Yogyakarta. A city of culture. A city of education. A city of art. A tourist city. Those are just some of the nicknames attached to this old city. It was once the capital of the Republic of Indonesia and still bears many traces of the history of Javanese kingdoms from centuries past. Yogyakarta is the only special region in Indonesia led by a king who also serves as its regional governor. The city is never short of tourists, both domestic and foreign.
This was where Katrin anchored her dreams and ambitions. Not Jakarta or Surabaya, the metropolitan cities that young people often flock to in pursuit of their dreams and success. Katrin preferred Yogya. Not because it was close to her hometown of Malang, which she could reach by train in just a few hours, making it easy for her to go home often. Nor was it because of some primordial reason, since it was still within the territory of the same ethnic group.
Katrin wanted to put her knowledge to use. After graduating from the Foreign Languages Academy, she immediately applied for a job at a travel agency in Yogyakarta. Why Yogyakarta? Why not Bali or Jakarta? Because Yogyakarta was the heart of tourism—the epicenter of tourism on the island of Java. Many foreign tourists made Yogyakarta their primary destination after Bali. Katrin wanted to make a living as a tour guide. The friendly atmosphere of Yogya, along with its relatively low cost of living, was another reason Katrin came to make a life in this city.
Katrin had been working as a guide for not quite four years. She had experienced both the good and the bad. But she went through it all happily because she truly loved her profession. Her hobby of traveling found an outlet through her work; she often took tourists who hired her to tourist attractions all across Java, from Ujung Kulon in the west of West Java Province to the beaches of Banyuwangi in East Java. She had even been hired several times to travel beyond Java—to Sumbawa to see the Komodo dragons, to the Karo Highlands in Sulawesi, to Lake Toba in North Sumatra, and to several other exotic places in Indonesia. She got to enjoy it all for free, since the person who hired her covered all the expenses. She even made decent tips!
Bzzzt...!
The phone vibrating on silent startled Katrin. She had just flopped onto the bed in her tiny boarding-house room on the edge of a neighborhood near Kali Code, releasing the exhaustion of a full day spent showing a Japanese tourist around Kasunanan Surakarta. Lazily, the twenty-six-year-old reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her phone. Brushing her long hair aside, she held the phone to her ear. Before answering, she glanced at the screen and saw that Ira, a fellow guide, was calling.
“Oh, come on, Rin. What took you so long to answer?!” Ira shouted from the other end in her shrill, ear-piercing voice.
“Sorry, I just got back to my boarding house. What’s up?” Katrin replied listlessly. She really wasn’t in the mood to take a call from anyone, especially Ira, who she knew loved to gossip. That girl obviously wanted to chat. A short conversation would’ve been fine, just asking about the tour schedule. But Ira’s thin lips couldn’t be stopped once she got going. A conversation about A could stretch all the way to D, E, or even Z. And right now, Katrin wanted to rest!
“Can you help me, Rin?”
“With what?” Katrin began to sense that something was off.
“I’m scheduled to take some tourists to Bandung tomorrow. But I don’t think I can make it. I need you to fill in for me. You will, right, Rin?”
“But, Ra...?”
“Please, Rin! All our friends already have their own schedules. You’re the only one who seems to be free. So you’ll take my assignment, right, Rin? I’ll bring you a souvenir when I get back.”
“Where are you going, anyway?”
“Home to Surabaya!”
“Wait, you just went home two weeks ago. You’re going back already? Aren’t you afraid the boss will be mad?”
“That’s exactly why, Rin. Please fill in for me! Please, just for three days. If you ever want to go home to Malang, I’ll cover your assignment. Fair, right?”
“But, Ra...?”
“Come on, Rin! You’re my best friend. Please, I’m begging you. I don’t want to get fired for skipping out on an assignment.”
“Can’t you postpone your trip to Surabaya? What if the boss suddenly gives me an assignment tomorrow?”
“It can’t be postponed, Rin. This is incredibly important. It concerns life and death. I’m sure the boss won’t give you an assignment. You’ve been out of town for a month straight. You’re entitled to three days off...”
Katrin smiled bitterly. Ira apparently knew her schedule inside and out. Katrin had been planning to use her three days off to pamper herself to her heart’s content. She could sleep all day, read novels, or watch movies. But Ira was about to ruin those plans.