The Scottish Thief, The Southwestern Patsy and a really big diamond.

A Story by Sam Westcott

A depressed twenty something has everything changed forever when he accidentally breaks the nose of a Scottish girl while waiting for a train to a family reunion.

It was in the year 2015 that my life changed. That statement is so final in nature that it should be clarified. The girl that I thought I would be with forever left me, I moved to another city and I got another job. These are all typical things that a person will do in their early twenties and maybe continue doing till the care home calls. But really what made the movement to this new city, the heartbreak of a first love lost and the excitement of a new job so life changing was that I met Tess McKree right in the middle of it.

Specifically I tripped her over and I broke her nose. Now this wasn’t intentional, please believe me. It was more an accident. I had been sat in a sort of underground tunnel in the train station, waiting as I tended to do with a mixture of boredom and annoyance for a train that I really didn’t want to take. This was because that was the weekend I had to go home and see a father with the instinct of an overgrown mother hen and a stepmother who was clearly on her way out of the marriage. This was complemented along with a dog who absolutely loved licking your face in a way that many places in Thailand would charge extra for.

Not the best weekend, but I had been putting it off for a while and so it was time.

Back to Tess and my first impression of her. It was really was one of fear. She was clearly angry and in her mind rightly so I had pushed my legs and my bags out in front of me she was running to catch a train. Well… The rest is self-explanatory. It ended with a bang and this pretty girl, not like a model more just passionate and energetic with this flaming red hair. The hair stopped me, it seemed to emphasise everything and make her more intense. I felt in that moment like a little boy who’d just been told off by the teacher.

She shouted at me first of all; “what are you? Stupid?” Not stupid more, just focused too much on my book. She had these fantastic eyes as well, they were green and seemed to sparkle. I know it’s a cliché but that’s really what they did and her voice was loud and tinged with a soft Scottish accent.

I couldn’t speak for what felt like a century but it was 15 seconds or so, maybe less. Then she asked with blood coming down her nose and dripping down her face; “do you have cloth? Or are you going to take me to the hospital?” Her voice seemed to be more urgent at the point.

Maybe she just wanted to get out of the crowded train station? It was a Saturday morning and all around me British people had been walking by and staring and muttering in that way all British people do when there’s a potential scandal around. Nothing says scandal like shouting and blood and a frightened looking guy still holding a copy of “The Bourne Identity.”