field conditions

smoking spot — side of building, 09:15

preben stands in his spot. the spot is marked by years of cigarette ash and the territorial energy of a man who once navigated the straits of malacca, allegedly.

kasper approaches from the direction of the bakery. he carries a white paper bag. he has been “in the field” for forty minutes.

kasper: rugbrød with remoulade. got you one.

preben: takes it without looking what did you inspect.

kasper: bredgade. the barking dog.

preben: and?

kasper: jack russell. aggressive but small. owner is a woman named gerda who hasn’t left her house since the queen abdicated. not the recent one. the first time.

preben: that’s from your mother.

kasper: my mother is a primary source.

preben smokes. kasper eats. a comfortable silence between two men who have found their level.

preben: there’s a smell coming from next door.

kasper: the kebab place?

preben: the optician. the closed one.

kasper: it’s been closed for two years.

preben: three. and now it smells.

kasper sniffs.

kasper: i don’t smell anything.

preben: you’ve been eating remoulade. you couldn’t smell a fuel leak.

kasper: what kind of smell?

preben: sweet. organic. not food. more like… do you know what a dead cormorant smells like?

kasper: why would i know that.

preben: it smells like something that was alive and then decided not to be.

pause.

kasper: should we report it?

preben: to whom? we are the report.

kasper: anders could check if there’s still power running to the building. if there’s a freezer that lost—

preben: i’m not involving anders. last time i involved anders he rerouted my email to the danish maritime museum for two weeks.

kasper: why?

preben: i made a comment about his eggs.

kasper looks at the wall of the former optician. a faded sign reads “SYNSCENTER TINY VALLEY — WE HELP YOU SEE.” the ‘S’ in SEE has fallen off.

kasper: i’ll put it in my field report.

preben: your fictional field report.

kasper: all reports are narratives, preben. mine just have better character development.

preben finishes his cigarette. stubs it out in the exact same spot he has used for nine years. a small crater has formed.

preben: there’s a bird nesting in the optician’s gutter. eurasian wren. turdus troglodytes. shouldn’t be nesting this early. could mean the building is generating heat.

kasper: from what?

preben: that’s the question.

preben goes inside. kasper stands alone, looking at the wall. he takes out his phone and calls his mother.