The Second Queen of Hirta

Chapter 11: California

Full list of chapters

That night I went to sleep rejoicing that Callum loved me and was so near (his family lived four houses from mine), and that I could be with him in almost no time at all if I chose. The next morning I woke up rejoicing that I would see him again that day, as indeed I did when I walked shyly to where the men were assembled for the Parliament. After murmuring, "God bless you, Rachel," most of them ignored me as I stood there smiling stupidly, but Callum could not help looking in my direction from time to time until my mother called to me that I must go and help the other women with the milking.

This happened too far from the village for me to be able to see him, but I knew where he was and could think of us sitting there together. When the wind started to blow, I knew he felt it too, which made me feel we were as one. I then imagined that it was in some way our wind, special to us, even though everyone else on Hirta was of course feeling the same wind at the same time. I knew I was being foolish, but that was a small matter compared with a happiness that seemed greater than the church, greater than Conachair, greater even than the sea or sky themselves.

The Parliament did not last long (perhaps there was not much to discuss), and soon the men were climbing into the boats ready for the day's bird catching. My heart almost stopped as I realised the danger Callum might soon face, even though it was no greater than he and the others had faced many times before, and certainly less than on other occasions, since today the sea appeared to show no interest in claiming victims. But this would not make the hunting any safer, and as I remembered the description of him I had once heard, that he was a good climber but a better sailor, I suddenly realised how much less concerned I would be if it were the other way round.