26. THE TALL, DARK AND QUIET BUILDING

THE TALL, DARK AND QUIET BUILDING had become an ant's nest when Elle found herself assigned to the sorting the next day.

She was standing in front of a conveyor belt relentlessly taking the mandarines from the left where they arrived to the right for about two meters where they fell in a cardboard box. She had to pick out the mandarines coming through if they had a mark, were too soft or not of the right calibre. She would throw the marked ones or the soft ones with her right hand into a box at her feet. She would throw the wrong sized ones with her left hand into another box.

The rhythm was 6/8 or 9/8 according to the batch or the urgency of sorting. Their eyes riveted on the belt and juggling with both hands, women working in the hangar managed to cover the crash of manchines with their voices. Music beats of a radio set could be heard over the general commotion.

At the end of the two meters of conveyor belt, men came to pick up full cartons replacing them swiftly by empty ones. They weighed each box and threw extra weight mandarines out into the new box. Then they closed these pretty mandarine boxes with the producer's mark and piled them up by scores...

By hundreds and thousands, these New Zealand mandarines were going to reach Japanese fruit markets where housewifes would inspect them with a sharp eye before paying the price. "Pretty mandarines, pretty clementines of Kerikeri, bon voyage!" Elle whispered when she saw them leave.