"The Need for Measurements"

 

"So you just go around, tagging sewer covers with labels saying how wide they are?" I asked the tunnel gnome.

"Kind of," he answered, removing his goggles. "Well, all right, as a matter of fact, yes." It was odd to watch him work, just because the aerosol can he carried was half as tall as he was. He used both nubby hands to hoist it back into his satchel. "It's a much more useful task than it sounds like when you say it that way," he told me. "Along the busiest travel routes, it's helpful for a gnome to know where he can fit. Almost like your bridges, when you have signs posted to inform everyone how high the underpass is so you know which trolls can go there and which can't."

"Gotcha," I told him. Then I blinked. "Wait, did you say 'trolls' or 'trucks?'" I asked. But he had already lifted the heavy metal lid and slipped away.