Blue Plastic Bags Hidden at Fiete's Home

The Blue Plastic Bags Hidden at Fiete's Home are a concealed but persistent presence in his apartment: stowed in a storage alcove, they have been there so long that Fiete has nearly forgotten them and cannot readily recall how they came to be there. Their intermittent smell punctures his fantasy that a new job will put his life in order without requiring him to confront what he has left hidden.

Location and Concealment

The bags sit in an alcove in Fiete's apartment, out of ordinary sight. Their long confinement there has blurred even their history for him: he has almost forgotten not only the bags themselves but how they got there. The passage offers no account of their contents, so their significance rests on their concealed presence and the fact that Fiete has lost track of their origin.

Smell and Its Return

Fiete has grown accustomed to the stench in his home, as though it had become part of him. He notices it chiefly after spending a day or two away, drinking at the Zum Goldenen Handschuh or other bars. The distance does not remove the smell; instead, returning from it makes the apartment's condition newly perceptible. The bags thus mark a divide between what Fiete can ignore while living amid it and what briefly intrudes when he comes back.

The Promise of a New Life

Fiete buys scented blocks, air fresheners, and pine-needle spray mainly to prevent complaints from his neighbors. These measures manage the smell without addressing its source. As he anticipates beginning a new job, he imagines that the problem will resolve itself, somehow, along with the other difficulties he associates with his former life. The bags' continued presence gives that optimism a material counterweight: they remain hidden in the apartment while Fiete expects change to happen without his intervention.