"Ate up!" Dad said to oor guests, Canadian cousins, Wayne and Sybil, as we gaithered aroon’ the kitchen table. “Fish n’ chips! I got a fry at the hairber this momin’. Perfect trait! Ye winna git fish like that in Canada!” But Wayne and Sybil didna look as though their supper wis gan’ roon’ their hert like a hairy worm.
I think they were in shock! First they hid been forced marched fae the station tae the Catbow, cairryin’ their luggage in the face o’ a strong win’. Syne, they couldna’ mak oot fit onbody wis sayin’ tae them, even tho’ we roared at them at the tap o’ oor lungs, the better tae mak them unnerstan’. Weel meanin’ we micht hae been, but I’m sure they felt they were hostages to oor hospitality. We droon’d them in tae, an’ stappit them wi’ pieces. Aifter we hid oor fish and chips, Sybil said she wid affy like a bath. Weel fit she actually said, wis, "Gee you guys, after all I’ve been through today, I’d really love to have a hot bath!" Bit we hidna a bath, an’ the best we cwid offer, as Dad said, "Ye kin sweel yer face at the kitchen sink. Fit’s a’ the wap aboot? We’ll pit tee the kettle an’ ye kin hae a bowlie o’ het watter. We, oursels taks a bath in front o’ the fire on, Fridays, an’ chinges oor shift. An’ ye want tae wash ye hair an’ a’? Losh be here, gin ye dee that, ma quine, ye’lll be smoarin’ with the caul, the morn!"
So there wis nithin’ tae be deen bit ging awa’ tae oor beds, efter oor horlicks. An’ far wis a’body gan’ tae sleep? Granny and Grauda aye slept in the bunnen bed, ben the hoose. It hid an affy saft feather mattress that swalled ye up. Mam and Dad slept in the doon maist ine, an’ I hid a shakkie-doon. Oor visitors slept in the gran’ bedroom up the stair, wi’ a het water baggie.
"Would you like a po?" Mam asked, offering our selection of white enamel what with blue trim and the white china with red roses. With twa extra adults, our toilet facilities, the lavy-oot-the-back, were stretched to capacity. Granda had to supplement his clipping the Sunday Post into squares with the Buckie Paper.
The wither was mair or less the same for the hale twa weeks they were in Buckie. "Anither moochie day, an’ the glassie’s fa’in." Granda telt us, as he tappit the glassie on the wa’. Sybil haled the cardigan she’d borrowed fae Granny roon her shuthers and watched Granda pit another shufflie coal on the fire. She wis geelt. Bit ivery day, Dad and Granda took Wayne tae the hairber tae see the boaties landin’. They niver cam’ back without a fiy, lemon soles some-times, or a haddick.
Ae day Wayne an’ Sybil said they wintit tae ging tae Elgin. "Fitna wye div ye want tae ging there? Hiv ye fowk there?" Dad spiered, We niver gie’d onywye if we didna hae fowk there. An’ then we’d drap in on them aboot fly cup time for a cuppie o’ tae. An ayeways wi’ a tin o’ peers or fruit cocktail as a mindin’. I think that same tin o’ peers jist got passed roon fae ae hoose til the neist Sometimes it wis a currant loafie fae McWeellams.
Bit even tho’ they didna hae fowk in Elgin, an’ it wisna a Buckie Holiday, Wayne and Sybil gied onywye an’ hid a lookie roon’ the shoppies an’ a shottie on the boaties in Cooper’s Park. An that wis aboot as far’s they got Bit somewye or t’ither, they got the twa weeks shoved bye, an’ the day cam’ fin they took Jimmy Mayne’s taxi tae station an’ started thir wye back tae Canada. We niver heard fae them again, but we did git news a curn years aifter that they hid divorced A’ Dad said aboot it wis, "It wisna oor wyte. We hid been hospitable."
Oor Margit
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