All the names of Whisky....

I never heard my Mother say the word Whisky
in her life though she usually got through two
bottles every week and lived till she was nearly 91.

She would say: "Will we have a wee something",
or "a refreshment" or "some juice" or even "isn't
it time" (4.30 when Countdown was on).

None of these were questions and she was never
stuck for a new word for the Golden Stuff.

Nairn Hospital was where you once went either
to be born or to die. When my Mother, who had
been a Midwife most of her life, went there it was
only to die.

In Nairn Hospital there was a Whisky cabinet
where patients could have their own Whisky
which would be dispensed with the other medicines
by the Nurses.

The Nurse would say: "Do you want your Whisky
with your morphia now or on its own later?"

"I'll have them both now" my Mother would say.

My Nephew, my Mother's Grandchild, driving up
North to see her in hospital, stopped at the right
Distillary on the A9 and bought her a bottle of the
purest kindest Malt.

Up until then she'd always drank a medium priced
popular blend. This Malt was more than three times
the price.

"I like this" she said. "I think I'll stick with it from
now on."

She said: "I see my Mother and my Father. They are
waiting for me".

One morning in late August she slept till the afternoon
then died.

After a while the Nurse gave me a carrier bag with
some of my Mother's things.

I went outside and sat in the sunshine on the grass.

I looked in the bag.

There was just about one last dram left in the bottle.