MIS-STEPS
December 1990“The Scots prefer New Year to Christmas,”
Tony announced, his head turning so he could direct the comment to Daisy.
He said it to console her, she
supposed, make up for him dragging their family back down south for Christmas,
instead of spending it in their new home. Four days too—how rotten of him. But
he and her mother insisted. Yes, they needed to drop in on Debbie’s parents.
And no, not in a million-billion years would they allow Little Miss Daisy to
stay behind on her own.
“In fact,” Tony continued, “the
shops used to open on Christmas day in Kirkinwall. Archie told me he remembered
his father getting up at six am on the twenty-fifth December just as he did
every other day of the year.”
Who cared? They were still making
her leave Kippy for four who
