THE GIFT UPON DISASTER
(Adapted from O Henry’s Story – The Gift of The Magi)
Written by Bryan
________________________________________________________________________
Ten thousand rupiah.
That was all she had in her money-box. Five times Dewi counted it and
the amount of the money was same: ten thousand rupiah. The next day would be
Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but sit down and cry, so Dewi cried
because she knew that she couldn’t make her husband happy. This led to the
thought that life is made up of sadness and happiness, with more sadness than
happiness.
Dewi finished her crying
and dried her eyes. She sat on the sofa and lamented her fate. Later, she stood
by the window and looked out unhappily at the children playing happily on the
road outside her apartment. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only
ten thousand rupiah to buy her husband Budi a gift. She had been saving money
for months, with this result.
Budi earned one hundred
thousand rupiah a month, which didn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than
she expected. Many a happy hour she had spent planning to buy something nice
for Budi, something that he had really wanted to buy since last year, but they
couldn’t because they didn’t have enough money.
Dewi still thought about
how to buy the watch that her husband really wanted to wear on Christmas Day.
She spent an hour thinking about it, then she had an idea. She knew that there
was a casino near her apartment in Surabaya. She knew that the owner of the
casino was Madame Sinta, a woman who was friendly, polite, honest, and humble.
She could possibly double her money by winning the roulette game in Madame
Sinta’s Casino.
Dewi rushed off to the
casino. She put on her coat and her old brown hat. With a quick motion and
brightness still in her eyes, she danced out the door and down the street. She
stopped at a sign that read: “Madame Sinta’s Casino. The Heaven of Money.” Dewi
ran up the steps to the casino, out of breath.
“Excuse me, do you still
have the roulette game which can double my money?” asked Dewi.
“Yes, I do,” said
Madame. “Take your coat and hat off, and enjoy the game!”
Dewi quickly went to the
roulette table. She knew that she had a chance to buy Budi the gift that he had
wanted since last year. With a happiness and brightness still in her eyes, she
listened to Madame Sinta’s instructions for roulette.
“If you win this game,
your money will become one hundred thousand rupiah. If you lose, you will not
get any money. Your money becomes mine. Do you still want to play?” asked
Madame.
“Yes, I do. I want to
make my husband happy on Christmas Day,” replied Dewi.
Dewi spun the wheel,
sadly she got a Zonk which meant that she lost the game and all the money she
had in her hand before was gone. She knew that she had nothing now. She
couldn’t retrieve her money, otherwise she could end up in the police station
because gambling was prohibited by the law in Indonesia. She went back home,
sat on the floor, and cried loudly inside her apartment. All the people inside
the apartment building felt sorry for the disaster that happened to her in the
casino.
On the other side of
town, Budi was very happy. The moment before, he had received his salary from
his boss. He got two hundred thousand rupiah to spend on Christmas Eve. He knew
that he could make his wife happy by buying a beautiful blue gown. He
immediately went to Matahari Department Store to buy the gown. He spent eighty
thousand rupiah for the gown, and the rest of the money he used to buy some
food for the Christmas Eve dinner in the apartment. After spending
approximately two hours inside Matahari Department Store and the supermarket,
Budi went home happily to see his wife.
At seven o’clock that
night, Dewi was still sitting on the floor and
crying loudly. She was very sad because she had lost all the money that she had been saving for
months and couldn’t buy the gift that would make her husband happy. She had
never been so sad. She couldn’t change her fate; it had
already happened. Now, the only thing
she could do was sit on the floor and cry loudly.
The door opened and Budi
stepped in. He looked thin and very serious. Poor man, he was only twenty-six
and he had to take care of his wife. He still
needed a new jacket and gloves to keep his hands warm when he rode his
motorcycle.
Budi stopped inside the
door, as immovable as a dog smelling a bird. His eyes were fixed upon Dewi. He
was surprised that his wife was so sad on Christmas Eve. He had already done his
best to please her, but he knew that his efforts were in vain when he arrived
at home. Dewi started to tell the disaster she had in the casino to him.
Budi was shocked by
Dewi’s story. He was shocked that all their money had gone only to buy a gift
for Christmas. He had a heart attack. His body began
convulsing. Dewi panicked and immediately
pressed 108 to call the ambulance, but there wasn’t any ambulance because she
pressed the wrong number. After pressing many wrong numbers, she found the
right number for the ambulance. The ambulance team quickly went to Dewi’s
apartment.
When the ambulance and
the paramedic team arrived, it was too late. Budi had passed away. All the
paramedic team and the people inside the apartment building felt sorry and
expressed their deepest condolence for the great disaster
that had happened to Dewi. Dewi was depressed
because her husband’s death was her fault.
Eventually, Dewi died together with her husband, still holding her gift. They
died in peace with a hug.
The paramedic team
immediately lifted and carried the bodies to the ambulance. They sent the
bodies to the biggest hospital in Surabaya, Soetomo Regional Public Hospital.
In the mortuary inside the hospital, forensic expert Teddy autopsied the body.
She revealed that Budi died due to a chronic heart failure caused by the fats
which came from the high cholesterol levels inside his body
and clogged his blood vessels. Teddy also revealed that Dewi died due to a
seriously depressed mind that made her brain stop working. Teddy quickly sent
her report to the victim’s family.
The family received
twenty million rupiah from Jasa Raharja, together with the report. They wanted
to know more about their child’s death. Teddy
wanted to help the family. She worked as a pro bono investigator. She quickly
tracked down some important CCTV footage that revealed some clues. Early in the
morning that day, Dewi had gone to Madame Sinta’s Casino and played roulette
there. When Dewi went home, she cried loudly because she got a Zonk.
Teddy also saw some CCTV footage
of Budi. She observed that Budi was very happy that day. He had gone shopping at Matahari Department Store and the supermarket. He went back home with a lot of
items in his hands. When they met inside their
apartment, the happiness turned into sadness. After Dewi told Budi what had happened to her, they died one by one.
Teddy went to the casino
and interviewed Madame Sinta. Madame told her that
Dewi was shocked and turned from happy to sad after she got a Zonk. Madame
didn’t know that Dewi had died due to her casino. She felt sorry about Budi and
Dewi’s death. Next, Teddy interviewed Matahari
Department Store’s staff and found nothing that might
cause Budi’s death.
After two days, Teddy
made another report. She wrote that Budi and Dewi died because of only one thing: the Zonk in Madame Sinta’s
Casino. She suggested that the government close all the casinos in Surabaya to
prevent this from happening again. The
government received Teddy’s advice and immediately closed all the casinos in
Surabaya. Surabaya became a city without casinos. The government also promised
to kill any casino owner who still opened their casino in Surabaya.
Budi and Dewi’s families
were very pleased to hear the report and grateful to the government for their
concern about their children’s deaths. They were
also grateful to Jasa Raharja who gave them twenty-million rupiah in compensation.
Now the family understood about their child’s death and felt comforted until
they died.
Teddy was also very happy that she had successfully helped
the victim’s family and made them very happy. The government gave Teddy a
reward because of her action investigating this accident. She continued to work
as a forensic expert in Soetomo Regional Public Hospital until she died.
Madame Sinta was found
guilty of manslaughter due to the Zonk in her roulette game that became the
cause of Dewi’s death. She was sentenced to five years in prison, but she
escaped abroad and the police still haven’t found her. It is believed that she
died due to the law of karma.
- THE END -
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