The 2020's Barnum

If you're now walking around Kalpasastra University and accidentally seeing a beautiful girl sitting near a pond, you're finding me now. Here I am, sitting nearby a little pond in the middle of the college's park surrounded by people walking around here and there. 

This girl just sitting right here doing nothing but staring at a man sitting across the pond since twenty minutes ago. A man wearing a black sweater paired with blue jeans sitting alone keeps tracking of tiny card---something that makes me curious since the first time he landed his body in front of me. I don't know what is on his mind but he is walking closer to me right now.

"Can you help me, please?" said a man sitting next to me after putting his large bag before.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry but my class starts ten minutes further, so I don't have that much time to give my hand to you." Said a beautiful girl arrogantly. No other people sitting around us, that beautiful girl is me.

"It is okay."

Hold on, this isn't the response that I want to hear. He supposes to say, "actually I am dying and having only a week left to live and I have no one but you to help me." 

"O well I don't love the class that much. What is happening?" I ask him like we were best friends since forever.

"A few days ago, I found a card in a campus toilet. The card straightly sought my attention. I bring it with me and think about it all day long."

"Wait---you're not trying to ask me to join some kind of Squid Game, right?" I asked him and got an answer by looking at his plain face.

"May I see the card?" he gives me that brown-colored tiny card.

lombre des rosiers, 2020

"Isn't it a cafe? but I'm not sure because it's been a long time since I didn't go there anymore."

"It is. Been gone there before but it's not a cafe anymore. It is a multi-use building right now."

"Really? Interesting. I'll try to help you."

"Thank you. How about going there together? Just make sure if you can find something."

"What about this early evening? 15.30. I'll catch you here."

He is nodding his head and I leave him after. I have an hour of class and an hour more to do some stuff in the laboratory, I need to finish all my business before helping him do some exciting thing.

It's been about thirty minutes since the class should begin but there's no sign that the lecture going to start. My mind walked around here and there, staring at this tiny card and thinking any possible thing may happen. I feel scared somehow because it can be a dangerous thing to do, but it's also possible that it's just a prank from a freak YouTuber.

Lombre des rosiers, not a strange thing for me. It's a cafe nearby my school and I often go to the cafe to do some tasks with a couple of my high school friends. I also am a part-time worker back then. The cafe is crowded with customers almost every day so it's almost impossible if the cafe is closed because of bankruptcy. 

Multi-use building? It's possible to build a multi-use building because of the strategic place. But as far as I know, other multi-use buildings have been constructed nearby that place. Number 2020? I'm not sure about the number of the road.

Suddenly I remember my friend who often goes together to the caf. She bring me there for the first time and we spent lots of time after school there. I decide to meet her. The length from my class to hers is ten minutes by foot, I need to walk through different buildings since we're entering different majors here. She is sitting on the bench, waved at me when I arrived then walked to me closer and give me a cup of iced matcha.

"Do you remember the cafe we often visit when we're high school?"

"I do. What's happening?"

"Nothing. It's closed right now and replaced with a multi-use building."

"It's a news. That's a great cafe actually, it's a pity that they decided to close the cafe."

"That's what's on my mind." There is a silence before I ask her more, "Was it on 2020 street? I can't remember the number."

"It is not, it is 202."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, you can check it on the internet."

Nastiti is right. It is not 2020 but 202. They would not spell it wrong since it aimed to be a commercial card. But what 2020 does mean? I have no more time to ask her further because I need to go to the laboratory soon. We decide to go back to our class since she also has a class starting soon.

In the middle of crowded people finishing class today, a tall man wearing a black hoodie stared at me. I come overdue because there are so many things to do in the laboratory and his face showed bad sentiment. He walks closer to me and takes my trickled-ice matcha.

"What is it?"

"Matcha, you can take it," I tell him awkwardly.

"Oh, thanks. Been waiting for you here almost an hour." He is sipping the iced matcha.

"I'm so sorry. There's so much to do and I don't have your number to tell you."

"Let's go." He walked before me.

I have no idea what am I doing right now. Helping a man that I don't even know his name. I don't usually follow my curiosity, but this thing bothers my mind all the time. By the set of the sun, I walked beside a tall man talking about the probability of things. We talked about the cafe, the card, and the building. 

There's nothing strange besides the only fact that he also oftentimes goes to the cafe before. I was figuring out that he hasn't come from the same high school as me but how come he visits the cafe oftentimes. In fact, his school was placed opposite direction from the cafe.

"Wait, your school was placed far away from the cafe. How come?" I asked.

"My girlfriend brought me there. She is in the same high school as yours." my head nodding unconsciously.

After taking a short-distance bus, we arrived right in front of a four-floored building. The place become strange for me, they now created different surroundings. I feel uncomfortable and... deplore. 

I miss the old one when it feels warm. A banner patched in front of the building, says 'Painting Exhibition Week'. The place is relatively dense with people out and coming in but it is not as lively as I suppose to see. We decide to go in, watch some paintings and suddenly I got stopped by a beautiful painting named l'ombre des losiers. I don't spell it wrong; the painting has a same name as the cafe.

The painting sought my attention for a while, so I decided to keep on track closer. I'm not really into painting, I have no idea about it and even this is my first time going to an art exhibition. The only art that I enjoy is music and my friend calls me weird for being a big fan of Red Sovine. 

My eyes are exploring the room, looking for a man that decided to take a different direction since we're entering this huge room. He is talking with an old man dressed like a cowboy. They are talking like an old friend and sometimes giggling like a child. After a few minutes of waiting for him to finish the conversation, he finally walked closer to me that is standing beside the painting.

"Prepare yourself, it's going to surprise you," I tell him with enthusiasm before showing him the painting.

