat Archie yang melalui hidup, Archie menjadi anak agak nakal ketika ibunya menikah dengan Gilbert, Ada Archie yang masih memiliki ayah di usia 16 tahun, ada pula Archie yang memiliki ayah tiri Daniel, sehingga ia bersaudara tiri dengan si cantik Amy. Ada Archie yang kuliah di Unversitas Columbia, ada pula di Univesitas Princeton, ada pula yang tidak kuliah. Di akhir cerita Archie menjadi penulis hebat dan menuliskan novel 4321.

*****

19 Januari 2018

The Five Orange Pips, a Short Story by Arthur Doyle: summary

The Five Orange Pips, a Short Story by Arthur Doyle: summary

It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows.

Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime. He was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there came a step in the passage and a taping door. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of refinement and delicacy of his bearing. He came for advice. John Openshaw was the grandson of a remarkable man in London, a businessman. His grandfather had two sons- his father Joseph and Uncle Elias.

His father had small factory and, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business met with success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsome competence. His uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done well. At the time of war he signed in Jackson’s army, and afterwards under Hood, he rose to be a colonel. When the war was over, his uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years. About 1870 he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negros, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them.

He had a garden and two or three fields round the house, and there he would take his exercise and he never leave his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and did want any friends, not even his own brother. In the year of 1878, he begged his father to let John lived with him, and he was very kind to John in his way.

So by the time he was sixteen, John was quite master of the house. He kept all the keys and could go where he liked, as long as he did not disturb his uncle in privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he had a single room, a lumber room in among the attics, which was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either his nephew r anyone else to enter. With a boy’s curiosity, John peeped through the keyhole, but he was never to see more than such a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.

One day, a letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in front of the colonel’s plate. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the color of putty, and he glared the enveloped. He was panicking when he read K.K.K. John took the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else save the five dried pips. He burned the letter ask and ordered his lawyer to witness his will. He left his estate to his brother. He drank more than ever.

He was dead, when they found him. There was no violence, and the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, brought to a verdict of a suicide.  John’s father entered into possession of the state, and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit on the bank.

John’s father came to live at his brother house, there he was, sitting newly opened envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips (seeds). Still, the three K letters were written above the letter. Later, John’s father met his end, there was unable of find anything which could suggest the idea of murder. Two years after his father had passed away, John had lived happily at Horsham, and he had begun to hope that the curse would be broken, and that it had ended with the last generation.

The Openshaw had got three letters in all; one from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from London. Holmes was already at breakfast when Watson came down. They were so shocked to read the heading of paper about John Openshaw’s death.

It was conjectured that he may hurrying down to catch the last train, and that in his haste and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. There was no traces of violence, and it was stated was unfortunate accident.

Holmes took the five pips (seeds), and tearing it to pieces he squeezed out the seeds upon the table. Of these he took them into an envelope.  The inside of the flap he wrote ‘S.H for J.O’. Then, he sealed it and addressed it to Captain Colhum, Bark Lone Star, Savanah, Georgia. Holmes had traced files and old papers, following the future career of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in 1883. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which reported there during those months. One of them, the Lone Star, since, although it was reported as having cleared from London, the name was that which was given to one of the States. The ship must have an America origin.

He searched he Dundee records, and when he found that the bark Lone Star was there in January 1885, his suspicious became a certainty. The Lone star also arrived in London at the same week John’s death. He went down to Albert Dock ND found that she had been taken down the river by early morning, home ward bound to Savanah. He wired to Gravesend and learned she had passed some time ago, and as the wind is easterly, the vessel was past the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight.

The murderer and his two mates, were, s Holmes learned, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others were Finns and Germans. By the time they reached Savanah the mail-boat would carry Holmes’s letter, and the cable would have informed the police of Savanah that the tree gentlemen were most wanted upon a charge of triple murder.

