a piper's lament

When I was fifteen years old I played with a pipe band at Helmsdale on the east coast of Scotland. We were booked to provide occasional renditions of Scotland the Brave and The Green Hills of Tyrol at a Highland Games - once round the playing field and that was that for an hour or so. We were not the best pipe band in the world, a bit ragged at the edges - a motley collection of differing ages, tartans and musical ability. In the afternoon I was very tired for some reason and went to take a short sleep at the back of our parked bus. I could hear the murmur of voices at the front as some of the older members of the band quietly discussed a set of pipes with silver trimmings one of them had recently bought.

Drifting out of my doze I was aware of a gasp and silence, then sudden movement. I sat up and looked down the aisle in time to see the driver of the bus slump over into the arms of the pipe major. The driver went bright red, then slowly the palour of his skin became blue and his lips went grey. My mind was blank. Someone ran to find help. I put a rolled-up jacket under the driver’s head. Minutes passed and we were uncertain what to do. Then into my mind came a memory of a sign saying ‘medical tent’ that I had seen as I wandered about the game stalls and burger vans. I blurted out its direction and someone ran to fetch the ambulance men who were there in case one of the caber tossers or bike racers hurt themselves. One ambulance man gave the driver the kiss of life but his kiss did not work and the driver died right there on the bus. A final rattle in his throat recalling to me the sound of a reed loose in a chanter and I wished I hadn’t thought it.

I never played with the pipe band again. I blamed myself for not remembering about the medical tent sooner. For years I could not listen to pipe music without a feeling of loss. I realise now that we all just do what we can. If I had a child I’d tell her that some things just happen. Sometimes old men die of heart attacks, and pipe music is full of laments.