From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
Instant Photographs of the Unrecognised
The drone—cloud-shaped, decommissioned surveillance—hovers above the watering hole. Inside: years of instant photographs. Katita and Leif rifle through them: strangers, landscapes, repeating faces. Then Katita finds one: herself, younger, standing beside a man with bandaged eyes and a Hawaiian hibiscus shirt. Katita: “"Leif. That is you."” But Leif does not recognise himself. He looks at the man's face—his own face—as a stranger would. The photograph is dated three years before he met her. Leif: “"I've never been to that beach."” Katita studies the image as the colours begin bleaching in the sunlight. When she looks up, Leif has gone. She finds him at the water's edge, staring at his reflection, which does not look back. The crocodiles circle beneath the surface.