Holmes and Watson waited long for news of the Lone Star of Savanah, but none ever reached them. They just heard somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of the boat was seen swinging in the wave, with letters “L.S.” carved upon it, and that was which they assumed of the fate of the Lone Star.

******

Januari 12, 2018

Sepatah Kata

Cerpen Five Orange Pips, merupakan cerpen berlatar belakang 1883-1885 di Inggris. Tiga kematian misterius, peneror mengirimkan surat dengan cap pos berbeda daerah, bahkan dari India. Dalam suratnya menemukan lima biji jeruk kering serta tulisan K.K.K. Kematian John, tidak ditandai dengan lima biji jeruk, namun detektif Holmes dan Watson yakin, pelakunya adalah orang yang sama.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, Five Orange Pips (Lima Biji Jeruk): resume/ringkasan

Hujan sangat deras diiringi tiupan angin kencang, suatu keheranan, apa yang memicu seseorang hingga mendatangi Sherlock Holmes dalam cuaca sedarurat itu. Anak muda itu bernama John Openshaw. Ia menceritakan kasusnya, yakni hal ganjil yang terjadi atas kematian ayah dan pamannya.

John adalah cucu orang terkemuka di London. Ayahnya, Joseph, pemilik pabrik dan bahkan usahanya mengambil andil dalam penemuan sepeda. Joseph Openshaw juga adalah pemilik paten ban handal, bisnisnya pun sangat sukses, kemudian pensiun. Berbeda dengan Elias Openshaw, sang paman, merantau ke Amerika, dan juga sukses memiliki perkebunan di sana. Perang konfedersi pecah, Elias pun bergabung dengan militer dan sempat berpangkat kolonel. Ketika perang usai, ia kembali ke bisnis awalnya, perkebunannya. Merasa tidak bahagia di sana, ia memutuskan kembali Inggris.

Dari hasil penjualan hartanya di Amerika, ia pun membeli sebidang tanah dan memiliki kebun di pedesaan Inggris. Elias peminum berat, sering menyendiri, dan bahkan tidak mau berteman dengan siapapun termasuk abangnya sendiri. Suatu saat, ia meminta kakaknya memberi ijin agar John yang ketika itu berusia 16 tahun untuk tinggal bersamanya.

John muda pun sangat senang dan nyaman tinggal di Horsham bersama pamannya. Baginya, paman Elias orang yang baik, bahkan memberi kepercayaan padanya atas semua kunci yang ada di rumah besar itu. Tapi ada satu ruangan di loteng, yang tidak bisa dijamah, John muda pun penasaran. Lewat lubang kunci, ia mengintip ruangan itu, ia tidak melihat sesuatu yang istimewa. Ia hanya melihat onggokan barang-barang berupa koleksi gading dan bundalan kertas.

Kebahagiaan John dan pamannya buyar dengan kehadiran sebuah surat dengan cap pos Pondicherry, India. Elias terkaget dan pucat mendapati tulisan K.K.K dan lima biji kering jeruk dalam amplop. Dia membakar surat itu, dan menyuruh pembantunya memanggil pengacaranya. Surat wasiat pun dibuatkan, ayah John menjadi pewarisnya, tentu saja kelak akan dimiliki John.  

Semenjak itu sang paman tidak pernah tenang lagi, kebiasaan minummya makin parah, dan hanya berdidam di kamarnya.  Mengagetkan, pamannya ditemukan meninggal di kamarnya dan tidak ditemukan tanda kekerasan pada tubuhnya. Pengadilan pun memutuskan kematian bunuh diri (walau masih menyisakan misteri bagi John), dan segala harta Elias jatuh pada kakaknya.

John dan ayahnya tinggal bahagia di rumah besar pamannya, hingga suatu hari surat datang lagi dengan 5 biji jeruk kering dan tulisan yang sama, namun kali ini cap posnya dari Dundee. John dan ayahnya sangat kaget. Hari ketiga setelah kedatangan surat, ayahnya pergi ke teman lamanya, seorang mayor. Hari kedua kepergian ayahnya, sebuah telegram datang dari mayor, menyuruhnya lekas datang. Ayahnya meninggal dan juga tidak ditemukan kekerasan pada jasadnya.

