25.5.2009
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By the time Violet went to her last appointment with Brandur Brandsson, many things had surfaced, some of which Violet had never thought about and had even forgotten. One thing caught the psychic healer's attention, something Violet thought totally unremarkable. When she and John were making love, and they were both nude, and John stroked her breasts and thighs, it tickled her so much that that it wrecked everything. At that point, the psychic healer asked whether she had ever been raped.
Instead of answering, Violet glanced up and with seeming amazement and said: "Where do you get that idea? I've told you that John is the only one to have sex with me. Don't you believe me?" She seemed to be angry at the psychic healer.
"You certainly know, Madame Violet, that nearly all girls your age have started to have sex. Why should you be any different?"
Violet was visibly upset: "If you think I'm a lesbian, you're sadly mistaken," she said almost gruffly.
"Those were not my words," said the psychic healer.
After a moment the psychic healer said: "So, Madame Violet, we're reaching the end of our visits. I want to talk about self-respect."
She had calmed down now and listened to him.
"There is little more important to each person than self-respect. Self-respect depends on how the connection is between the soul and the temple in which the soul resides, the body. He who does not value his body and respect it is simultaneously showing the soul's temple disrespect and neglect, destroying that which is holy. When that happens, our self-respect suffers."
Brandur Brandsson stepped off the chair, walk a few steps out onto the floor, turned toward Violet and said: "You don't have to answer this question, Madame Violet. Life is like this: some people are like pillars in large or small buildings; others are like rotten timbers that crack under the least stress. When a child is born, it's under the care of its parents who worry about it, protect it and lead it down life's path until it becomes fully capable of living its own life. There are people and even parents who tread on a child's or a youth's sanctity with dirty shoes and thus forfeit the responsibility they have in human society."
When Brandur Brandsson had finished, he bowed deeply and with dignity, then straightened up and said in a mild voice: "God be with you, my child." Then he disappeared into the side room, leaving Violet alone on the sofa.
Whether it was Brandur Brandsson's treatment or the story of Merilyn, one thing was clear: Violet had changed. John was in seventh heaven, and Violet blossomed. She became pregnant and enjoyed it thoroughly. John called her from the office, and two or three times a week, they went out to a restaurant, to the theater or for some other entertainment. John had begun to make a name for himself in the business community in the city; he had become a member of some clubs and knew influential men in politics and banking.