Chapter 31

Trouble erupted over the next few days as practical issues raised their head. No one had thought through the detail of what the legal position was in terms of the civil servants who were keeping Scotland running. Scottish farmers relied heavily on grants that they received from the Scottish Government. It just so happened that September was the normal time for Scottish ministers to authorise these payments, but every minister was in custody in England.

The civil service in Scotland also had an executive role in managing the National Health Service and they suddenly found themselves without anyone to sign-off on new policies.

The various police forces across Scotland (of which there are eight) were still being co-ordinated by the council of chief constables, but that group found themselves in something of a dilemma. There was general agreement that what the UK Prime Minister had done was illegal, but the group was out of ideas on what they could do about it.

Their sources were telling them that more changes were in the pipeline – with further budget reductions likely to be imposed by Westminster once legislation was passed to take back control.

The chief constables did all that they could to maintain order, but that was becoming more difficult as the size and nature of the public demonstrations was beginning to change.

The full extent of what the Westminster Government was planning was becoming clear to people and all they could see was harder times ahead. There had been food shortages and power cuts over the previous winter and all the signs were that the winter of 2012-13 was going to be even tougher. The mood of the people was growing more and more angry.

Things would undoubtedly have turned violent but for a dramatic twist of events. It was late on Thursday 27 September and Donnie had gone round to spend some time with his parents. As always, his father was sitting watching the TV news, so Donnie made himself a cup of coffee and decided to keep him company.

"What's happening in the world, Dad?" he asked, taking a seat.

"They're going live to the Houses of Parliament for the vote on the emergency legislation to dissolve the Scotland Act," Douglas answered bitterly.

Donnie could tell that his father was no happier about recent events than he was.

"I still can't believe the rest of the western world is just standing by and letting them do this," said Donnie. "I thought places like the US held democracy more dearly than they seem to."

The images on the TV showed the Prime Minister inside the chamber of the lower house. He was at the dispatch box, making a final contribution to the debate on the legislation.

... there can be no doubt that it is time to put an end to this dangerous folly that is called devolution. We must take back the responsibility for governing all aspects of our country again. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland need strong and steady hands to guide them through these difficult economic times. That's why it is right to support this Bill and I commend it to the House.

The Prime Minister sat down on the green leather front bench and a cacophony of voices erupted as all of the assembled Members of Parliament tried to speak at once. The Speaker was banging his gavel, trying to restore order, but was having real difficulty.

Donnie and his father heard a voice-over speaking over the rabble in the chamber.

"So that marks the end of a particularly bad-tempered debate, a debate which has run for over four hours now. Once the speaker manages to restore order he will call for the division – or the vote. The MPs will leave the chamber and file into one of two lobbies. If they're supporting the government they will go to the one on the left side and if they oppose the Bill, they will go to the one on the right.

"And you can see that the chamber is emptying even as I speak. Normally it takes five or six minutes to complete the count and then the tellers – two from each side – will approach the bench and pass a piece of paper with the result to the Speaker.

"Remember, the convention is that the result is given in terms of the 'Ayes' and the 'Nos'. The 'Ayes' will be the number of MPs who have voted to support the government. An MP can abstain by entering both lobbies to vote both 'Aye' and 'No'

"The chamber is starting to fill up again now, so I don't think we'll have to wait very much longer to hear the result. Yes, there are the four tellers lining up to approach the Speaker. Let's listen to the Speaker give the figures."

Donnie actually felt physically sick as he watched Westminster basically overrule the referendum vote for independence. He hadn't realised that the UK Government was also taking back power from Wales and Northern Ireland and he wondered how the people in those countries felt.

"This is ridiculous," he said, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice.

Douglas nodded silently in agreement.

On the TV, the four tellers approached the bench. The camera was behind them and the figure on the right of the group walked forward to hand a piece of paper to the Speaker of the House.

"Order! Order! Order! The 'Ayes' to my right – two hundred and thirty two. The 'Nos' to my left – three hundred and twelve. There were seventy three abstentions and thirty three Honourable Members did not vote. I declare that the 'Nos' have it."

On the TV there was once again bedlam in the House of Commons, but now of a different variety as the government had been defeated in the vote.

Donnie leapt up from his seat and punched the air.

"YEEESSSSSSS!" he screamed.

"What?" asked a surprised Douglas. "What's happening?"

