"Someone asks me to promise something - Carl asks me to promise to be careful walking in the rain, Annika asks me to have a book back in three days - or seems unsure about something I might do - the butcher's not sure I really only left my coinpurse at home and will pay him tomorrow, the neighbor's not sure I'll tell Carl about needing to repair the fence -" She swallows a little when she mentions her father. "And I say I promise, and it means that I will try particularly hard, that as long as it's in my control it will happen and that I think it is in my control."
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