Short Story: Mesmerizing Old Lady in Yellow Kebaya by Widjaya Harahap
1 min read
In this short story, Widjaya Harahap narrates the story of one incident that changes the life of the protagonist and how they look at it as it reveals the deeper meaning of it all after a few years.
Two stocky men strutted up aggressively. Both gripped long machetes. Before Torop could fully dismount from his bike, one of the two men had already unsheathed his machete and aimed it at the neck of the middle-aged fabric merchant. “If you want to stay alive, do not try anything funny,” he warned.
Torop’s mind spun, weighing the situation. I may not be young anymore, but I am not willing to die foolishly, he heard a small voice from the corner of his mind. Even if I die, I will tug these two scoundrels to depart with me.
A fleeting memory flashed back to an incident ten years ago. How in his hands―the hands of a respected martial artist and silat master―two ruffians like these lay sprawled on the ground, fortunate not to be dead. But that was ten years ago. Now my movements are not as agile as before; that is why I need to grab the machete; he mused in his mind.
