Sal. Mick Kitson

the key in the door and thought it was Maw and then Robert came in lugging his holdall and he said ‘Ah’m going to stay for a bit alright?’ and I said ‘Does Maw know?’ and he said ‘Aye. She gave me the key. She got an afternoon shift at the club.’

      Then he said ‘Do you want to make us a cup a tea?’

      And I said ‘No.’

      And he said ‘Oooh alright. Are we going to be pals?’

      And I said ‘No.’

      Then he said ‘You’re tall aren’t ye?’

      And I said ‘Aye.’

      And then he said ‘Do you want a spliff?’

      I said no and I had to go and get Peppa and he started making a joint in the front room on the sofa.

      We stayed skirting the trees on the edge of the moor and followed the deer path all along but we saw nothing we could shoot. Then we came to a gorge where another burn came down into the valley. There was a little waterfall there and it plunged down into a pool with rowan trees and hazels and small oaks around it.The water thundered and you could hear it as you got nearer. As we got to the pool a huge heron flew up and its wings went slow. Peppa shot a stone at it and it swerved in the air and carried on flapping down into the valley.We climbed up alongside the gorge and came out at the moor where it goes up and up and the snow was sparkling and there was dry grass sticking out of it and blowing in the wind. The sun was breaking the clouds up and they were skidding along on the wind and when the sun came out there was a bright glare like headlights in your face off the snow. The snow was crunchy and had a thin layer of ice on the top and was about fifteen centimetres deep. Peppa was squinting into the glare and the whiteness of the bank we were climbing made me feel dizzy and all you could hear was our feet crunching the snow. At the top there were big rocks and we sat with our back to them and ate belVitas and raisins.

      We were looking out right across the valley across the loch, and you could see all the different woods, some were plantations in blocks and we could see the forestry track going along the top on the other side and in and out of them. Then I heard Peppa whisper ‘Sal . . .’

      She was lying on the snow looking up past the rock we’d been leaning on and she pointed. Further up in amongst little boulders were two Grouse. They were both females and had grey and brown feathers with little black flecks and they were pecking at heather where it had got no snow on it at the sides of the boulders.

      I tried to move as slow as I could as I got the airgun up and lay flat by the rock. It was pumped seven times and had a pellet in the breech. The Grouse were close enough to hit and the nearest one had its back to me and I got the bead on the site on the middle of its neck. You have to squeeze the trigger and hold your breath as you get your finger round it and then release the breath slowly as you squeeze.

      When I shot and the gun went fut both of them took off and made a noise like ‘tek tek’ but the one I shot flew forward and then smashed down on the snow and rolled over and over and then started running and flapping one wing out. I said ‘Peppa get it’ and she got up and ran towards it, and I followed.The Grouse ran along changing directions and going tek tek and there was a line of blood on the snow behind it. And it kept going with Peppa racing behind it and her feet stamping holes in the snow and me racing behind her holding the gun. The Grouse was zigzagging all the time and Peppa kept slipping and stumbling. I was pumping the airgun to try to get another shot at it while it couldn’t fly. One wing was trailing along the snow and the other was waving out and the blood trail on the snow followed it.Then it changed direction again and jumped and half took off and then crashed down again and rolled over and lay still.

      It still had its eyes open when I got to it and it was breathing fast and the blood on the snow around it looked black. I put another pellet in the breech and shot it straight in the head point blank so it didn’t suffer and its head thudded against the snow and more blood came out of the back of it. It was soft and warm and felt small and light when I picked it up and its head hung down. Peppa stroked it and said ‘It’s nice isn’t it?’ I said ‘Aye.’ Its feet were big and there were short claws and it had scales like a reptile because birds evolved from reptiles.

      Peppa said ‘Do you feel bad about it?’

      And I said ‘Aye,’ and I did, even though we were going to eat it. It was small and soft when you held it and its beak was small and it had an orange bit over its eye that looked like eye shadow and it was pretty. We put the Grouse in the backpack and carried on along and up onto the moor.

Chapter Six

       Town

      There wasn’t much meat on the Grouse and I let Peppa have most of it, but it was good with salt on it roasted on the stones. We walked the whole moor right up to another hill and then back round skirting right round Magna Bra. We didn’t get any more birds but we saw Kites and Geese flying over. We didn’t see anyone or any forestry 4x4s or helicopters. It was over four miles by the time we got back and collected wood and cooked the Grouse.