Hinumegin garðin

„Orðini høvdu tamarhaldið á okkum og hildu okkum tilvitað um, at syndansløn var deyðin og ævigt fortapilsi. Eg fekk ein óvissan grið fyri syndini ta løtuna, eg var í sunnudagsskúla, men so skjótt eg fór úr aftur sunnudagsskúlanum, var eg umgirdur av synd og freistingum og var glataður og kanska æviga fortaptur til næstu ferð, eg skuldi í sunnudagsskúla.“

Óvitin í hesari sjálvsævisøguligu skaldsøguni verður drigin inn í religiøsa heila-spunan hjá sínum sunnudagsskúlalærara. Sunnudagsskúlalærarin vissar hann um, at tað mesta av tí, hann ger og hugsar, er synd, og verður hann ikki frelstur, er hann æviga fortaptur og fer til helvitis. Hvussu hann so roynir, lýkur óvitin ikki treytirnar fyri at verða frelstur.

Men friðskjólið á markinum millum frelsuna og fortapilsið er inniliga sambandið millum óvitan og ommuna, og í anganum frá kamfurdropum og hennara mutlandi samrøðum við Gud og Jesus finnur óvitin fyribils náðina.

Líka til náðileysa óvissan ger teimum annað greitt.

...

“The words kept us in check; reminded us that the price for sin was death and eternal damnation. I was granted temporary mercy for my sins during the hour I was at Sunday school, but as soon as I left, I was surrounded by sin and temptation again, and I was damned and perhaps eternally doomed until the next time I went to Sunday school.”

The kid narrating this autobiographical novel gets drawn into the religious fantasies of his Sunday school teacher. His teacher assures him, that most of what he does and thinks is sinful, and that unless he is saved, he is bound for eternal damnation in Hell. No matter how much he tries, the kid never manages to fulfil the requirements for salvation.

But the sanctuary on the border between salvation and damnation is the intimate relationship between the kid and his grandmother. Surrounded by the smell of camphorated spirits and her murmuring conversations with God and Jesus, the kid finds his temporary grace.

Right until merciless doubt enters to tell them something different.