The Forecast for the Wedding

Maura's wedding is on Saturday, and on Wednesday morning she checks the weather for the ninth time. Her usual weather app shows a small, smiling sun. It says dry, twenty-four degrees, and a light wind. That is perfect for a ceremony in the garden.

Pernikahan Maura jatuh pada hari Sabtu, dan pada Rabu pagi ia memeriksa cuaca untuk kesembilan kalinya. Aplikasi cuaca langganannya menampilkan matahari kecil yang tersenyum. Tertulis cerah, dua puluh empat derajat, dan angin ringan. Itu sempurna untuk upacara di taman.

Then Joel, her fiancé, holds up his phone. "A friend at work told me about a new forecast. It uses an AI model and thousands of local sensors. Look at this."

Lalu Joel, tunangannya, mengangkat ponselnya. "Teman kerjaku bercerita tentang prakiraan cuaca baru. Ini memakai model AI dan ribuan sensor lokal. Lihat ini."

The screen shows a gray cloud. "Rain at four p.m. on Saturday," Joel reads. "Seventy percent."

Layarnya menampilkan awan kelabu. "Hujan pukul empat sore hari Sabtu," Joel membaca. "Tujuh puluh persen."

"Seventy isn't a hundred," Maura says. "My app says sun."

"Tujuh puluh bukan seratus," kata Maura. "Aplikasiku bilang cerah."

"Your app has been wrong twice this month. This one was right yesterday."

"Aplikasimu sudah dua kali salah bulan ini. Yang ini kemarin benar."

They sit quietly with the two phones between them. Moving everything inside would mean a smaller room, no garden photos, and a lot of phone calls. Staying outside would mean hoping. Maura is a planner, and hoping has never been her best skill. But the seventy bothers her more than the thirty does.

Mereka duduk diam dengan dua ponsel di antara mereka. Memindahkan semuanya ke dalam ruangan berarti ruang yang lebih kecil, tidak ada foto taman, dan banyak sekali telepon. Tetap di luar berarti berharap. Maura seorang perencana, dan berharap tidak pernah menjadi keahliannya. Tetapi angka tujuh puluh itu lebih mengganggunya daripada angka tiga puluh.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Joel asks.

"Apa hal terburuk yang bisa terjadi?" tanya Joel.

"Eighty guests in their best clothes, running for the door. And a very wet cake."

"Delapan puluh tamu dengan pakaian terbaik mereka, berlarian ke pintu. Dan kue yang basah kuyup."

"Then what if we don't move inside? What if we just add a tent?"

"Kalau begitu bagaimana kalau kita tidak pindah ke dalam? Bagaimana kalau kita cukup menambah tenda?"

Maura calls the venue that afternoon. A tent with open sides is possible, and it costs about the same as a good dress. "If it doesn't rain, we have wasted money," she says.

Sore itu Maura menelepon tempat acaranya. Tenda dengan sisi terbuka bisa disediakan, dan harganya kira-kira sama dengan sebuah gaun yang bagus. "Kalau tidak hujan, kita sudah membuang uang," katanya.

"And if it does, we have saved the day," Joel says. "I would rather waste money."

"Dan kalau hujan, kita sudah menyelamatkan hari itu," kata Joel. "Aku lebih suka membuang uang."

Maura says yes before she can think about it again.

Maura berkata ya sebelum sempat memikirkannya lagi.

On Saturday, the sky is bright blue. Her mother says the tent looks silly in the sunshine, and so does her cousin. Maura starts to doubt herself, too. She opens the old app one more time. Still a sun.

Pada hari Sabtu, langit biru cerah. Ibunya bilang tenda itu tampak konyol di bawah sinar matahari, begitu pula sepupunya. Maura pun mulai meragukan dirinya sendiri. Ia membuka aplikasi lamanya sekali lagi. Masih matahari.

The ceremony begins at three, under the open sky, next to the white tent. At four o'clock, the band starts to play. At ten past four, a single drop falls on a table. Then another one falls. Then the rain arrives, hard and loud, and the guests run laughing under the tent.

Upacara dimulai pukul tiga, di bawah langit terbuka, di samping tenda putih itu. Pukul empat, band mulai bermain. Pukul empat lewat sepuluh, setetes air jatuh di sebuah meja. Lalu setetes lagi. Lalu hujan tiba, deras dan nyaring, dan para tamu berlari sambil tertawa ke bawah tenda.

"Seventy percent," Joel says, taking her hand. "Ten minutes late."

"Tujuh puluh persen," kata Joel sambil menggenggam tangannya. "Terlambat sepuluh menit."

Maura doesn't look at either app. She pulls him onto the dance floor, where eighty wet and happy guests are already dancing.

Maura tidak melihat kedua aplikasi itu. Ia menariknya ke lantai dansa, tempat delapan puluh tamu yang basah dan bahagia sudah menari.