John kembali hidup tenang di Horsham, namun ia belum yakin kematian ayah dan pamannya tidak ada hubunganya dengan kelima bibit kering jeruk dan tulisan K.K.K, ia hendak memutuskan kutuk itu dari keluarganya, dan ingin hidup tenang. Akhirnya diputuskannya untuk berkonsultasi dengan detektif Holmes.

Holmes sudah mengetahui K.K.K bukanlah gang biasa, namun di mana keberadaan pelakunya. Dia juga menilai kematian tidaklah wajar. Keesokan harinya, ia dan Watson sangat kaget membaca tajuk surat kabar. John Openshaw ditemukan tewas di sungai. Diduga ia terburu-buru mengejar kereta terakhir di malam gelap, langkahnya tidak memerhatikan tepian paving, dan terjatuh ke dalam sungai, membuatnya dinyatakan tewas kecelakaan sendiri. Sebuah amplop ditemukan di kantongnya, tidak ditemukan kekerasan pada tubuhnya.

Watson dan Holmes sungguh tidak memercayai pemicu kematian John. Sang detektif pun menyelidiki keluar masuk kapal dari Pondicherry di kantor pelabuhan, dan juga dari Dundee. Tanggal surat pada cap pos dua surat, meyakinkan Holmes, bahwa hanya kapal the Lone Star milik Amerika yang berpotensi ada hubungannya dengan cap pos pada tiga surat.

Kapal Lone Star baru saja berangkat, dan diduga berlayar ke arah timur mengikuti hembusan angin. Dengan cekatan, Holmes menyurati pos pelabuhan Savanah, Amerika, agar pembunuh dan dua kawannya segera ditangkap polisi begitu tiba di Savanah, atas tuduhan pembunuhan. Dia juga mengirimkan pesan kabel ke pihak kepolisian Savanah. Lama ditunggu, the Lone Star tidak kunjung bersandar di Savanah, Amerika. Hanya saja, Holmes dan Watson sempat mendengar kabar ada serpihan kapal mengambang di Lautan Atlantik, ukiran ‘L.S’ ditemukan pada badannya, mereka berasumsi sudah menjadi nasib kapal the Lone Star.

******
12 Januari 2018

The Red-Headed League (1891), a Short Story by Arthur Conan Doyle: summary

This is a unique crime story, a bank robbery without bloodshed and using red-headed league's idea to the crime. The story follows John Clay, he was a thief, murderer, and smuggler. He had used the Red-Headed League’ job vacancy to distract a pawnbroker. Jabez Wilson only worked four hours a day for highly paid. When the thief had completed the tunnel, he cared no longer about his employee. Wilson has thought he was the object of a prank. It was expensive joke, he got the benefit, but Wilson was still curious. The knees of the trousers and the pavement were the two clues for Sherlock Holmes to seize the bad guys.

The Red-Headed League (1891), a Short Story by Arthur Conan Doyle: summary

Jabez Wilson came to Baker Street that day, brought his case. An advertisement on the paper had already exploded disaster to his former employee. Wilson himself was an owner of a small pawnbroker’s business at Coburg Square, near the City. He used to be able to hire two assistants, but now he only kept one. The business did not run so well. Vincent Spaulding was now the only assistant, he was not such as a youth. Wilson lived with Spaulding and a girl of fourteen, who did a bit simple of cooking and kept place in clean. Wilson was a widower and had no family, so the three of them lived very quietly.

Spaulding had read an advertisement on the paper, all red-headed men who are sound in body and mind, above the age of twenty, are eligible for high salary. Spaulding wished he had a red-headed.

The Red-headed League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins. He was himself red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed; so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that color. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it. He was willing to have a holiday, so they shut the business up and started off for the address that was given the advertisement.

Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk. There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden of chairs and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with head that was even redder than him. His assistant was introduced Wilson to the recruiter. He said his name was Duncan Ross, he was one of the pensioners upon the fund left by the benefactors. He had a negative respond to find Wilson had no family. The fund was for the propagation and spread of the red-headed as well as for their maintenance.

The pay was good. The job was only four hours a day, but he should not to think of leaving. He has to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica. Wilson should be ready for the next day. However in the morning, he determined to have a look at it anyhow, so Wilson bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen. He was delighted, everything was right. The table was set out ready for him, Duncan Ross was there to see that he got fairly work. At the two o’clock he bade him good-day, complimented him upon the amount he had written, and locked the door of the office after him.

Every morning he was there at ten and every afternoon he left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took coming in only once a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come at all. Eight weeks passed. He went to his work as usual at ten o’clock, but the door was shut and locked with a little square of card-board hammered that said the Red-Headed was dissolved. Wilson went to the landlord, who is an account living on the ground-floor, and he asked him about the Red-Headed League. He said he never heard of any such body. Even Duncan Ross was strange to him, he only knew a man named William Morris who just moved out yesterday. Morris was a solicitor, then Wilson had gotten his office’s address. Wilson went to the address but no one in it had ever heard William Morris or Duncan Ross. 

Besides, Wilson had loosen four pond a week, he wanted to know who they were, and what their object was in playing that prank.

Sherlock Holmes was going through the City first, and a short walk took them to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of singular story. It was a poky, little, shaby-genteel place, where four lies of dingy two-storied brick houses. A sign on the board with ‘JABEZ WILSON’ in the white letters, upon the corner of the house, announced the place where the red-headed client headed his business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it, observed that place. Finally, he returned to the pawnbroker’s house, having thumped vigorously upon the pavement with his stick two times or three times. It was instantly he was welcomed by a young guy. The assistant counted his good deal in the mystery of the Red-Headed League.

Holmes explored the road in which they found themselves as they turned round the corner of the road. It was one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm the pedestrians. There was tobacconist shop, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of City Bank, the vegetarian restaurant, and the carriage–building depot.

Watson found the official police agent, Peter Jones was talking with Holmes at the Baker Street on that day, later he was introduced to Mr. Merryweather, who was to be their companion in that night’s adventure. Merryweather was a bank director, and personally interested in that matter.

They had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which they found themselves in the morning. Their cabs were dismissed and following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather. They passed down narrow a passage and through a side door, which he opened. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate.  He opened a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which pilled all round with crates and massive boxes.

Bank Coburg had borrowed 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France to strengthen their resources. They had never occasion to unpack the money, and that it was still lying in the cellar. The smell of hot metal remained to assure them that the light was still there, ready to flash out at a moment’s notice. The thief could hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker was safely in bed. Suddenly Watson’s eyes caught the glint of a light. Over the edge there peeped a clean cut, boyish face, which looked keenly about it. The men were in hurry together their chisels and bags. Holmes warned Clay and the assistant to surrender, then warned them not to run. Holmes had been holding a revolver.

John Clay, the murder, thief, smasher, and forger. He was still young, but he was at the head of his profession. He was remarkable man his grandfather was a royal duke. He himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain was as cunning as his fingers. He would crack a crib in Scotland on week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. The police had been on his track for years and had never set eyes on him yet.

The method was no doubt suggest to Clay’s ingenious mind by color of his accomplice’s hair. The four pound a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to comparing for thousands. They put advertisement, one rogue incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the week.

Sherlock Holmes was suspicious on the assistant when he opened the door. Holmes had surprised him by beating upon the pavement with his stick. Clay and the assistant closed their League offices that was a sign that they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson’s presence, they had completed their tunnel.