"Wait, it is 2020 and the card says the same number. I know it tells us the year of the painting is made but as far I know the number of the road isn't 2020." he points out the description card under the work.

"Is it possible that the card not trying to talk about the cafe but... the painting?"

We talk a little about the painting and now I run out of time because I need to back home before thirty minutes. We decided to go back tomorrow and meet the painter if it's possible.

"I'm so sorry but I need to come back home soon."

"It's okay, thanks for helping me today. Give me your number." he gives his phone to me.

"Diajeng Belungkang, my name. What's yours?"

"Arga, Margana Lelana Brata. Such a good name of yours by the way."

"Thanks. Here is my number. Unfortunately, you can't call me anytime. Just leave me a message, I'll read it soon when I check my phone." Just a second later I can hear a ring on my phone, certainly from a man in front of me.

"Okay. Now you can call me anytime. See you tomorrow." He waved at me before walking away, leaving me alone.

Here I am right now, coming back home by bus after taking a little walk before. I always set my headphones on every time I was on the bus, listening to any Red Sovine song. Now I'm listening to Who's Lonely Now?

After having dinner, now I am sitting at my desk. Staring at my computer doing the whole work in the middle of the night. I was searching through Google about a painting named l'ombre des losiers. There are no results from Indonesian painters, but I found the same painting from painter abroad.

Diana Malivani---the name of the painter. It does have the same painting---a blonde girl with a light-blue dress walking in the pink flowers garden, dragging a cart with two teddy bears ride in. Is it possible to have the same painting as other painters? I think it's plagiarism. I decide to text Arga to tell him about what I'd found out.

I'm so sorry for sending you a text in the middle of the night but I'm afraid I might forget what I want to say. I've been sending you a link to a website, check it out if you have time. 

The weekend always is a great day for people that are bustled with their workday. In the early morning of Sunday, I am sitting on the bench after jogging almost seven kilometers far. I met Arga in the middle of my jogging and he tell me that the painting from the website and the painting that we've seen yesterday have a different cart. 

The painting we've seen yesterday isn't showing a girl dragging a cart. She is dragging a blue truck instead. I'm now pointing at the blue truck somehow. How come two same paintings decide to make difference to something that doesn't matter. The painter must want to reveal something important, or at least it is not just as it is.

I have three more kilometers targeted then I decide to take more walks and then go to the art exhibition to meet the painter. I open my phone to play the music, it is now Teddy Bear by Red Sovine. When I played the song and see the cover of the album, I suddenly think; is it by chance, or is it just a thing.

The title is Teddy Bear, and the cover of the album is a boy staring at a blue truck wearing a light blue shirt. Is it possible that the reason the painter changed the cart to a blue truck that rode by teddy bears correlates with Red Sovine's song? Just in case it is a 'yes', then it might be a tragic thing that I going to be found because the song itself tells a tragic story.

I turned that truck around on a dime and headed straight for Jackson Street, 229. And as I rounded the corner, oh, I got one heck of a shock

Headed straight for Jackson Street 229. Jackson street 229. Hold up, I wasn't ready for it. Jackson Street is a place not too far from l'ombre des losiers Cafe. What is happening? Now I decide to go there to know something that I don't have any idea about it.

...oh, I got one heck of a shock

When I arrived at Jackson Street number 229, I got that one heck of a shock. I found Arga sitting at a seat in front of a cafe. He is typing something on his laptop, drinking my favorite iced matcha. I step my foot closer to him with many questions in my head.

"What are you doing right here?" A man in front of me was shocked when he sees me---as shocked as me. He closes his laptop and asks me to sit.

"I'm surprised that you found it earlier."

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"Welcome to the new l'ombre des losiers Cafe."

"I didn't get it."

"Thanks a lot for coming to my caf," he said with a smile as he confused me.

"Sorry?"

"Yes. Welcome to Jackson Street 229, a new place for wider l'ombre des losiers Cafe."

"You knew it already?" my question comes out together with a cup of iced matcha bring out by Nastiti.

She is the same Nastiti as my friend. She is the friend I met that afternoon. She is right here. She is bringing me out iced matcha. And she is right now sitting in front of me. If a girl's beautiful face is changed by confused Nick Young's face on a famous meme, that girl is me.

"Nastiti, my girlfriend." Said a man I met just yesterday.

"What?"

"Arga, my boyfriend which also is my classmate." Never in my life has someone confused me but that girl which is my best friend doing that right now.

"Okay, can someone please just tell me the complete story? You guys keep talking piece by piece." I asked them impatiently.

"Arga is my classmate. We're studying the same major, Communication. He is also my boyfriend since we were in high school. The caf that we used to come to is owned by Arga's dad and now he is owning this cafe." Nastiti explains it well, but my mind just can't process it.

"I was shocked when I see you right here. It is earlier than I thought it could be." said my friend's boyfriend.

"So it's just a prank? Made by you guys?"

"It is not. We are working on our task right now. We're doing our Public Relations subject. We're Implementing Barnum's tactic."

P.T Barnum of circus fame made his mark by originating and employing many publicities or press agentry tactics to generate attention for his shows and attraction. I just know that Barnum in a movie named The Greatest Showman is real. Barnum was famous for coining the phrase, "There's no such thing as bad publicity.". 

He was even known to pen letters to the editor under an assumed name outing some of his attractions as hoaxes just to generate publicity and keep a story alive. Barnum thought that honesty was not the domain of a press agent and infamously stated "The public been fooled".

Now I have been fooled. A story that they made created a narrative in my mind. They successfully bring the old customers back by generating attention for the cafe---or they just do their task. 

"We're sorry for making you a subject of our experiment," Arga said grievously.

"YOU GUYS---BETTER GET OUT OF MY BAAAACKKKKKK!!!!"

-THE END-