The Specials - Much Too Young
WEDNESDAY CLUB
BOY OR GIRL
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| BUNNY EXPLOITS |
BOY OR GIRL
'I'm pregnant!'
'Your what!'
'I'm pregnant'
'Jeezus'
I was sitting with my girlfriend in a new up market pub in Inverness, it was 1969, I was nineteen and she a year younger. She was in her last year at school. It was another of these snapshot moments that will stay with you forever. She was smoking a pink Russian Sobranie Cocktail cigarette and I was smoking a gold leaf. She was drinking a brandy and babycham and me a pint of Tenants' lager. The memory is that clear.
'What the hell are we going to do?'
She did not want to keep it. I said that I knew a couple of guys I could ask and maybe they could arrange and abortion. In these days it was not quite as easy to get a termination. You had to have good reasons and it was a bit of a process to go through. I eventually found out somewhere and it would cost £400 . After a lot of debate we thought it would be best to come clean and she should tell her parents and just deal with the fallout. Like most parents after the initial shock they gave her their full support. She gave the standard story that we had too much to drink and got carried away and it was only the once and it would never happen again. Only the once, my hat. We were at it like bleeding rabbits like you do at that age if you were lucky enough to get the chance.
Her father was rich and owned half of Mallaig a small town on the west coast of Scotland. He had a surgeon friend in Edinburgh and the operation was dually arranged. While she was in Mallaig I wrote her a letter and said I would marry her if she changed her mind and wanted to keep it. The guilt was weighing me down. In her reply she said 'she could not wait to get rid of the bloody thing' Unfortunately my Mother found this letter and my game was up. She was more upset at the callous way my girlfriend described the situation. But my mum liked her and just really accepted the situation as it was.
My girlfriend soon returned to complete her exams and we continued with our bunny exploits.
One day a friend of mine was doing a job in Mallaig and I decided without telling my girlfriend to visit her parents. I don't know what possessed me but I think it was partly guilt and partly to show I was not some kind of monster. I knocked at the door and her father answered and I said 'I suppose you have heard of me' not the best choice of introductory words. He stared for a few seconds as if transfixed by a cobra and then just turned and walked away leaving me on the doorstep.
A few minutes later her mother appeared and invited me in. I had a cup of tea as I apologised for the trouble I had caused and I was indeed very sorry. The father returned and just glared but he did acknowledge that it took courage to visit like I did.
The following Christmas I stayed with them and actually got on well with them. I am not a monster, I am a human being.
I asked both Shellhunter and Flycasual if I should post this. I am glad I asked them as it said a lot about me. Flycasual was rightly concerned about the reference to the 'going at it like Rabbits' etc. when after all it is about a serious subject,abortion. When I thought about it yes, I have taken a subject which is always controversial to say the least. People feel very strongly about it and there are some women who can't have children and it must affect them badly. I will say no more about the subject other than what it says about me is exactly what I am. I don't take anything very seriously and tend to joke about almost everything and what I wrote, that is how I felt at the time. I'm an old fart and I will soon be dead, ha! ha! ha!.
I will probably drop dead next week now.
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