Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan Read Free Book Online

predict he might end a man’s life with a bite? When Ma Soma passed by yet again, they still didn’t speak. Margio was just languidly kicking at the tire swing, and appeared at one moment to be on the verge of leaving the yard. But he stayed there, like a thief looking for an opening, feeling he might be watched in turn. The people at the soccer field saw him for sure, but they knew Margio too well to be suspicious. No one gave a damn, and it seemed that Ma Soma wouldn’t pop up again, as he was pumping well water to fill up the surau’s tubs. The front door was now open, and it looked like Anwar Sadat was about to get some fresh air. Margio started to move.
    At nearly ten past four, Anwar Sadat was leaving the house to look for someone to talk to at the soccer field. Just as he got no pleasure from watching cockfights, he was not much into pigeons either, though he would watch a race once in a while and place a bet just to be sociable. He was still wearing the shorts and the ABC jewelry store undershirt he had worn at the pancake stall that morning, and would die in that same attire. As soon as he noticed Margio walking toward him, Anwar Sadat froze, never making it past the door, as he waited for the boy, feeling that something was up. He was thinking of Maharani. Like Laila, Anwar Sadat knew the girl had been with this kid the previous night at the herbal tonic company’s film screening. Anwar Sadat was hoping to find out why she had left so suddenly. He waited until Margio walked in and stood before him, but he didn’t say a word about Maharani. His face was still pale and his lips quivered, as though it was Anwar Sadat who was going to dish out trouble.
    As Margio later confessed to the police, yes, he killed the man by biting through an artery in his neck. There was no other weapon available, he said. He had thought about hitting him, knowing for certain that Anwar Sadat had grown feeble and lacked the strength to fight back. But Margio doubted his fists could end the man’s life. He didn’t believe he could strangle him either. A chair would only break a few bones, and the noise would wake Maesa Dewi. He hadn’t seen her, but knew she would be in her room, just as she was every day.
    The idea came to him all of a sudden, as a burst of light in his brain. He spoke of hosting something inside his body, something other than guts and entrails. It poured out and steered him, encouraging him to kill. That thing was so strong, he told the police, he didn’t need a weapon of any kind. He held Anwar Sadat tight. The man was startled and struggled, but the pressure holding his arms was intense. Margio yanked his head back by the hair and held it immobile. He sank his teeth into the left side of Anwar Sadat’s neck, like a man roughly kissing the skin below his lover’s ear, complete with grunts and passionate warmth. The victim was too confounded to make any sense of what was happening. Nevertheless, the piercing pain and the shock to his chest forced Anwar Sadat to squirm, kicking over a chair. The sound of it hitting the floor and Anwar Sadat’s brief yelp woke Maesa Dewi, who got up and asked from her room, “Papa, what was that?”
    Anwar Sadat could reply only with a dying yowl. Margio replied with one deadly bite, gnawing and ripping out a lump of flesh, making a gaping hole in the man’s neck. Delicate veins and tendons hung from the torn flesh, and the blood spurted. The tasteless piece of meat rested in Margio’s mouth until he abruptly spat it on the floor, where it squirmed here and there. Anwar Sadat began to fly, his throat making unearthly sounds, while Margio’s face was painted with gushing blood.
    â€œPapa, what was that?” Maesa Dewi asked again.
    Anwar Sadat was fluttering his wings, carried away by unconsciousness. Margio still held him tight, keeping him from falling. As soon as he heard Maesa Dewi’s high-pitched anxious voice,