Our cooper, he fills up with pickle last thing, and in the mornin’ we top up with fish, see, ’cause they pack down a bit overnight. About ten days an’ the cooper drills a hole in the side an’ drains off the pickle. We top up again, more herrin’ to finish, an’ then the cooper pours in pickle an’ seals the hole with a bung. Heads on an’ then it’s ready an’ away. Eh?

Mmm, I murmured, hoping that was the end. A kirk bell somewhere chimed eleven.

Kitta saved me at last, slapping two tin plates in front of us on the wooden plank that was our table. Tea’s up! she said. Hungry, Meggie mine?

I looked down at the thick slab of bread, the greasy fish. The last thing I felt like eating was a herring.

~

On that first wearisome night, I could have slept standing, sitting or on my head, aye, but first there were things to do. A roster to be worked out with the Cruden Bay girls. Food brought from home to be pooled. And we had to clean our gippers, sharpen them on the wheel, and wash out our clooties ready for the morning.

Kitta sent me to the rainwater barrel to fill our bucket. I stood there, eyes closing, slumping against the side. Footsteps passing, a voice close to my ear.

How is the hands, then, Fish Meggie?

The boy was already on his way back to the yards when I opened my eyes, but he turned and waved. Ye can thank me at the ceilidh on Saturday!

I looked down at my hands, red and raw from a day steeped in salt. Now I understood. What agony a slit on the thumb would be. But as for ceilidhs … I tossed my head, like Kitta—she always looked so imperious when she did that.

A laugh in the distance.

I still didn’t know his name.

5

Lambsie, I think if you asked your Unty Clementina’s opinion on the matter, she would tell you I remained a disaster for a good while. But to me it felt that every day I was getting a bit faster with the gipper, a bit surer I knew what it was I should be doing, a bit less bewildered by the press of so many people. Disaster of another kind would soon catch up with me, but in those first days, those first few weeks, I felt I was making progress. Getting the action right, getting my speed up.