Katie Morag and Uncle Matthew's Hut Katie Morag

# Katie Morag

# Run away across the ocean

# Katie Morag

# Over the sea to Struay

# Katie Morag

# Run away across the ocean

# Katie Morag

# Over the sea to Struay. #

'My name is Katie Morag McColl and I live on the island of Struay.

'I suppose it's quite wee but it's ginormous to me

'and everyone looks out for me

'when I'm out and about having my adventures.'

# Katie Morag. #

'Neilly Beag says living with Grandma Mainland is a real education.'

Chartreuse, myrtle or jade?

Hmm... I like the green one.

They're all green.

The jade is elegant but the chartreuse is more vibrant.

I'll go with the myrtle.

'He reckons he learns something new and interesting every single day.

'He says he hasn't yet learned anything he's been able to put to use

-'but they haven't been married long so there's plenty of time.'

-Right.

Let's choose a hat.

'I couldn't figure out why Grandma Mainland was making

'such a fuss about what to wear.

'We were only visiting Uncle Matthew,

-'so it's not like anyone was going to see us.'

-What about this?

Elegant with a touch of wit.

Can we go now?

But you haven't chosen your outfit.

-Ta-da!

-Ha-ha! The perfect look in under three seconds.

-What is your secret?

-A good pair of wellies.

-All set?

-All set. Just a minute.

Thermal emergency blanket.

-Emergency blanket?

-Hillwalking can be dangerous, you know.

Oh, absolutely.

Except Matthew's hut isn't really a hill walk, more just a walk.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Come on.

The night before there had been a terrible storm,

so everything looked shiny and bright on our walk.

Grandma Mainland said she couldn't get to sleep during the storm

but I loved listening to it. It made me feel warm and cosy in my bed.

She said that was because I was an island girl.

I've never understood why he lives out here,

hiding away in the middle of nowhere.

I suppose he just likes it.

Grandma Mainland said there's nothing she liked more than the rumble

of double-decker buses to get her to sleep because she's a city girl.

I'm lost.

That's the loch, that's the shieling, so we must be round about here.

You're an island girl, right enough.

Look, there's Uncle Matthew! Race you!

Caught anything? HE SNEEZES

A cold, maybe. Hey, mother.

Oh, my dear.

What are you doing camping out?

Oh, I've got last night's storm to thank for that.

Why? What happened?

Let me pack this stuff away and I'll show you.

-I didn't know you could fish.

-Your grandpa was an angler.

-It was either learn to fish or never see him at all.

-Whoa!

Not bad for a city girl, eh?

Oh, Matthew.

And that's why I'm living in a tent.

Half the roof blew off and brought all the timbers in.

-All your lovely paintings.

-Not so lovely now that...

-What's wrong?

-What happened?

-A lump of plaster knocked it right out.

The good news is I found it.

Reckon I'll get something from the tooth fairy?

Tooth fairy my foot, it's a dentist you need.

Absolutely, the next time I'm on the mainland.

-When are you ever on the mainland?

-I'll get round to it, eventually.

-What are you going to do about the hut?

-Fix it up, I suppose.

-Fix it?

This place is not fit for firewood.

Och, away, there's years left in the old...

WOOD TUMBLES DOWN

-Oh.

-GRANNY MAINLAND SIGHS

-Please...

-I'm going to phone my dentist in Glasgow as soon

as we get back and you'll be on the next ferry over.

-I think you're over...

-Stay in the flat for as long as you like.

-Some central heating, that's what you need.

-But...

And after that, you're moving in with me and Neilly Beag.

Move in with my mother? But I'm 39 years old.

-You could be 89 for all I care, you're still my son.

-But I...

I wouldn't argue. Not if she's in that mood.

Matthew should be getting into Oban about now.

I can't believe you got him on the ferry.

-His mouth must have really been hurting him.

-Och, poor wee soul.

-FROM ANOTHER ROOM: Grandma!

-Yes, sweetheart?

-Can you read me a story, please?

-I'll be up in a minute.

Thanks for the lovely supper.

-She's awful cheery in the circumstances.

-Are you kidding?

She's loving this.

Getting Matthew out of that hut and into a house with double glazing.

-It's a dream come true.

-But we don't have double glazing.

-Not yet.

Mum's only doing what she thinks is best

because she's never really understood Matthew.

