The hangout at Leriduson

coming down the platform and putting her arms around him without slowing, then letting go and taking the bag off his shoulder You have been on a train for almost two days. turning and starting to walk him toward the gate Have you eaten anything since Marendo, and how much time have you got before the Torvena one?

Prevessa was an hour and a half ago. stopping under the gate and setting his bag down If you are not going west tonight, the couch at mine is free and it is eight minutes from here. Do you want to eat first, or go up and eat there?

picking the bag up again and going out through the gate Then we eat here. There is a place across from the station that stays open for the night shift at the yard, and if we go up first you will sit down and not get back off the couch.

You have not, and there is not much to see. crossing the road with the bag still on her shoulder It's just two rooms and a kitchen.

You have been carrying it since Zecina.

stopping on the pavement outside the place Who is she exactly, where did you meet her, and why was it your name and not hers?

going in and taking the table by the window So a woman you met that morning told you what she is not allowed to tell anyone, and you put your name on it before the train got to Corcina. How much of what she said could you check yourself?

That is honest, and it also means the court has your name and nothing else to keep. taking the menu card off the wall clip and putting it between them If the company writes back and says the whole thing is invented, who stands behind you? She will not, because standing behind you would be a thing she cannot do.

Then it turns on the inspection. reading the card without picking it up Somebody has to go out there in a boat and come back with a measurement, and until that happens there is a file with your name and a story in it.

waiting until he puts the phone down Is she safe where she is?

She was not going back anyway. the woman coming over to the table Order something, you have been talking since we sat down.

to the woman Un pesce calid con ovu, e un supa. (One warm fish with egg, and a soup.) There is no salmon on this coast. What comes off the boats here is what you get.

In Lindoma you can eat anything, because everything is brought in. sitting back Here the port largely only sends things out.

Nothing. The same office, the same boats, the same rain. turning her glass on the table What happened after you left, what did you do with Nozaki?

Is that where it stopped, or is there something you have not said yet?

Did the two of you say anything about what comes next, or did you both leave it where it was?

putting her fork down We have run out of things to say.

You were interested in me on the branch line, and some time after that it went. I noticed, and then it happened to me as well. What a person feels in the moment lapses after some time.

You are interested in her because you filed something with her and it felt like it mattered. pushing her plate away Wait until the case is over and see whether you still want to phone her when there is nothing to file.

You do not choose them. You keep answering the ones who keep answering, and after a year you look at who is still there.

I will be. In fact, I am the one who writes first.

Which people, and what were the little things?

Has she ever asked you for any of those apologies?

Then they are not for her. You are apologising to get the anxiety to stop.

finishing what is left in her glass and looking at the window Do you want to walk up now, or sit here until they close?

Fourth floor, and the lift has been out since June.

There are not. starting up the stairs ahead of him You will see the whole of it from the door in a few seconds.

Two and the kitchen, I told you that at the station. stopping on the third landing to change the bag to her other shoulder It's fifty-two square metres.

Then they built them off the same drawings. unlocking the door and putting his bag down inside

laughing, still with her hand on the door One of the most fascinating. taking her coat off and hanging it up One of the most, according to whom. Citation needed.

And it sits there for six years with four people arguing about the word fascinating. going through to the kitchen and putting the light on Do you want tea, or are you going straight to sleep?

laughing from the kitchen It is not a soapbox, it is not a publisher of original thought, and it is not a place for you to say a building fascinates you.

from the kitchen, still laughing Reverted. See talk. coming to the doorway with a blanket over her arm and dropping it on the couch The couch is yours. Goodnight, Vlad.