25.5.2009


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    When Violet next went to an appointment with Brandur Brandsson, she got the feeling that she was experiencing something new and magnificent. She was seated on the sofa when the side door opened and the psychic healer walked in. He greeted Violet and got up on his chair in front of her. He did not start talking right away, but then said: "You are not just a mammal, Violet, you are also a soul. The body is little and limited, but the soul is large. These two things, the body and soul, we call a person."

    There was a brief silence; then he continued: "You are a person, Violet; John, your husband, is also a person, and your mother is a person and your father, he is also a person." Again, there was silence. "It has been said that the body is the temple of the soul. If you feel well, Madame Violet, it means that your soul is happy in its temple."

    He looked at Violet, and she at him as he talked. "Do you understand what I am saying, Madame Violet?"

    He did not wait for an answer, but continued: "But how can it be that a mammal's body is also a temple for the soul?" Brandur Brandsson stepped off the chair, went over to the sink and let water run into a glass. He took a sip of water, put the glass down and returned to the chair. Then he continued: "Life's punch lies in the sexual urge. The sexual urge resides in a mammal's body. The sexual urge culminates in orgasm. The more sensitive and developed a mammal's senses are, the greater the sexual fulfillment." The psychic healer took a long pause. He spoke slowly and seemed to look through the woman who sat facing him and listened.

    "Animals in the forest get sexual fulfillment without any twinges of conscience. Man, the semi-developed mammal, experiences pangs of conscience when the sexual urge is fulfilled against the rules of society."

    He stepped off the chair, gestured for Violet to stand up, took both her hands and said in a mild voice: "I think we'll let this do for now, Madame Violet." He smiled at her warmly and left the room.

    Violet went for regular appointments with Brandur Brandsson. In the latter stages of treatment, the interviews focused more and more on Violet herself, her feelings and life. The psychic healer had begun to ask questions that Violet had to answer.

"Why do you think, Madame Violet, that John's and your sex life is in a shambles?"

    It was the psychic healer's last word, "shambles", that made it easier than otherwise for Violet to answer the question. "He says that I am cold, sexually dull and not interested."

    He looked at the woman, who appeared to be somewhat upset.

    "Do you agree with that, Madame Violet, that you are cold, sexually dull and not interested."

    She visibly found it difficult to answer.

    "There's no hurry," he said. "We have enough time." She looked up, licked her lips and ran her hand across her forehead.

    "I try," she said.

    He listened, waiting for more.

    "I think that's right to some extent," she said. He listened.

    "But I love him terribly." She fell silent, then continued: "I feel good with him, and I sense that he loves me."

    She had begun to speak freely and easily: "We are also such great friends. And he's in love with me in a different way than the other guys I've been with." She had started to smile.

    "Have you slept with other guys?"

She shook her head. "No, only John."

    The psychic healer shifted on his chair and looked up in the air: "Now, I'd understood, Madame Violet, that you'd been around considerably."

    Violet nodded: "Yes, you might say that, but I don't smoke, and I just taste liquor, but I had fun going out with guys."

    Violet seemed to take heart: "And I kissed them and hugged them, and they went crazy and tried to go all the way with me." Then she smiled and continued, "But they never succeeded, no matter how hard they tried."

    Brandur Brandsson looked at the woman's face. Then he said with concentration: "Why not? Why couldn't they go all the way with you?"

    The answer came quick and fast: "I wasn't interested. I didn't want to."

    After a brief silence, Brandur Brandsson stretched and said: "I need a more detailed answer to this question."

    Violet seemed a bit distracted, then shook her head: "I just don't know."

    "Do you not want to sleep with John either?" asked the psychic healer.

    "Yes, God knows I want that," she said firmly. "I just want so much to be like Merilyn," said Violet distractedly.

    "Who is Merilyn?" asked Brandur Brandsson, and Violet told him what John had told her about Merilyn.