The Shoveled Walk

Every time it snowed that winter, Mrs. Petrov's front walk was cleared before eight in the morning, and nobody in the building could say for certain who was doing it.

Setiap kali salju turun musim dingin itu, jalan setapak di depan rumah Bu Petrov sudah bersih sebelum pukul delapan pagi, dan tak seorang pun di gedung itu bisa memastikan siapa yang melakukannya.

Kwame had his suspicions, none of which involved Otis, the boy who lived in 3B and kept to himself so thoroughly that Kwame wasn't sure he had ever heard him say a full sentence. Otis wore the same gray hoodie regardless of weather, left for school later than everyone else, and, as far as the building's unofficial gossip network could establish, had no particular fondness for Mrs. Petrov or anyone else on the floor.

Kwame punya beberapa dugaan, dan tak satu pun melibatkan Otis, anak laki-laki penghuni 3B yang begitu menutup diri sampai Kwame tidak yakin pernah mendengarnya mengucapkan satu kalimat utuh. Otis memakai hoodie abu-abu yang sama dalam cuaca apa pun, berangkat sekolah lebih siang daripada yang lain, dan, sejauh yang bisa dipastikan oleh jaringan gosip tidak resmi di gedung itu, tidak punya kedekatan khusus dengan Bu Petrov atau siapa pun di lantai itu.

Kwame's money, if he'd had to place a bet, was on Mr. Alvarez from the ground floor, a retired man who was already outside most mornings anyway, or possibly on Mrs. Petrov's own daughter, who visited on weekends and might have arranged something through a paid service without mentioning it.

Kalau harus bertaruh, Kwame akan memilih Pak Alvarez dari lantai dasar, seorang pria pensiunan yang hampir setiap pagi memang sudah berada di luar, atau mungkin anak perempuan Bu Petrov sendiri, yang berkunjung di akhir pekan dan mungkin saja mengatur sesuatu lewat jasa berbayar tanpa bilang-bilang.

He decided to find out properly rather than keep guessing, which meant setting an alarm for six a.m. on the morning after the next snowfall and watching from his kitchen window with a mug of coffee he didn't really want. Had he known how uneventful the first two mornings would be, he might not have bothered setting the alarm a third time. It was on the third morning, not the first or the second, that everything finally became clear.

Ia memutuskan untuk mencari tahu dengan benar, bukan terus menebak, yang berarti memasang alarm pukul enam pagi pada hari setelah salju turun berikutnya dan mengawasi dari jendela dapurnya dengan secangkir kopi yang sebenarnya tidak ia inginkan. Seandainya ia tahu betapa hambarnya dua pagi pertama, mungkin ia tidak akan repot memasang alarm untuk ketiga kalinya. Namun pada pagi ketiga, bukan yang pertama atau kedua, semuanya akhirnya terang.

At six-forty, moving with none of the reluctance Kwame associated with him, Otis came out the side door in his gray hoodie, shovel already in hand, and cleared Mrs. Petrov's walk from end to end without once looking up at the windows above him. He finished in under ten minutes and went back inside as quietly as he'd come out.

Pukul enam empat puluh, bergerak tanpa sedikit pun keengganan yang biasa Kwame kaitkan dengannya, Otis keluar lewat pintu samping dengan hoodie abu-abunya, sekop sudah di tangan, dan membersihkan jalan setapak Bu Petrov dari ujung ke ujung tanpa sekali pun menengadah ke jendela-jendela di atasnya. Ia selesai dalam waktu kurang dari sepuluh menit dan masuk lagi dengan sesenyap saat ia keluar.

Kwame caught him in the stairwell two days later. "It's you. The walk."

Dua hari kemudian Kwame mencegatnya di tangga. "Ternyata kamu. Yang bersihin jalan itu."

Otis's face did something complicated, somewhere between annoyance and relief at not having to explain it unprompted. "She used to leave food out for my cat when I first moved in and didn't know anyone. I never really said thank you properly. This is easier than saying it out loud."

Wajah Otis menunjukkan sesuatu yang rumit, antara kesal dan lega karena tidak perlu menjelaskannya tanpa diminta. "Dulu waktu aku baru pindah dan belum kenal siapa-siapa, dia suka menaruh makanan buat kucingku. Aku nggak pernah benar-benar bilang terima kasih. Ini lebih gampang daripada bilang langsung."

"You could just say it out loud."

"Kamu kan bisa bilang langsung."

"I could," Otis said, and didn't elaborate further, which told Kwame everything the sentence itself hadn't.

"Bisa," kata Otis, dan tidak menambahkan apa-apa lagi, yang bagi Kwame menjelaskan semua hal yang tidak diucapkan kalimat itu sendiri.

Kwame never told anyone else in the building who was doing it. He started leaving his own boots by the door on snowy nights, and one morning, without either of them discussing it, there were two shovels working the walk instead of one.

Kwame tidak pernah memberi tahu siapa pun di gedung itu siapa pelakunya. Ia mulai meletakkan sepatu botnya sendiri di dekat pintu pada malam-malam bersalju, dan suatu pagi, tanpa mereka berdua pernah membicarakannya, ada dua sekop yang bekerja di jalan setapak itu, bukan satu.