{"id":1110,"date":"2021-07-14T16:45:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T16:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/?p=1110"},"modified":"2021-07-14T16:45:26","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T16:45:26","slug":"i-again-am-strang-by-david-carson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/?p=1110","title":{"rendered":"I Again Am Strang by David Carson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-soundcloud wp-block-embed-soundcloud wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Again Am Strang by David Carson. Read by David Rankine by Pitlochry Festival Theatre\" width=\"1200\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1043198731&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=1000&#038;maxwidth=1200\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I like fine tae work in the gairden o\u2019 a weekend. But nae sae much noo. Maybes because I\u2019ve naewhere else tae go the hail week. Ma Fridays are nae mair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aye, Fridays. Whit pleasure, whit joy. Calum, I allus spiered him richt awa\u2019,comin\u2019 bensin ower the playgrun an\u2019 oot the gate, sclitherin&nbsp; atween a\u2019 the ither bairns on their scooters an\u2019 bikes, his schoolbag bobbin\u2019 on his shouders. \u2018Grandpa! Grandpa!\u2019&nbsp; I bend doon tae tak him in ma airms, but the wee devilock squirms awa\u2019 fae me laughin\u2019 the whiles. Calum, sic a well-lookit chiel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I sae looked forward tae thae moments. I peer up at the clear blue sky an\u2019 doon on Calum\u2019s tousie locks an\u2019 ken for shuir that haiven lies aboot us, as some poet tellt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I ken forbye that clouds are gatherin\u2019, that change is near. Calum, all excited like, pulls at ma haun. \u2018Grandpa, we\u2019re hain\u2019 a holiday, we\u2019ve no tae come tae school on Monday, and maybe the hail week, is that no\u2019 braw?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I says tae him, let\u2019s go for a wee stravaig by the dyke yonder, ye can clim atop an\u2019 hae a leuk at the sheep wi\u2019 their lambs. I gi\u2019ed him ma haun an\u2019up he jamp. Then I says tae him, a\u2019 quiet like, it\u2019s maybe longer than jist a week, ma bonnie laddie. I\u2019ll no see ye for a lang while I fear. Mony a Friday will gae by wi\u2019oot yer grandpa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Calum looks doon at me an\u2019 says, but faur will ye be? At hame, I say. That\u2019s a\u2019 richt, he says, but whit fur? So I tell him aboot thon virus thing, an\u2019 he nods his heid an\u2019 says he kens a\u2019 aboot that, a\u2019body does. Then he looks me in the ee an says dinna look sae sad, grandpa, I will remember ye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ah think, it\u2019s no\u2019 the same for him, it\u2019s like he\u2019s talkin\u2019 aboot a visit tae the seaside, or the museum. But then he jamp doon an\u2019 pits his bag on the grund an his haun in the bag. Look grandpa he says, is this no awfy fine? I peer at it an\u2019 see a stane wi\u2019 lines on it. Naw grandpa, it\u2019s no a stane, it\u2019s a fossil. Thae marks are fae a insect that lived hunners an\u2019 hunners o\u2019 years ago, even older than you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aye, Calum gie\u2019ed me the stane. Here grandpa, he says. It\u2019s ma best een, I pit it oan ma table next tae ma bed an\u2019 look at it fen I wake up. I\u2019m aye showin\u2019 it tae ma pals. So you can pit it on your table. It\u2019s a wee present fae me. Not forever mind. Jist till ye come back tae get me fae the schule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I dinna pit it on a table. Naw, I pit it under ma pillow. I really dae. I think it helps me tae sleep sound, but if I wake I can reach fur it and clasp it fur a moment. An\u2019 I says tae masel\u2019 that things pass, that ane o\u2019 these days I\u2019ll hae tae gie the stane back tae Calum. Wi\u2019joy an\u2019 pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8465361078_208605f7b6_b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8465361078_208605f7b6_b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1112\" width=\"460\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8465361078_208605f7b6_b.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8465361078_208605f7b6_b-600x407.jpg 600w, https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8465361078_208605f7b6_b-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8465361078_208605f7b6_b-768x521.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By David Carson<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We may be coming to the end of the lockdown, so perhaps it&#8217;s time for a heart-warming story of resolution and fortitude.<br \/>\nWritten in Doric Scots and read by David Rankine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[124,109,92,116,22,49,35],"class_list":["post-1110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-doric","tag-fiction","tag-heart-warming","tag-hopeful","tag-nethergate-writers","tag-pitlochry-festival-theatre","tag-scots"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1118,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions\/1118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}