******

December 3, 2017

Sekapur Sirih

Cerpen ini diterbitkan 1891, perampokan bank, tidak ada tokoh yang terbunuh dalam cerita ini. Seorang penjahat keturunan bangsawan, yang pernah kuliah dan menggunakan keunikan, atas nama rambut merah dan berujung pada perampok bank. Misteri yang cerdas.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, Red-Headed League, 1891 (Liga/Serikat Rambut Merah); resume/ringkasan

Baker Street didatangi klien bernama Jabez Wilson, pemilik sebuah toko pegadaian tidak jauh dari pusat kota. Duda itu tidak memiliki keluarga, ia hidup bersama seorang asisten toko dan perempuan, membantunya memasak dan membersihkan rumah. Bisnis pegadaiannya tidak berjalan baik, bahkan semakin memburuk, jika tadinya ia mampu mempekerjakan dua karyawan, kini hanya mampu membayar satu orang saja. Sebuah petikan iklan di surat kabar disodorkan ketika Watson masuk di tengah perbincangan antara Holmes dan kliennya. Sebuah iklan lowongan pekerjaan, dengan gaji menarik, 4 pound perminggu dan dikhususkan untuk pemilik rambut merah seperti Jabez Wilson, apalagi dengan jam kerja hanya 4 jam sehari.

Asisten Wilson bernama Vincent Spaluding tidaklah tergolong muda, namun terlalu pintar untuk menjadi seorang penjaga toko. Spaulding menyodorkan iklan itu pada bosnya, dan memengaruhinya agar ikut dalam wawancara lowongan pekerjaan dimaksud. Wilson tidak begitu mengetahui persis tentang Serikat Rambut Merah, Vincent yang mengerti iklan itu dan bahkan menelepon kantor pengiklan.

Serikat Rambut Merah didirikan oleh Ezekiah Hopkins seorang miliuner dari Amerika. Ezekiah sendiri telah wafat, namun kekayaannya telah disumbangkan untuk para rambut merah demi menjaga keberlangsungan komunitas rambut merah. Duncan Ross, salah satu pemilik saham dari Serikat Rambut Merah, merekrut karyawan di London. Tn. Ross menyayangkan Wilson tidak memiliki anak dan keluarga, lembaga itu bertujuan penerus rambut merah. Tapi akhirnya Wilson terpilih mendapat pekerjaan itu, kandidat lainnya tidak terlalu merah sesuai dengan syarat.

Wilson pun diterima dan disuruh untuk bekerja keesokan harinya. Pekerjaanya menyalin Ensiklopedia Britannica, sehingga ia disuruh membawa botol tinta dan pena.

Dengan senang hati Wilson membeli tinta dan pena, hari pertama masuk kerja. Seperti janji Ross, sebuah meja telah disiapkan untuknya. Jam kerja hanya empat jam dari jam 10 pagi hingga jam 2 siang. Bisnis pegadaian sepi di pagi hingga siang, biasanya ramai pada sore dan malam hari, Wilson memercayakan toko pada asistennya. Hari-hari bekerja semakin ia nikmati, hingga genap ia bekerja delapan minggu. Mulanya, Tn. Ross selalu berada di  kantor,  mengawasinya, namun lambat laun sang bos tidak muncul sama sekali, hingga suatu pagi yang mengejutkan.

Wilson dikagetkan, mendapati kantor tempatnya bekerja tertutup rapat, dan terpampang tulisan mengatakan bahwa kantor tutup dan tidak akan ada aktifitas lagi. Bos pegadaian itu pun bingung dan menanyakan orang sekitarnya, tapi tak satu pun dari mereka mengenali Duncan Ross dan Serikat Rambut Merah. Akhirnya, Wilson mendatangi pemilik kantor, yang kebetulan tinggal di lantai bawah. Herannya, pemilik pun tidak mngetahui akan serikat itu dan nama Duncan Ross.

Pemilik hanya mengetahui seorang penyewa bernama William Morris, yang baru kemarinnya berpamitan pindah, dan meninggalkan alamat kantor. William pun mendatangi alamat yang dimaksud, lagi-lagi tak satupun orang dalam kantor itu mengenal Duncan Ross maupun William Morris.