Well, if he does move in with your mother it'll only

-be for a week or two.

-That'll be what she's telling him.

-What do you mean?

-My mother is a very well-meaning woman.

Very well-meaning and very determined.

The next day while I was at school, Grandma Mainland

and Neilly Beag started to get Matthew's room ready.

I brought this duvet set over from Glasgow.

It's genuine Egyptian cotton.

-Very nice.

-Oh, and the wallpaper.

Did you phone that shop in Bearsden?

Och, we could maybe just put a lick of pain paint on it.

I've still got that tin from when I painted Mr McMaster's cowshed.

I assume you're joking.

-What?

-Oh, I didn't say a word.

But you were thinking it.

My mind may be a total blank for all you know.

It often is.

-This place is a death trap.

-It's certainly a wee bit past its best.

I suppose we should keep some of his bits and pieces.

I can't think what, though. Why doesn't he have a television?

He loved watching telly when he was a boy.

Here, maybe we should get satellite installed.

Mrs Baxter gets over 300 channels.

You're doing it again.

-Doing what?

-Thinking something.

It's not my fault, sometimes it just happens.

Well, if you want to say something, I wish you would out and say it.

All right, then. I will.

Now, you know, I have the very highest opinion of you.

In fact, I think you're far and away the finest women

I've ever had the privilege to meet.

But I think you're wrong.

-100% wrong.

-What about?

-Everything.

The fancy duvet and the wallpaper and the 300 television channels.

If Matthew wanted these things he'd have had them long ago.

But that's just my point. He doesn't have anything out here.

And that's exactly what he wants.

No noise, no stuff, no complications.

Just peace and quiet

and a place to hide from the world when he needs to.

He's living out here because he wants to.

Because it's right for him.

Dragging him back to the village is like putting a penguin in a sauna.

Now, you might like a sauna

and even I might like a sauna, but penguins hate saunas.

They hate them.

-I'll tell you what I hate.

-Go ahead.

-I hate that you're always right.

-No, nonsense.

But where else can he stay? Yon hut's beyond fixing.

-I wouldn't be surprised if he stays in the tent.

-Oh, surely not.

Well, where's he pitched it, anyway?

-You know, up by the loch, just past Mr McMaster's shieling.

-Oh, aye.

-Good fishing round there.

-Where does the word shieling come from?

Well, it's where the crofting women and children stayed during

the summer months when the animals were up in the high pastures.

But the word itself comes from a very old word meaning a shelter

-or a place to hide away.

-A place to hide away?

-Mm-hmm.

-I think I've just had one of my most brilliant ideas.

-Is that right?

But I'm going to need your help.

In fact, I'm going to need everyone's help.

I wish you'd say where you were taking me.

-I told you, it's a surprise. Here we are.

-And where is that exactly?

-Matthew's new home.

-The shieling?

Mr McMaster says we're welcome to use it.

It needs a bit of patching up

but the walls are as solid as the day it was built.

And who's going to do all this patching up?

-We'd need a small army.

-Funny you should say that...

WHISTLE BLOWS

Oh, my goodness.

-So, what do you think?

-Great but there's something missing.

-What's that?

-I've got it!

Where are you going? Katie Morag!

Come on, you lot,

we've got an hour to get cleaned up before Matthew arrives.

-There he is. Matthew.

-I wish Katie Morag was here.

-Well, if she's not, there must be a pretty good reason.

-Hello, mother.

-Hello.

-Hi, Uncle Matthew. What did you get from the tooth fairy?

Not a thing. Must have forgotten about me, eh?

'He was smiling but I could tell he was a little bit sad.

'He must've been so worried about his house.'

-So, what's this big surprise, then?

-You'll just have to wait and see.

-What were you up to all afternoon?

-You'll just have to wait and see too.

Right, come on, you.

Right, come on, then.

THEY CHEER

The tooth fairy may have forgotten you

but some good fairies have been very busy.

THEY CHEER AND WHISTLE

I think he's got a wee bit of sand in his eye.

I reckon he has, at that.

Matthew moved into the shieling the very next day

and he absolutely loved it. He still didn't like

going to the mainland and he still hid away from time to time,

but Grandma Mainland didn't moan about it any more.

All she ever really wanted was for Matthew to be happy.

And now she knew he was, that made her happy too.