She took the next two slices from the toaster and looked at them on the plate before her. She had only eaten one, and had 225another buttered and ready. She knew that these two freshly toasted slices wouldn’t be enough to put her mind at ease over Omar, so she took two more and dropped them into the toaster. She would eat until she felt calm again.

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95

In the hallway Grímur kneaded a thin layer of make-up onto the backs of Omar’s hands and onto his neck, telling him to take care not to scratch his face and scrape a hole in the new pale skin that would open the gateway to the promised land.

‘Icelandic passport holders with a valid ETA – that’s an electronic travel authorisation – are exempt from giving biometrics when entering Canada, so you won’t be photographed or have your fingerprints taken. So when you arrive there, if you avoid the automatic gates and go for a border control desk with an actual officer, it will all depend on whether he or she thinks you look like Björn.’ He opened Björn’s passport and compared his photo to Omar. ‘And you kind of do look like him, now you’ve got rid of the hair.’

He handed him Björn’s passport, his wallet and printouts of his travel documents: the bus ticket to the airport, tickets for the flight to Canada and a completed ETA travel pass, all of them in Björn’s name.

‘Use the time on the plane to memorise Björn’s full name and date of birth. If border control asks you what you are doing in Canada, you are a tourist on holiday. If they do realise you’re not Björn, you tell them loud and clear that you are asking for asylum in Canada. Then they will put you in the refugee system there.’

‘Do you think this will work?’ Omar´s voice was low, almost a whisper.

‘I think you have a fifty-fifty chance,’ Grímur said. It was the honest answer. ‘In any case you will be in Canada. And the biggest hurdle refugees face when trying to get to Canada through Iceland is actually getting out of Iceland. The outer borders of the Schengen area are very hard to cross, but you, my boy, you have an Icelandic passport this time, so that makes life easy.’227

He inspected Omar one more time, and opened the hall cupboard, where he rummaged until he found a cap that he placed on his head. It didn’t do any harm to cast a little shadow over his face. He wasn’t convinced by his own efforts as a make-up artist.