Alex and his twin sister were raised by their paternal grandparents. His maternal grandfather, whose own father died before he could marry his mother, was a careful man. An exceptional carpenter and man of many skills, Alex’s maternal grandfather—who he refers to as “grandfather”—built his own home and raised one child; his wife died during childbirth. This child was Alex’s mother. Both Alex’s maternal grandfather and his paternal grandparents are distantly related, part of clann Chalum Ruaidh.

The maternal grandfather groomed the paternal grandfather for a job in a newly constructed hospital, helping him to settle in the town rather than the country. The maternal grandfather—whom Alex refers to as “Grandpa”—produced nine living children, and the small wages from his hospital job allowed the family to live in relative comfort. 

Alex confesses that he thinks of his grandparents often. He can detect their presence in certain gestures and memories. In their later years, they talked almost entirely in Gaelic. One year, Alex remembers, Grandpa stopped in a tavern on Christmas Eve, having gone out to buy presents. When he finally arrives home, Grandpa drunkenly unpacks a taxi’s worth of presents and then passes out. Grandma, mulling over what to do, begins to decorate Grandpa’s unconscious body with leftover Christmas ornaments.