Short story "The Whale Sound" and its translation

The Whale Sound

"Leave him alone" I yelled as I walked out of the orphanage gate and saw several of the Spring Park School bullies pushing the deaf kid around. I did not know the boy at all but I knew that we were about the same age, because of his size. He lived in the old white house across the street from the orphanage where I lived. I had seen him on his front porch several times doing absolutely nothing, except just sitting there making funny like hand movements.

     In the summer time we didn't get much to eat for Sunday supper, except watermelon and then we had to eat it outside behind the dining room so we would not make a mess on the tables inside. About the only time that I would see him was through the high chain-link fence that surrounded the orphanage when we ate our watermelon outside.

     The deaf kid started making all kind of hand signals, real fast like. "You are a stupid idiot" said the bigger of the two bullies as he pushed the boy down on the ground. The other bully ran around behind the boy and kicked him as hard as he could in the back. The deaf boy's body started shaking all over and he curled up in a ball trying to shield and hide his face. He looked like he was trying to cry, or something but he just couldn't make any sounds, I don't think.

     I ran as fast as I could back through the orphanage gate and into the thick azalea bushes. I uncovered my home-made bow which I had constructed out of bamboo and string. I grabbed four arrows that were also made of bamboo and they had coca cola tops bent around the ends to make real sharp tips. Then I ran back out the gate with an arrow cocked in the bow and I just stood there quiet like, breathing real hard just daring either one of them to kick or touch the boy again.

     "You're a dumb freak just like him you big eared creep" said one of the boys as he grabbed his friend and backed off far enough so that the arrow would not hit them. "If you're so brave kick him again now" I said, shaking like a leaf. The bigger of the two bullies ran up and kicked the deaf boy in the middle of his back as hard as he could and then he ran out of arrow range again.

     The boy jerked about and then made a sound that I will never forget for as long as I live. It was the sound like a whale makes when it has been harpooned and knows that it is about to die. I fired all four of my arrows at the two bullies as they ran away laughing about what they had done.

     I pulled the boy up off the ground and helped him back to his house which was about two blocks down the street from the school building. When we reached his home his sister told me that her brother was deaf but that he was not dumb like the two bullies said. That he was very smart but could not say or hear anything. I told her that he did make a sound when the bully kicked him in the back. She told me that I must be mistaken because all her brother's vocal cords had been removed during an experimental surgery, which had failed.

     The boy made one of those hand signs at me as I was about to leave. I asked his sister "if your brother is so smart then why is he doing things like that with his hands?" She told me that he was saying that he loved me with his hands. I didn't say anything back to her at all because I didn't believe her. People can't talk with their hands and everybody knows that. People can only talk with their mouth.

     Almost every Sunday for the next year or two I could see the boy through the chain-link fence as we ate watermelon outside behind the dining room, during the summer time. He always made that same funny hand sign at me and I would just wave back at him, not knowing what else to do.

     On my very last day in the orphanage I was being chased by the police. They told me that I was being sent off to the Florida School for Boys Reform School, at Marianna so I ran to get away from them. They chased me around the dining room building several times and finally I made a dash for the chain-link fence and tried to climb over in order to escape. I saw the deaf boy sitting there on his porch just looking at me as they pulled me down from the fence and handcuffed me. The boy, now about twelve jumped up and ran across San Diego Road, placed his fingers through the chain-link fence and just stood there looking at us.

     They dragged me by my legs, screaming and yelling for more than several hundred yards through the dirt and pine-straw to the waiting police car. All I could hear the entire time was the high pitched sound of that whale being harpooned again. As we pulled away in the police car I saw the deaf boy loosen his grip on the fence and slide very slowly to the ground and lower his head into the leaves and pine straw. That is when I realized that he probably really did love me and he wanted to save me because he thought that I too was making the whale sound.

By: Roger Dean Kiser

Translate into Indonesian:

Suara Paus

"Biarkan dia sendiri" aku berteriak saat aku berjalan keluar dari gerbang panti asuhan dan melihat beberapa dari anak anak Sekolah Spring Park mengganggu mendorong anak tuli itu. Aku tidak tahu anak itu sama sekali tapi aku tahu bahwa kami mempunya usia yang sama, karena ukuran tubuhnya. Dia tinggal di rumah putih tua di seberang jalan dari panti asuhan di mana aku tinggal. Aku telah melihatnya di teras depan rumahnya beberapa kali saat sedang melakukan sesuatu , kecuali hanya duduk di sana membuat sesuatu yang lucu seperti gerakan tangan.

     Pada waktu musim panas kami tidak mendapatkan banyak makanan untuk Minggu malam,  kecuali semangka dan kemudian kami harus makan di luar, di belakang ruang makan jadi kita tidak akan membuat berantakan di atas meja dalam. Hal  satu-satunya waktu aku akan melihat anak itu  adalah melalui pagar rantai tinggi yang mengelilingi  panti asuhan ketika kami memakan semangka di luar.

