Invitation from Another World

INVITATION FROM ANOTHER WORLD

            Sutomo is a dedicated mathematics teacher.  He teaches at a state High School in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia.  His wife is also a teacher.  She teaches English at another high school in the same town.  Sutomo comes from a small town called Ponorogo, about four hours drive from Kediri.  After graduating from teacher college he applied to government and then posted in Kediri.  He was a devout Muslim.  He prays five daily prayers and he often fast at Monday and Thursday.  At night he usually wakes up to perform additional prayer.  It is called Tahajjud prayer.   He does it at the last one-third of the night.  He loves the serenity of the night which gives him peace of mind. 

            One night he woke up at three o’clock.  As usual he took water for ablution.  Then he prayed the Tahajjud prayer.  After that he sat and quietly read the Holy Koran.  Right after reading several verses of the Holy Koran he heard someone knocking his front door. He was wondering who knocked at his door at that hour.  He kept quiet for a while.  Once again he heard a knock and a male voice.  So he replied and walked to his front door.  When he opened it he was surprised.

            There stood in front of him an old man in black.  He wore black traditional Javanese clothes.  His face was scary.  His eyes were bright.  Behind him there were many men wearing similar clothes.  Sutomo was scared.  He was speechless for a while.  The old man greeted him and opened the conversation.

‘Pardon me for disturbing you.  I suppose you are Mr sutomo, the son of Mr Suparno’

‘Yes, I am Sutomo, the son of Mr Suparno’.

‘I must give an invitation for Mr Suparno’

‘I am sorry, my father had passed away years ago’.

‘I know, I am his best friend from Ponorogo.  That’s why I come here to give it to you’.

            Sutomo did not want to disappoint his guests so he asked them to come in.

‘Please come in’

‘No need to, I ‘m in a hurry.  If you don’t mind, please come to the village of Kali Banteng in west Ponorogo on the second Sunday next month at night.  I will hold a wedding party of my daughter.  My name is Kerto Marmo’ 

            The following month Sutomo and his wife came home to Ponorogo.  He decided to stay there for two days to come to the wedding party and to se his father’s house.  On the second Sunday he went to west Ponorogo to come to the wedding party.  As he was in west Ponorogo he could not find the village.   He asked for information to many people but no one knows it.  Then he met someone who knew something.

‘I know Kali Banteng but it is not a village.  It is a river.  It is outside of this village.  Just follow this street to the north and you will find a bridge.  It is on Kali Banteng river’.

            Sutomo was confused.  He remembered that the old man told him clearly that it was a village.  But the strange impression of the old man made him hesitates.  Then the man asked him.

‘Why do you want to go there ?’

‘I was invited by Mr Karto Marmo to a wedding party of his daughter’

‘Wedding party ?  In Kali Banteng ?’

            The man was shocked and scared.  His face looked tense.

‘Yes, why ? What happened ?’

‘I don’t know Mr Karto Marmo.  I live here and there is no one by that name.  And Kali Banteng is a haunted river.  No one dares to go there.  Last week there were two cows of the local people died there.  May be the ghost took them for the wedding party’.

            Sutomo was shocked.  Then he decided to go to the bridge alone.  His wife waited for him in a distant.  In the middle of the bridge, in the darkness he said.

‘Mr Karto Marmo , I come to Kali banteng to represent my father.  But I cannot find your home.  If you live here, please accept my present and my greeting to you and your family’

            Then he threw his present to the river and left.  That night he went back to Kediri because he had to work the following day.

            One week later there was another strange event.  At three o clock he woke up as usual.  When he sat and would read the Holy Koran he heard a knock at his door and a male voice.  He recognised the voice.  So he walked slowly to the door.   As he opened it he saw the same old man and his friends in black.  Once again he was speechless.  The old man said.

‘Thank you very much for coming and for the present’.

            Sutomo needed several seconds to control his emotion.  As he was about to ask questions the old man disappeared.  That time he disappeared like smoke – slowly and at his place.  So did his friends.

            This story was told by a friend of mine.  He said it was a true experience of his father.  He told me that his grand father was a spiritual teacher.