[Nine Fragments bi Sandy Fleemin] (In Scots)

IV

hae hellish sheets o paper an lowpin aff o St Rules Touer or the pier, ay the pier, seein’s the Touer’s shut wi suicides aready; but for the nou I’ll leeve wi the curse an spite her, for the sake o the evidents. In the meantime I minds mysel she haed nae sowel, nane ava, that my hert needna growe sae fain on her, an that she’s awa, I needna loss aa my sleep stravaigin the toun throu the nicht in howp o chancin intae her.

I dinna ken gin I’m sufferin or gin this isna a naitral state: it’s like a snell blast gaun ootthrou my vera hert, come sun come rain, a cauld pinglin fae some spíritual airt. I can haurly credit I juist kent this lassie the ae nicht, it’s like soukin bluid’s juist a metaphor for the wey chancin intae her can drain the vera sowel, leave it like a ringin frost in the hert. Spaek o the romance an glammer o vampires aa ye like, but I howp this scrieve o mine’ll be mair o a warnishment tae the leevin, than instruction tae prentice vampires.

An thon that I sayed afore, taen thegither wi some mair things I’m gaun tae tell, adds up tae a fair pruif that aa this happent: it’s no as tho a sowel like mysel, or for that maiter ony leevin sowel, coud hae plantit sic evidents, gin ye’ll allou the bit play on wirds thare. I’v checked up on this partíclar thing an it’s juist like Ísabel sayed. I didna credit ony o what she wis sayin the time she wis tellin me, but I’m gey an shuir o’d nou.

Onywey, that wisna aa wisna conform tae Ísabel’s plan: it haed turnt oot that the war men wirkin on the fire safety sýstem an thay haed aa the fire doors aff in the corridor an seemed tae be bangin an thrummin awa wi thair hammers an drills aa the lee-lang day. Sae Ísabel haed tae watch hersel an no dae onything tae gar them tent her. It wis a peety it haed tae be Hamilton Haa, but the war nae wey she coud hae kent the war wark bein duin here throu the simmer holidays. Sae she haed tae wait till the men wis awa hame the back o five for tae win oot an git some reid wine.

Suphy wadna tak the wine, but that wisna the plan onywey. Ísabel drank the wine slaw, bringin a warm reidness tae her face an neck that she coud see wis tempin the ither lassie nearer an nearer her. As the lift gloamed ahint the curtains she laid her cauld haun on Ísabel’s. “I’m wantin bluid, Ísabel,” qo she, “I’m wantin it the nicht, but no yours. No yours. Lat me lowse an I’ll come back. I’ll come back an be wi ye but I canna tak yer bluid.”

Ísabel wantit bitten aa the waur, for that it wis somewey forbid. An the meenit the sun gaed ablo the horizon a chainge cam ower Suphy. Her skin, aye white even tho Ísabel haed washed the paste aff for tae trap her, gaed translucent like gless; her haun, cauld afore, fell freezin sae’s Ísabel coud scarce thole the …