The Church and the Trolls
They had Trouble leave the red bus and chauffeur them back to Reykjavik in their own rental car. When he bridled they said it was all up to him. They were agreeing to tell him their story, not to become his best friend.
"Do you hate men?" he said as he drove them away, watching in the rearview mirror the confused expressions of his fellow photographers as he left them behind.
"Of course not," said Ingunn, who sat directly behind him. "Look at you. Hate you? That would be like hating rock candy. It looks hard but it's just oh so sweet."
"He wants to see where we got married," said Vladis, across from Ingunn in the back seat. "He thinks it must reflect our origins somehow. You know, reek of divinity, that sort of thing."
The little church was on their way. They had started out late and it was almost dark when Vladis had him take the exit.
"Why, there's almost nothing to it," Trouble said as he turned off the engine and rolled down the window so he could better hear the ocean not a hundred yards away, where the surf was booming off nearby rocks and cliffs.
"Turn on your recorder," said Vladis. "I want it to be understood that it was like a halfway house to us. We entered separately as goddesses and came out joined as mortals. Tell your readers it was such a nasty habit. Without each other we'd have never kicked it."
"So, you think it's better here?" said Trouble.
"For your sake, it had better be," replied Vladis.
That started Ingunn on another laughing jag. She laughed until the tears rolled down her face, and then she pulled her wool cap down until she could hook it over her chin. That started Vladis laughing too, and then even Trouble, though he had no idea what was funny.
He had hold of the steering wheel, but he knew he'd lost hold of the reins.
"So why's it all lit up like this?" he said when they had all calmed down.
"To keep the trolls at bay," said Vladis.
"What trolls?" Trouble said.
"You see those islands out there? I mean, what you would call islands. Those are trolls. They don't like churches, but they hate the light. So the villagers keep the church lighted. You will say, in your stupid human way, that that isn't scientific. And I will say to you, so what about the gods is scientific? Especially your God."
There was more to the story, and Vladis related it as they rolled on down the road. Trouble was glad that he had his recorder, because he wasn't listening. He was driving as if in a trance. Nothing he could think of made sense anymore, so he just drove, occasionally catching the odometer as it registered another change. The change did not seem real, but he held on to it as if to a thread that might keep him connected to his sanity.
"We must be going somewhere," he thought, and choked back the laugh that sprung up at the thought. Otherwise he knew the car would never stay in its lane.
23 December 2022
Texas Jim
Vik, Iceland
www.granitecoast.ca