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fills your blood with a maddening drone. Yet Rakel said
nothing, of course, about the storms in men; she said,
stormy weather is just wind in a hurry, there’s little to fear.
Still, said Oddur, it would be nice to have you visit, and she
went with him, without having meant to, without having
dared to, something inside her made the decision and Gísli
watched her leave with Oddur, saw how they walked side-
by-side. Well, now I’ll lose her, he thought, she’ll leave the
basement and then there’ll be nothing more between me
and the devil, perhaps I should rent you the basement, he
said to his walking stick, which was leaning against the wall
by the door and naturally has no mouth, no eyes, no heart;
it doesn’t matter if you give it a name, names don’t change
death into life. But the three of them, Oddur, Rakel, Lúlli,
eat apples and she smiles and Oddur’s heart takes many an
extra beat, while out on the Lagoon, Saint Louise rolls
horribly.
_____