The Story of a Pair of Shorts

By Idrus

On the very day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Kusno’s father bought him a pair of shorts. 1001 brand twill pants. Made in Italy.

Kusno’s father was politically illiterate. He didn’t know how important the attack was. He only knew that his son no longer had proper pants to wear. Everyone around the world who knew anything about politics frowned, from revenge, from worry, from anger. But Kusno’s father smiled happily that day. He had succeeded in doing something he thought at first he would not be able to do. Buy Kusno a pair of shorts.

At the time Kusno was 14 years old. He had just finished elementary school. Now he wanted to apply for a job. And with his new pants it seemed to him any job was open. He would prove to his father he was a child who knew how to repay a kindness. In short the Kusno family that day rejoiced as never before. And the news of Pearl Harbor didn’t make the slightest impression in the hearts of these simple people.

That’s telling it exactly as it was, because it was only the big people who wanted to go to war, the simple people only wanted peace!

But Kusno did not find a job as quickly as he thought he would. Employers knew what the attack on Pearl Harbor meant. And they were not taking on any new workers. Dark clouds were gathering over offices and through the gaps in the clouds peered the face of the angel of death.

Kusno was forced to lower his selling price, from clerk to porter, and from porter to office boy. And after going up to ten offices, he finally succeeded in obtaining a job, as an office boy, with a salary of ten rupiahs per month.

Kusno’s father was upset. He was an office boy himself. Did his son have to become a office boy too? And were Kusno’s children to become office boys as well? From generation to generation all becoming office boys? He had never aspired to this, his family becoming a family of office boys. But like other villagers in difficult times, Kusno’s father remembered God: People strive but it is God who determines the outcome!

Kusno worked hard but his 1001 twill shorts became more and more faded, from being washed so often. Every month he hoped he would be able to buy a new pair of shorts, but his ten rupiahs was not even enough for food. So of course the 1001 twill shorts had to be washed more often, and every time they were washed they looked more and more worrying.

All of Kusno’s thoughts were trained on those shorts. What would happen to him if he couldn’t wear the shorts anymore? Every day he prayed that God would not make it rain. And when it did rain Kusno looked down at his shorts like a mother looking at a child about to be sent onto the battlefield.

1001 twill. One multiplied by one is equal to one. And what is one minus one?

This is what went through Kusno’s mind as he thought about the 1001 shorts. Especially as there was no money to buy soap, even though the shorts were dirty.

No, the simple people did not want war. They just wanted to live a simple life and live free from the fear that tomorrow they would not have any pants.

But the high and mighty people wanted war. One side wanted war for democracy, and the other wanted it for the common prosperity of Greater East Asia.

Kusno didn’t know the meaning of democracy, and the expression prosperity was very interesting to him. In fact it made him remembered his shorts. Prosperity for him was shorts. And for this reason he had welcomed the Japanese soldiers with hugs and kisses and handshakes.

And as most of the Indonesian nation lived in the hope of independence. Kusno lived in the hope of new shorts, hoped constantly for three and a half years.

But as was the case with independence, the shorts too did not materialize. And by the time Kusno abandoned hope, his 1001 shorts no longer looked like shorts. Here and there they were threadbare, and where they had once been white they were now a blackish yellow. Because of this they were no longer fit for an office boy to wear. When Kusno gathered the courage to ask his boss a rise he was shouted at so severely at the time he lost heart.

Kusno went to work for a few more days, but in the end the shame was stronger than the need for his wage of ten rupiahs, and he resigned.

The days that followed were dark for Kusno. But now he was free of the shame that was etched on his face. He knew that dark and frightening days lay ahead for him. But God was all merciful and all gracious. That was Kusno’s conviction.

One day Kusno had a headache. He knew that the headache would disappear immediately if he could fill his stomach. For two days and two nights there was nothing else for him to eat except tree leaves. The thought occurred to him to sell his 1001 shorts, to buy only food fit for humans to eat. But he quickly rejected the idea. If he sold the short his stomach would be full for a few seconds but after that what would he cover his nakedness with? Once also he thought about stealing someone else’s property. However God said stay away from stealing. And Kusno’s family had from generation to generation feared God, although they had never seen him.

And that is how Kusno came to not sell the shorts, to not steal, to often suffer from headaches, and to live from tree leaves. But he lived on, miserable yes, but he lived with pride.

About the 1001 twill shorts there is nothing more to say. At some point they would disappear from the face of the earth, just as Kusno too would disappear from the face of the earth. And was it possible that Kusna and the shorts would disappear from the face of this earth together?

Nevertheless whatever happened, Kusno would not lose hope. He was born in suffering, lived in suffering. And even if his 1001 shorts disappeared completely and turned into rags, Kusno would fight against suffering, even if only to obtain another pair of 1001 twill shorts.

The only thing Kusno couldn’t yet understand was just why were there still always wars. Kusno felt like someone who had been sacrificed.

The Story of a Pair of Shorts (Kisah Sebuah Celana Pendek) was originally published in the current affairs magazine Gema Suasana, Number 1 & 2, 1 January 1948 [Retrieved from (Gema Suasana, 1948) Cerpen Idrus: Kisah Sebuah Celana Pendek https://kumpulanfiksi.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/gema-suasana-1948-cerpen-idrus-kisah-sebuah-celana-pendek/ 2 January 2022]. Reprinted in Idrus, Dari Ave Maria Ke Jalan Lain Ke Roma: [ed. Malaya, Chet. 1]. Kuala Lumpur: Pustaka Melayu Baru, 1963. Print.

Featured image credit: From Historia.id, Celana Pendek Pendiri Bangsa – Menteri Penerangan Amir Sjarifuddin, memakai jas kedodoran, celana pendek, sambil merokok, berpose bersama presiden Sukarno, wakil presiden Mohammad Hatta, dan para menteri kabinet pertama Republik Indonesia di halaman rumah Sukarno, di Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56 Jakarta, pada 4 Oktober 1945.

For some interesting background see: Celana Pendek dan Cerita Pendek By Deddy Arsya Jan 2018; and Shorts and Starvation by Thea Yantra Hutanamon