Pemilik pegadaian sangat penasaran akan Serikat Rambut Merah, dan kenapa ia dikerjai seperti itu, ia juga merasa rugi 30 pondsterling. Walau Holmes menyarankan Wilson tidaklah begitu rugi, tapi rasa penasaran Wilson tetap meminta Holmes memecahkan misteri si rambut merah.  

Holmes dan Watson bergerak, mendatangi kantor tempat kejadian. Mereka melakukan observasi, selanjutnya mendatangi kediaman Wilson. Seorang anak muda membuka pintu untuknya, namun wajah pemuda itu sangat terkaget ketika tongkat Holmes mengetuk lantai keramik yang mengeluarkan bunyi tidak normal. Holmes pun menyelidiki rumah Wilson dan sekitarnya. Tidak jauh dari lokasi, terdapat deretan pertokoan hingga sebuah cabang bank.

Holmes telah mencium keganjilan dan membuat simpulan awal. Watson menyempatkan diri kembali ke rumahnya, kemudian kembali ke Jalan Baker. Ia mendapati Holmes tengah berbincang dengan Peter Jones dari agen Scotland Yard dan Merryweather seorang direktur bank, tertarik dalam kasus itu. Bankir yang akan menuntun mereka dalam petualangan mereka malam itu.

Agen Jones menjelaskan John Clay, seorang pencuri, pembunuh, dan penyeludup. Dia masih muda, tapi sudah sangat lihai dalam kejahatan. Kakeknya adalah bangsawan, dan Clay sendiri pernah kuliah di Eton dan Oxford. Dia sangat licik, sudah bertahun-tahun dalam incaran penegak hukum.

Bank Courg baru-baru ini meminjam dana besar dari Bank Paris untuk memperkuat bisnis, para staf belum punya kesempatan merapikan uangnya dan membiarkannya tergeletak di lantai brankas. Merryweather pun membawa Holmes, Watson, dan Agen Jones ke brankas yang berlapis tiga pintu dan jeruji besi di ruang bawah tanah. Dari kejauhan terdengar bunyi nyaring logam menghantam logam, dan sinaran senter.

Dua orang pencuri tengah berusaha melarikan diri dengan tas bawaannya, diduga berisi uang. Awalnya gerakan mereka dilakukan perlahan, kuatir pemilik pegadaian baik hati terbangun dari tidurnya. Ruang bawah tanah itu persis berada di bawah kamar tidur Wilson. Holmes memegang senjatanya dan memperingatkan kedua pencuri itu. Detektif itu cukup kaget saat melihat rambut merah milik anak muda dihadapannya, John Clay. Pencuri masih berusaha melarikan diri, Holmes kembali mengingatkan keduanya, tiga orang di luar telah mengepung.

Holmes semenjak awal telah mencium kejanggalan asisten Wilson, tiba-tiba menghilang dan terkaget saat melihat tongkat Holmes memukul lantai. Belum lagi, sang asisten tak berani memunculkan kakinya yang berdebu. Selama berminggu-minggu Spaulding dan Clay telah membuat terowongan di bawah rumah Wilson menembus ke ruang brankas Bank Coburg. Apalah arti 4 pound per minggu jika dibandingkan dengan ribuan pounsterling yang telah mereka curi dari brankas Bank Coburg. Clay membuat iklan itu untuk menarik Wilson agar meninggalkan tokonya dari jam 10.00 hingga 14.00 setiap hari, agar mereka bebas menggali. Terowongan telah usai dibuat, mereka menyegel kantor, dan terlupa dengan Wilson. Tidak mengira, Wilson akan melakukan penyidikan terhadap mereka. Clay memanfaatkan rambut merah untuk kejahatan, modus baru untuk sang detektif. John Clay adalah seorang sponsor rasnya.  

******

3 Desember 2017