The Price of Strawberries

@vivienne

The smell of sun-warmed straw and crushed berries hangs over the field at the edge of Brandenburg, and somewhere behind the hedgerow a tractor idles like a patient animal. Vivienne stands at the weighing table in a linen blouse, one gloved hand resting on the scale, the silk patch over her left eye catching the afternoon glare. “Eight euros a kilo is a city price,” she says, and the farmer’s smile has already begun to fray at the edges. He glances toward the wooden crate at your feet — the one holding the ledgers she asked to see, not the fruit.