My first memories of being on this earth are when I contracted scarlet fever and was in isolation at Stirling Hospital. At that time, isolation meant l was in a nice, warm room and my mither and faither were outside freezing to death trying to talk to me through a window that only had a three inch gap at the bottom. I was greetin, my mither was greetin, my faither wasn’t greetin. Things calmed down when my dad slipped a little silver racing car and a book called The Life And Times of The Three Pigs which l placed on my cot. When my parents had gone l turned round and saw another boy playing with my little car. l jumped into his cot and had a physical conversation with him. The nurse came running into the room, grabbed me by the scruff of my shirttail and gave me a scelpin like I’ve never had since.
Sometime later l was standing outside the hospital holding hands with nurse Scelpin when my mither arrived. l escaped the nurse's clutches and ran to the arms of my mither who was still crying from the time l saw her last. I heard the nurse say what a good boy I'd been. I remember being discharged from the hospital. l was wearing a green coat my godmother, Mrs McFall made for me, and l clearly remember my mither picking me up and carrying me to the bus stop. Arriving home in Denny l put on my World War Two gas mask to protect me from the onslaught of kisses l would have to endure when l was carried into our kitchen. On entering the kitchen, Bobby, my 12-year-old brother, had his head in my pockets to see how much money I had received from visitors. When he retrieved my loot he informed me that he was an ex-employee of the International Monetary Fund and would help me count the money, and help me buy the horse I was saving up for. So he divided the money evenly. He had 10 shillings and I had 1 shilling, 2 pence and 3 farthings. Mam caught Bobby red handed and made him return the loot. My mam informed Bobby that any horse buying would be done by her. Now that we had fixed the money matters and the promise that I would have my horse for Christmas, Mam led me to the kitchen where there was a large chocolate cake. She gave me a large piece and a full bottle of lemonade all to myself. I noticed a few of my pals eyeing up my dinky car. Eventually all the kissers and their brood departed. I couldn’t hold in a scream when I noticed my dinky car had vanished. A thorough search of the whole house achieved nothing. I went to bed clutching my mither’s snottery hanky. After a short sleep I woke up with the race car on my mind. I quickly dressed and headed to the shoe cupboard for my wellies. I couldn’t put on my wellies because my dinky car was where I hid it the previous night. I was overjoyed and "vroom vroomed" all day.