LoveStar by Andri Snaer Magnason Read Free Book Online

capelin-laden trawlers. When the gangway was extended, a thousand impatient, love-craving customers poured from the ship and hastened as fast as they could go north to the ever-green Oxnadalur valley where sheep bleated, foxes yapped, love was proven, and LOVESTAR twinkled behind its cloud.
    On fine days trucks would stream back down south with piles of lovers cuddled up in soft hay, then dockworkers would strap the couples into harnesses and they’d dangle over the harbor like eight-footed horses before being lowered into the ship’s hold. Indridi and Sigrid had half an hour to word-synthesize. In their eyes glowed happiness itself, bright as LOVESTAR.
    Indridi and Sigrid’s love had grown in the five or so years that they had been together, and their love was not just a little seed in their hearts but had put down roots and tentacles all over their bodies, right into the extremities of their limbs, making their fingertips as sensitive as clitorises. When Indridi and Sigrid held hands they stroked their middle fingers together, causing a strangely thrilling sensation to spread through their bodies and calling forth a mysterious smile upon their lips.
    Many people regarded Indridi and Sigrid’s love as an obstacle; Sigrid’s mother went so far as to call it a handicap. Indridi and Sigrid had, for example, both given up being cordless modern employees. They had made many attempts to enjoy the free, flexible working hours—at home, at the summer house, or on a romantic beach—but it never worked out in the long run. If no one insisted that they be at a given place at a given time, they got nothing done and were tempted to steal a kiss or caress, which ended often enough with them lying cuddled up and satiated in bed.
    So Sigrid gave up her career as a cordless construction engineer and got a job at a geriatric unit where she tended to old people before they were sent north to LoveDeath. Her mother, who had grander ambitions for her daughter, regarded the job as beneath her dignity and talents.
    â€œDid Indridi push you into this meat processing?”
    â€œDon’t call it meat processing, Mom.”
    â€œBut you’re not a free person!”
    â€œFreedom doesn’t suit us, Mom,” said Sigrid, smirking at the thought. “We don’t get anything done.”
    â€œDoes Indridi have to be glued to you the whole time?”
    â€œIt’s me too, Mom,” said Sigrid. “He’s not the only one who wants to stick together.”
    Indridi had sacrificed his career as a cordless web designer and got a job tending and cultivating the grounds around the Puffin Factory. They took quite a drop in wages, but Indridi and Sigrid had no regrets. According to REGRET it was just as well they had got together, otherwise Indridi would have been killed outright in a car accident while Sigrid would have ended up an addict and drowned during a swimming-pool party.
    While Indridi and Sigrid sailed through their days on a pink cloud, Sigrid’s mother saw nothing but a black shadow looming over them.
    â€œSigrid dear, I’ve booked you an appointment with a specialist.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œYou’re so young and innocent. It’ll be such a shock for you when you break up.”
    â€œYou needn’t worry about me,” said Sigrid archly. “We’re never going to break up.”
    â€œStatistics, Sigrid dear,” said her mother, shaking her head. “You can’t beat statistics.”
    Indridi and Sigrid weren’t about to let any statistics overshadow their love. Those who were interested could let their eyes wander and follow their lives in their cozy apartment at: Hraunbær90(3fm).is. A healthy and cordless modern person had nothing to hide (and nowhere to hide). If someone crushed or swore at the recording butterflies that flitted everywhere, people would ask: “What’s he got to hide, anyway?” and rumors would begin to