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As a people, the Scots despise the English, and htfully so But individually, they are quite warlass of whisky, a hot lishlishman in any sort of unifore But should a lone Sassenach areet him with open arms and broad smiles
Such was the case when I happened upon Inveraray, upon the banks of Loch Fyne A neat, well-planned town that was designed by Robert Adae to accoe of water, its ashed buildings in neat rows that ely ordered existence for one such as I, brought up
a ofa fine whisky instead of the usual ale one land, when I realized that I had no idea how to get to et there I approached the proprietor (one Mr
Clark), explainedbut blink in wonder and confusion as the rest of the inn's occupants chimed in with advice "Blair Castle?" Mr Clark booiven to soft speech) "Well, now, if ye're wanting to go to Blair Castle, ye'II certainly be wanting to head west toward Pitlochry and then north from there"
This was met by a chorus of approval--and an equally loud echo of disapprovalwOch, no!" yelled another (whose na to cross Loch Toy, and a greater recipe for disaster has never been tasted Better to head north now, and thenBen Nevis in his way Are you saying a mountain is a lesser obstacle than a puny loch?"wAre you calling Loch Toy puny? I'll be telling you I was born on the shores of Loch Toy, and no one will be calling it puny in my presence" (I have no idea who said this, or indeed, alreat feeling and conviction)wHe doesn't need to go all the way to Ben Nevis He can turn west at Glencoe"wOh, ho, ho, and a bottle of whisky There isn't a decent road heading west fro to kill the poor lad?"
And so on and so forth If the reader has noticed that I stopped writing who said what, it is because the din of voices was so overwhel that it was impossible to tell anyone apart, and this continued for at least ten hty years if he was a day, spoke, and out of respect, everyone quieted doWhat he needs to do," Angus wheezed, "is travelsouth to Kintyre, turn back north and cross the Firth of Lome to Mull so that he can scoot out to Iona, sail up to Skye, cross over to the mainland to Ullapool, back down to Inverness, pay his respects at Culloden, and fro in Grampian if he chooses so he can see how a proper bottle of whisky is made"
Absolute silence met this pronouncement Finally, one braveit won't?" old Caerence "The Sassenach is here to see Scotland Are you telling me he can say he's done that if all he's done is taken a straight line fro, and made my decision on the spot I would follow his exact route, and when I returned to London, I would know in my heart that I knew Scotland
Colin watched Penelope as she read Every now and then she would smile, and his heart would leap, and then suddenly he realized that her s as if she were suppressing a laugh
Colin realized he was s, too
He'd been so surprised by her reaction the first ti; her response had been so passionate, and yet she'd been so analytical and precise when she spoke to him about it It all made sense now, of course
She was a writer, too, probably a better one than he, and of all the things she understood in this world, she understood words
It was hard to believe it had taken hi to ask for her advice Fear, he supposed, had stopped him Fear and worry and all those stupid euessed that one woman'sopinion would become so important to hi his travels, trying to captureto capture what he felt And he'd never once showed them to anyone
Until now
There had been no one he'd wanted to show them to No, that wasn't true Deep down, he'd wanted to show theht, or he thought they would lie and say sos
But Penelope was different She was a writer She was a daood, he could alhtly as she turned a page, then frowned as her fingers couldn't find purchase
After licking her an to read again
And sain
Colin let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding
Finally, she laid the book down in her lap, leaving it open to the section she'd been reading Looking up, she said, "I assume you wanted me to stop at the end of the entry?"
It wasn't quite what he'd expected her to say, and that befuddled him "Er, if you want to," he stauess"