At That Time It Contained A Banana

Do I smell banana? asks the Catcher.

No one answers.

Nietzsche is searching around for a hat.

Faint Outline finds the question ridiculous.

Do I smell banana? What could have triggered the question? Only the smell of banana.

She waits for the Catcher to come to a similar conclusion.

Nietzsche's head has withdrawn from the back pack, in order to look for a hat.

A bird flies overhead, looking downwards.

The discarded carapaces attract its attention. The bird lands a short distance away.

The Catcher has already entered the back pack.

Old banana skin! says the Catcher, on finding the source of the smell.

You were here earlier, says Faint Outline.

What is that supposed to mean? asks the Catcher.

The banana skin was here as well. At that time it contained a banana.

I don't remember that, says the Catcher.

You were moulting, says Faint Outline.

Who ate the banana? asks the Catcher.

Faint Outline decides she won't tell.

The Catcher intuits (wrongly) that Nietzsche has eaten the banana.

He backs out of the back pack, intending to ask him....

.....and is confronted by a contortion.

Nietzsche is slowly leaning sideways.

A bird is focussed on Nietzsche's hand.

The hand is approaching one of the discarded carapaces. The Catcher's.

The bird wants it too.

But Nietzsche is a fighter.

His hand gets to the carapace first.

The bird flies off, towards the Great Southern Ocean.

Aha, says the Catcher. Good choice.

Nietzsche has placed the carapace on top of his fine head of hair. Now his head is protected.

He wonders what sort of bird it was, that he bested.

What to do now? Follow the others? Which way?

He can hear the roar of the ocean. He supposes that's the way forward.

He picks up the back pack, which still smells of  banana.

It occurs to him that the back pack, without the banana, would have given him better protection from the sun's burning rays.