This story came from a Writers’ Circus challenge.

The starting point was a story which Peter, (our Archivist), had saved from years earlier. In that original story, a chap who was often ‘put upon’ by colleagues had a lucky (?) rabbit’s foot. When someone dissed our anti-hero, he rubbed the rabbit’s foot and bad things happened to the perpetrator.

How this present story grew from that first 200 word story is a mystery to me. But here it is.

I suggest you give it a go and if it does not grab you, let it go and do something else.

This is an entirely fictional tale and I hope that residents of the Scottish Hebrides will accept it for what it is.

It is graphic in style and content, perhaps a bit ‘gushy’ and might be classified as a modern “Mills and Boon” novella.

It is the tale of girl evacuated to North Uist during the early stages of WW2.

She is restless, dissatisfied with her lot, forced to live a life so different from her cosmopolitan upbringing in Glasgow.

Very soon she is an outcast. Partly because she does not speak Gaelic while most locals have little English.

She is resented because she is ‘posh’, glamorous, has nice hair, owns an expensive wardrobe and wears make-up.

There, that will have to be enough.

Give it a go, you might like it, once you have your feet under the table.

As with most of my recent stories this one has been self-edited using “Read Aloud” in “Word”.

If you spot an error or typo, please use your best judgment and READ ON.

Thank you.

The first scribing of this tory began in October 2017 as a response to a Writers’ Circus challenge “the road that must be followed”.

It involves religion, love, adultery, drugs and alcoholism and may not be everyone’s first choice of reading material.

It starts just before the 1955 Billy Graham Rally in Glasgow.

From Glasgow it then moves to The Gambia, back to Glasgow then on to Tenerife and back again to Glasgow.

Hopefully, if you give it a try, you might become intrigued and want to find out how it concludes?

The first version was edited by my friend Kareth Paterson of Writers’ Circus then became mired in the fallout from Covid lockdowns.

The version offered here was revamped over a two month spell and self-edited using the ‘Read Aloud’ tool in Word.

Please try to forgive typos and when you find a glitch, use you best judgement and read on.

This is a Maisie Kaywood story.

Check at www.thebuzzinbee.co.uk for others, particularly ‘Fidelity’ and ‘Out of the Blues’ two shorter stories which feature some of the other main characters in XCD (X-Carpe Diem), the name assigned to Maisie’s hit squad as she seeks to deliver her personal version of private justice against the baddies.

In Spanish Sparrows the action takes place in early 2008 when George W Bush was in his second year of his second term as US President.

The story starts in Tenerife then moves to Frankfurt then on to West Africa, focused on on a visit made to Benin by GWB in his valedictory year.

Yes, this visit did in fact take place.

So, dive in, why don’t you?

It was looking out at heavy snow. Within minutes it was a white out.

Later there were TV news reports of traffic stranded on the A9, a road we know well from summer jaunts to Rosemarkie with our ancient caravan.

The next morning this story started to write itself.