Novel | Mu'

Chapter I

 

"Born as a poor was a fate, but died as a poor would be a mistake of ours."

Salatiga, 2017, twilight was just loomed upon a small town in Central Java. On a rainy day, after having an extra make up class, a young man walked home alone with his umbrella casting shade over his body. He took good care of every inch he stepped his foot on the road which was not just slippery, but there were also puddles on its paved road. He did not want his current washed shoes got wet, so he walked slowly that he might protect its cleanliness.  

As he walked, the rain got heavier before he found a Burjo nearly half way to his way back home. He decided to take shelter and get a cup of coffee there, which gave him time to at least avoid the merciless heavy rain that day.  

16:57, his black coffee came. He put the umbrella at the side of the Burjo's table, lit a cigarette then staring at the road, wondering how long should he wait for the rain to pass.  Knowing it would take much times, this young man's thought wandering so much about everything around him as he looked at the umbrella he brought. Inside his mind he asked himself, "is an umbrella only for sheltering from this rain?" there was silent that came through this short question, revealing the narrowness of his thought about what an umbrella could do. He shook his head, nothing could ever take him beyond reality than his questions and books. 

This young man, called him Mu', experienced many things through books. He believed books were way to have a further exploration throughout the real world, normality, norms, times, spaces, and places.  He was also sure that questions, besides as a sign of a critical thinker act, brought him to better solutions in many cases he faced. Here it is Mu', a young man that believed he destined for future glory.

Born on November 11th 1995 in a small village called dusun Segiri, Mu' was grown up in a fierce circumstance where most children were taught to work for living. No one ever told him to study until he asked his parents to send him to school when he was six. The very first time he touched a book, it was about The Dahomey Amazon, where he began to understand that this was a story about women soldier in Africa. 

They were the frontline soldier in the army of the Kingdom Dahomey, a West African empire that existed from 1625 to 1894. Its remnants lie in modern-day Benin, which occupied a silver of the coast between Nigeria and Togo. Whether conquering the neighbouring tribes or resisting European forces, the Amazons were known for their fearlessness. 

On one final battle against the French in 1892 before the Kingdom became a French colony, it was said only 17 out of 434 Amazons came back alive. He understood the details of the story well and he somehow shared the information he found to many people. Seeing his child loved read so much and told stories to their friends, Mu's parents realized that the ability to read for a six-year-old child was somehow amazing in the village. 

Sharing information from a book you read meant you were intellectual and it was so rare for villagers. He probably was the one at his time. Most of Mu's parents' friends amazed with the child's knowledge about cultures and the international world current affairs.