29

By the time Geir and Bjorn were back by the fishing boat, Ane had gone inside, presumably to take care of some business. The two men stopped and looked around, and Geir took up his usual self important pose as he observed the activity around the boat with a critical eye. Then he shook his head as if in quiet despair over the ignorance displayed by the fishermen. "No, no, no," he mumbled before turning to Bjorn. "You see how they drop the crates too close to the line?"

"Yeah, almost on top of it," Bjorn answered, again worried that his ignorance of the rules might be exposed.
"Exactly. It leaves no room for the workers to get behind the crates without crossing the line. We can't have that."
"No, that will only encourage them to break the rules." Bjorn ventured, again trying to make himself sound knowledgeable.
"Exactly. I seriously doubt that the captain is properly familiar with how things have to be done when doing business here in Lundby."

Then, after a short pause, Geir continued: "Why don't you go in and tell Ane that everything is in order, but that she has to be more insistent on other people, like this captain, doing things properly too. I'll straighten out these fishermen in the meantime."

Bjorn suspected that Geir had grown so irritated with Ane that he disliked the idea of confronting her again, and that this was the true reason behind Geir's suggestion. But Bjorn had only grown more fascinated with the woman, and was more than happy to have another chance to talk to her, so he accepted Geir's suggestion without hesitation. He headed for the nearest gate, pushed through the heavy plastic strips, and immediately caught sight of Ane down at the end of the production line. She was busy explaining something to one of the workers, and not wanting to disturb her while in the middle of whatever she was talking about, he stopped at a discreet distance, just close enough to make it abundantly clear that he was waiting in line for her.

Taking another full view of the processing plant, Bjorn's attention was again drawn to the production line where water and fish gut littered the floor. Two men, each with a hose, were spewing the mess towards open drains where it dropped down and slithered out of sight. The fish gut was clearly sprayed directly down into the water below, which explained why the seagulls that had first circled the fishing boat, had in increasing numbers disappeared in under the quay with their shrill shrieks and aggressive presence.

However, other seagulls had flocked to the quay from all around, and their total number had reached unpleasant levels outside. If it had not been for the plastic curtains in front of the gates, the factory floor would probably have been full of the pesky aggressive birds by now, and the whole processing business would have been impossible.