Cerpen Bahasa Inggris - The Library Guy

It was early Saturday morning when young Grace Milton Humming softly while packing her lunch box. Saturday has always been her favorite day; it is a day surrounded by books. She pulled her old roller skates and slides through the road. The library was only 4 blocks away from her home. A woman was caught sight, she was locking her house door and holding a puppy, Grace stopped by.

“Hello Mrs. Greek!” She sang and open her arms widely.

“Hi Grace, reading day eh?” The woman called Greek put the puppy down and it ran to Grace arms. She played with it for a while then exchanging good bye.

After 25 minutes of sliding, Grace arrived at library. She waved hello to Mr. Pomphrey, then took a pile of books from her bag and showing him her library card. Mr. Pomphrey is a man in his mid-thirty, he is the son of the library owner. While he was validating data, Grace was peeking through the bookshelf. She was grinning in silence when she found what she was looking for. The guy who sat at the corner of the room. Grace didn’t know who he was, but when she became a member of the library, the boy was already present at the same spot every time she visits library and because of that habit of his, Grace become contagion, peeking the corner of the room.

“You sure like that spot a lot, don’t you?”

Grace was startled by Mr. Pomphrey voice. Her cheek flustered, and she deny it.

“Uh, yeah! It is right beside the window sill sir! And the boy is always at the same spot; I wonder why” Grace murmured the last word and put her library card to her pocket.

“Ah yes of course, window sill. Why don’t you ever sit there though?”

“Uh… the wind blows constantly, and my hair will get messy. So, I guess I will be disturbed”

“Yeah, I heard that a lot”

Grace walked to the sci-fi section and wandered there for a while, it was located far from the front door. It was desolated because the genre wasn’t really popular that time, but that didn’t matter to Grace, she was in the mood to read it. Taking some books randomly, she sat across of the room corner while the boy sat on the other side. She didn’t want a seat companion, however there was only one remaining empty seat.

Hours passed, Grace finished her book, she left the book on the table and was going to find other book, but a voice stopped her.

“Reading a book and leaving without returning it?” said a deep voice.

The chilly air suddenly hit the room, it was summer, and it was definitely rare to have this condition. Grace suddenly shivered, not because of the rare condition, but by the cold tone from boy who usually sat at the corner of the room sitting right in front of her without Grace realized. Since when?

“Ah… I-I was going to find some more book and put them back together later”

The boy didn’t respond, sitting still while staring at Grace. He shrugged and read his book on his hand. Without a word Grace took the book leaving the boy all alone to the sci-fi section. Well, what’s the best option?  Today might be Grace lucky day, she got to talk to the boy. Although it wasn’t an actual conversation, the next time she met him surely, she’ll begin her interrogation. She became excited and it’s all around her face.

She is that curious from the third week she saw him, why would a boy read book every Saturday instead of playing soccer with his friends? Does he have one? Or does he have illness that prevent him from playing sport? While the questions keep coming, Grace put the book before to the wrong shelf, before it was completely in, a hand grab her shoulder.

“That’s not the right place, missy”

Her movement stopped by a familiar voice, Mrs. Pomphrey.

“Oh hello Mrs. Pomphrey, sorry I was mused for a second”

“No problem, what are you daydreaming about?”

Grace shook her head and putting the book in the right shelf.

“Well I guess it is nothing important then, okay I’ll be right back on the fiction section”

“See you”

After seeing Mrs. Pomphrey’s back went away from sight, Grace is back to her questions. Luckily, she didn’t bring her pocket memo, or she’ll start to write it all down. She didn’t take any book and rushed to her seat. The boy was still there, reading calmly.

“Do you like to read?” Grace speak bluntly.

“Excuse me?” The boy squinting his eyes and glance at her.

“Don’t you like sports? Or Do you have some illness and can’t handle it?”

“Are you being rude?”

“No, I am simply curious. A boy like you usually doesn’t spend the weekend like this”

“Then what does a boy like me usually do?”

“Sports?” She tried again. But no answer, the boy started to read again. Grace is disappointed, she didn’t success on her approach and later on she gave up and walked to the fiction section.

“Hey Mrs. Pomphrey”

“Oh, hey darling, what’s up?”

“I’ve got some questions; do you mind answering it?”

“As long as I know the answer”

“Well… it’s uh... You and Mr. Pomphrey has been running this library since 1984, right?”

“Right, soon after we’re married 6 years ago”

“Then there must be a lot of regulars”

“Yeah, why?”

“You see… I’ve been wondering since the third time I came here”, “There is this one boy who sits at the window sill every time I came here. Do you know who he is?”

Mrs. Pomphrey didn’t answer instantly; she’s trying to recall her memory.

“Child, there’s no regular ever sit near the window sill. In fact, for the past year no one ever sit there. People complain the seat is always cold even on summer day like this although there’s no wind”

What kind of joke she’s pulling?

“But I saw the boy frequently Mrs. Pomphrey. He even talks to me just now”

“I’m sorry dear, but I think you might be seeing things”

“What? What do you mean”

“Well, there must be an explanation towards the cold seat, right? Since it doesn’t bother people we didn’t really put much attention to it”

“Oh right. Seeing things”

Grace is absolutely not satisfied with that conclusion; she’ll ask the boy again. Rushing back to her seat, the boy is no longer there. She took a glance to the window sill and there’s no sign of person. Since that day on, Grace never see the figure of that boy. Maybe Mrs. Pomphrey is right, she’s just seeing things, or maybe the boy has recovered from his sickness and is just doing sports?

-o0o-

Selesai! So so what do you think? Cerpen pertama yang menggunakan bahasa inggris! Thanks to my editor : Truthful Tofu, kalian bisa cek blog nya di sini. Seperti biasa, gimana pendapat kalian? Seru? Aku ada beberapa pertanyaan nih, kalian jawab di kolom komentar!

1. Sebernarnya si penulis itu mau menyampaikan apa sih?
2. Pendapat pribadi mengenai cerpen ini (kritik saran dipersilahkan)

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(P.S: Update setiap malam minggu, untuk info postingan bisa di cek di story ig ku @fergiana.s)