     Anak tuli mulai membuat semua jenis sinyal tangan, seperti. "Anda adalah tolol bodoh" kata yang lebih besar dari dua pengganggu saat dia mendorong anak itu ke tanah. Pengganggu lainnya berlari di belakang anak itu dan menendangnya sekeras dia bisa ,di belakang. Tubuh anak tuli itu mulai gemetar seluruhnya dan dia meringkuk di bola mencoba untuk melindungi dan menyembunyikan wajahnya. Dia tampak seperti sedang berusaha untuk menangis, atau sesuatu, tapi ia tidak bisa membuat suara, saya tidak bias  berpikir.

     Aku berlari secepat aku yang aku bisa melalui gerbang panti asuhan dan ke semak-semak azalea yang tebal. Aku menemukan busur buatanku yang telah aku buat dari bambu dan tali. Aku meraih empat anak panah yang juga terbuat dari bambu dan mereka telah mencoba  membungkuk di ujungnya untuk membuatnya tipis tajam, Lalu aku berlari keluar gerbang dengan panah miring di haluan dan aku hanya berdiri di sana tenang , pernapasan sangat keras hanya berani salah satu dari mereka untuk menendang atau menyentuh anak lagi.

     "Kau orang aneh bodoh seperti dia kamu merayap bertelinga besar" kata salah satu anak laki-laki saat ia meraih temannya dan mundur cukup jauh sehingga panah tidak akan memukul mereka. "Jika kamu begitu berani menendang lagi sekarang" kataku, gemetar seperti daun. Semakin besar dari dua pengganggu berlari dan menendang anak tuli di tengah punggungnya sekeras yang dia bisa dan kemudian ia berlari keluar dari jangkauan panah lagi.

     Anak itu tersentak sekitar dan kemudian membuat suara yang aku tidak akan pernah lupakan selama hidupku . Itu adalah suara seperti ikan paus membuat ketika telah ada dan tahu dia akan mati. Aku menembakkan panah keempatku di dua pengganggu saat mereka lagi tertawa tentang apa yang mereka lakukan.

     Aku menarik anak itu dari tanah dan membantu dia kembali ke rumahnya yang berada sekitar dua blok jalan dari gedung sekolah. Ketika kami sampai di rumahnya kakaknya mengatakan kepadaku bahwa kakaknya tuli tapi ia tidak bodoh seperti dua pengganggu itu katanya. Bahwa dia sangat pintar tapi tidak bisa mengatakan atau mendengar sesuatu. Aku  mengatakan kepadanya bahwa dia tidak membuat suara ketika si bully menendang belakang. Dia mengatakan bahwa aku pasti salah karena pita suara kakaknya sudah diangkat  selama operasi eksperimental, yang gagal.

     Anak itu membuat salah satu tanda-tanda tangan pada saat aku hendak pergi. Aku bertanya ke kakaknya "jika saudaramu sangat cerdas maka mengapa ia melakukan hal-hal seperti itu dengan tangannya?" Dia mengatakan kepada saya bahwa dia mengatakan bahwa dia mencintai saya dengan tangannya. Aku tidak mengatakan apa-apa kembali padanya sama sekali karena saya tidak percaya padanya. Orang tidak dapat berbicara dengan tangan mereka dan semua orang tahu itu. Orang hanya dapat berbicara dengan mulut mereka.

     Hampir setiap hari Minggu untuk tahun depan atau dua aku bisa melihat anak itu melalui pagar kawat seperti saat kita makan semangka luar di belakang ruang makan, selama musim panas. Dia selalu membuat bahwa tanda tangan yang sama lucu pada saya dan saya hanya akan melambai ke arahnya, tidak tahu harus berbuat apa lagi.

     Pada hari terakhirku  di panti asuhan aku sedang dikejar oleh polisi. Mereka mengatakan bahwa saya sedang dikirim ke Sekolah Florida untuk Reformasi Sekolah Anak laki-laki, di Marianna jadi saya berlari untuk menjauh dari mereka. Mereka mengejar saya sekitar ruang makan gedung beberapa kali dan akhirnya saya berlari ke pagar rantai dan mencoba memanjat untuk melarikan diri. Saya melihat anak tuli duduk di sana di terasnya hanya melihat saya sebagai mereka menarik saya turun dari pagar dan memborgolku. Anak laki-laki, sekarang sekitar dua belas melompat dan berlari menyeberangi jalan San Diego, menempatkan jari-jarinya melalui pagar kawat dan hanya berdiri di sana menatap kami.

    Mereka menyeretku dengan kakiku, berteriak dan berteriak untuk lebih dari beberapa ratus meter melalui kotoran dan pinus-jerami ke mobil polisi. Semuanya aku bisa mendengar seluruh waktu adalah suara bernada tinggi yang menjadi paus lagi. Seperti yang kita bias  menarik diri dalam mobil polisi aku melihat anak tuli melonggarkan cengkeramannya di pagar dan geser sangat lambat ke tanah dan menurunkan kepalanya ke daun dan jerami pinus. Itu adalah ketika aku  menyadari bahwa ia mungkin benar-benar mencintaiku dan dia ingin menyelamatkan aku  karena dia berpikir bahwa aku juga membuat suara paus.