Britt-Marie Was Here

While unconscious, Britt-Marie has a flashback: She doesn’t like pizza because Kent always smelled like pizza and perfume after his “meetings with Germany” (30). Britt-Marie left Kent after visiting him in the hospital after his heart attack.

In the present, Britt-Marie wakes in Borg’s pizzeria. The proprietress—also the health center and general store staff, local mechanic, and postmistress—called Somebody offers a first aid kit. Britt-Marie notices that Somebody both uses a wheelchair and is intoxicated. A teenage girl, Vega, who works at the shop, and Somebody help Britt-Marie up. Vega is part of the soccer team that accidentally hit Britt-Marie. Much to Vega’s shock, Britt-Marie reveals that she is the new recreation center caretaker; as Somebody fetches the building keys, Britt-Marie realizes that many locals dislike her, as a city person. Britt-Marie requests Faxin, but the shop doesn’t carry any because it has been discontinued. Britt-Marie is devastated.

As Britt-Marie heads to the recreation center, she observes the local soccer team for the first time. They are incredibly bad—if they hit something, it’s because they were aiming for something else.