The Bottle in the River

It is a cold Sunday morning. Lale is standing knee-deep in the river with rubber gloves and a black bag. Her neighborhood group holds a cleanup every spring, and this year twenty volunteers have come. So far, they have pulled out tires, a shopping cart, and about two hundred cans.

Hari Minggu pagi yang dingin. Lale berdiri di sungai dengan air setinggi lutut, mengenakan sarung tangan karet dan membawa kantong hitam. Kelompok warga di lingkungannya mengadakan kerja bakti bersih-bersih setiap musim semi, dan tahun ini dua puluh relawan datang. Sejauh ini, mereka sudah mengangkat ban, keranjang belanja, dan sekitar dua ratus kaleng.

Near a pile of reeds, something small catches the light. It is a plastic bottle, half buried in the mud. Lale almost drops it into the bag with the rest. Then she notices that it isn't empty. There is a folded paper inside, and the cap is wrapped with tape.

Di dekat tumpukan alang-alang, sesuatu yang kecil memantulkan cahaya. Sebuah botol plastik, setengah terkubur di lumpur. Lale hampir saja memasukkannya ke kantong bersama sampah lainnya. Lalu ia menyadari bahwa botol itu tidak kosong. Ada secarik kertas terlipat di dalamnya, dan tutupnya dililit selotip.

She climbs onto the bank and carefully opens it. The paper is damp but still readable. The handwriting is round and uneven, clearly a child's: "If you find this, write to my school. We want to know how far the river can carry a bottle." Below it are the name of a school and the name of a village.

Ia naik ke tepian dan membukanya dengan hati-hati. Kertas itu lembap tetapi masih bisa dibaca. Tulisan tangannya bulat dan tidak rata, jelas tulisan anak kecil: "Kalau kamu menemukan ini, tulis surat ke sekolah kami. Kami ingin tahu seberapa jauh sungai bisa membawa sebuah botol." Di bawahnya tertulis nama sebuah sekolah dan nama sebuah desa.

Lale looks at the map on her phone. The village is about forty kilometers upriver, in the hills. The bottle has traveled all that way, past farms, bridges, and towns, to end up in the mud.

Lale melihat peta di ponselnya. Desa itu berjarak sekitar empat puluh kilometer ke hulu, di daerah perbukitan. Botol ini sudah menempuh perjalanan sejauh itu, melewati ladang, jembatan, dan kota, hanya untuk berakhir di lumpur.

"What did you find?" asks another volunteer.

"Kamu menemukan apa?" tanya relawan lain.

"A letter," Lale says. "From a child, in a bottle."

"Sebuah surat," kata Lale. "Dari seorang anak, di dalam botol."

The volunteer reads it twice. "You have to answer it," he says.

Relawan itu membacanya dua kali. "Kamu harus membalasnya," katanya.

That evening, Lale sits at her kitchen table with a pen and a clean sheet of paper. She isn't sure what to say. She tells the class where she found the bottle and how far it must have traveled. She explains how much rubbish the river carries. "It goes farther than you think, and so does plastic," she writes. Then she adds, "Would you like us to visit?"

Sore itu, Lale duduk di meja dapur dengan pulpen dan selembar kertas bersih. Ia tidak yakin harus menulis apa. Ia menceritakan kepada kelas itu di mana ia menemukan botolnya dan sejauh apa botol itu pasti sudah mengembara. Ia menjelaskan betapa banyak sampah yang dibawa sungai. "Sungai membawanya lebih jauh daripada yang kalian kira, begitu juga plastik," tulisnya. Lalu ia menambahkan, "Maukah kalian kami kunjungi?"

Ten days later, a reply arrives with a drawing of the river and the signatures of twenty-six students. The teacher has added a line at the bottom: "Please come. The children haven't stopped talking about you."

Sepuluh hari kemudian, sebuah balasan tiba, disertai gambar sungai dan tanda tangan dua puluh enam murid. Sang guru menambahkan satu baris di bagian bawah: "Silakan datang. Anak-anak tidak berhenti membicarakan kalian."

On a bright Saturday, Lale and six volunteers drive upriver. In the classroom, the children sit on the floor in a half circle. A small girl in the front row raises her hand.

Pada Sabtu yang cerah, Lale dan enam relawan menyetir ke hulu. Di ruang kelas, anak-anak duduk di lantai membentuk setengah lingkaran. Seorang gadis kecil di barisan depan mengangkat tangan.

"Was it my bottle?" she asks.

"Apakah itu botolku?" tanyanya.

"I think so," Lale says. "It traveled forty kilometers."

"Kurasa begitu," kata Lale. "Botolnya menempuh empat puluh kilometer."

The girl grins.

Gadis itu nyengir.

They talk for an hour about rubbish, rivers, and what can be recycled. Then everyone walks down to the water behind the school with bags and gloves. The girl from the front row holds a bag open while Lale drops in the first can.

Mereka berbincang selama satu jam tentang sampah, sungai, dan apa saja yang bisa didaur ulang. Lalu semua orang berjalan ke tepi air di belakang sekolah dengan membawa kantong dan sarung tangan. Gadis dari barisan depan itu memegangi sebuah kantong agar tetap terbuka sementara Lale memasukkan kaleng pertama.