The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1968, Blaðsíða 32

30
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Spring 1968
do so, and I wasn’t so ill that I couldn’t
be on my feet. I had only a tiny little
cough, this tickling cough. I perspired
at night and I felt tired. That was all.
I think I could very well be on my
feet, but that doesn’t seem to be the
custom here. I am certainly not that
ill.”
Soley looked at me with a question-
ing gaze, as if to divine what I thought
or knew. I studiously avoided her eyes
and busied myself with making criss-
cross creases in the bedspread.
“See”, I said. “Now I have made a
ship, and we can sail to any country
we wish.”
She smiled and said, “I have thought
about that. I have a longing to sail.
When I get over this indisposition I
shall go to America, to Mother and
Dad. I have often thought about this
trip and longed for it.”
She stared into space as if she saw
something there that invited close in-
spection. A gleam in her eyes indicated
a pleasant thought. I understood that
she had travelled in spirit all the way
to America.
Soley had read much and was better
informed than is usually the case with
young people of her age. She was
familiar with all the Icelandic sagas;
she had read them many times over.
The parts that had especially thrilled
her, she knew practically verbatim.
She absorbed learning like a sponge
and had a vivid memory.
She played chess, and was much
better at the game than I, as she was
in so many other things. She was an
avid player and I had to play several
times a day. Somehow, it was not pos-
sible to refuse Soley when she asked
for something. Her eyes were then so
wonderfully soft and beseeching.
She studied and planned every move,
and moved her pieces with precision,
as I have seen experienced players do.
When I made some foolish move, she
obviously did not like it at all, and
would make a sound of exasperation:
“This is utter nonsense. Why do you
do this! Now you’ll lose a pawn. You
expose your pieces to mortal danger”.
After such miscues of mine, the game
was soon ended, with me being check-
mated. We would then put the board
away, but it would not be long before
she suggested beginning again.
After one such game, Soley remark-
ed:
“I have so often thought of life be-
ing like a game of chess. I realize
when I hold one of these pieces in my
hand that it is made of wood, but
what do we know about ourselves, or
the meaning of life, or what is expect-
ed of us?
“Sometimes I think life is governed
by chance. Chance seems often to
decide, not we. For example, when my
parents went to America, I was so
small that they had to leave me be-
hind, because they didn’t dare to take
me with them on such a long ocean
voyage. If I had gone with them, I
certainly would not be here now. Per-
haps I would never have become ill.
But, like many others, they went to
seek their fortune in the New World.
“When I am well, I am going on a
large ship to America, to the Rocky
Mountains. I can imagine how my
parents will welcome the child they
left behind”.
Soley leaned back and gazed into
the distance, as if in a trance. I think
she saw the Rocky Mountains and all
she expected to await her there.
Now I began to dress and to be on
my feet all day, but Soley was always
in bed. Her temperature rose and her
cough became more pronounced and
unremitting. Red spots showed on her
cheeks, with pallor between. The
breathing became shorter and more
difficult. But she never complained.