Mairi hurried into the room to find out why Donnie had shouted.

"Cameron has lost the vote!" Donnie cried. "He's lost the vote!"

Mairi and Douglas were both looking a little bewildered at Donnie's antics. He was still dancing round the room with his hands up in the air.

"Will you calm down, son, and explain what's happening. Some of us don't have a degree in politics," said Douglas.

Donnie managed to control himself and he retook his seat in front of the TV. His mother and father were looking at him expectantly.

"The coalition government has a majority of over eighty in the House of Commons," he began to explain. "Normally they would win an important vote very easily, but they only managed to get two hundred and thirty two. That means that an awful lot of their own supporters must have voted against them. They were defeated by eighty votes! That's a huge rebellion!"

"You mean they can't take the power back to Westminster?" asked Douglas.

"No, they've lost the vote so the Scotland Act remains in force!" Donnie confirmed gleefully.

Donnie caught the commentator on the TV use another phrase that got him even more excited and he focused on the programme again.

" ... rumours are circulating here at Westminster that the Scottish National Party has already tabled a motion of no confidence in the government. If true, this is a dramatic step. The last no confidence motion at Westminster was also initiated by the SNP, in March 1979.

"That motion was also associated with the Scotland Act. When the Labour government refused to pass the Scotland Act into law in March 1979, the SNP joined with the Liberals and tabled a no confidence motion. Margaret Thatcher then tabled a similar motion on behalf of the official opposition and James Callaghan's government was defeated."

"What does that mean?" Douglas asked.

"It sounds as if the SNP members are out to topple the UK Government," Donnie answered.

"But I thought they had all been arrested?" asked a confused Mairi.

"No, Mom. Only the Members of the Scottish parliament were arrested," Donnie explained again. "The SNP also have MPs at Westminster and that's who's behind this."

"But what does it mean?" Douglas asked again.

"Basically the motion will be subject to a debate in the House of Commons and then there will be a vote on it – a vote just like tonight's vote. If the government loses the vote, it has to call an election."

"But that's good, isn't it?" asked Mairi.

Donnie leapt up and hugged his mother.

"It's brilliant!" he agreed.

The next day's media coverage was all about the lost vote and the no confidence motion tabled by the SNP. In keeping with convention, the official opposition would have precedence if they decided to follow suit and it was likely that the Labour party would do so. Parliamentary business meant that it could be a few weeks before the motion was debated though.

In complete disarray following the rebellion in the vote the night before however, the ruling coalition was reported to be falling apart. Without the support of the Lib Dems, the Conservative Party was twenty one seats short of a majority in the parliament. Political commentators were already forecasting the fall of the government.

Donnie had the TV on in the kitchen and was making final preparations for Katie returning home. She had sent a text to tell him that he didn't need to drive to Bridge-of-Allan to pick her up and Donnie guessed that mean that Amira must have a car. His own planning involved preparing a meal for five and he was going to use produce from Ardbrecknish for that.

It was perhaps fortunate that the dramatic political news was something of a diversion; otherwise Donnie might have been worrying throughout the day about what he faced when the girls were all together.

His father helped by giving Donnie a list of all the available fresh produce they now had. Donnie was staggered at the variety of it all. He wondered about the wisdom of diversifying so much, but assumed that his father, an experience farmer, would have considered that.

Donnie made his choices for the meal.

"I'm thinking of a theme for the meal," he explained to his father. "I thought I would go Mexican – I just feel in the mood for spicy food. I see that you have just about everything that I'll need apart from cilanthro, but coriander will do just as well. The tricky part is going to be finding some masa but I'm going out later and I hope I can find it."

Donnie gave his father a list of the things he needed and Douglas promised to have it delivered in the afternoon. Donnie himself had to make a quick trip into Glasgow to find the nixtamalised corn flour he would need and a deep-fat fryer for some of the dishes he was going to prepare.

The afternoon was taken up with preparing the picadillo and other savoury fillings for tamales, gordita, burritos, enchiladas, and tacos. Donnie planned this to be a meal mainly eaten by hand - he liked the implied intimacy that came with that. The main exception would be his centre piece - Pollo Encacahautado - which was a creamy chicken dish flavoured with onion, garlic, tomatoes, chilli and thickened with unsalted peanuts.

There were side dishes of various salsas, guacamole, salads and soured cream. There was rice and fried beans to prepare too.

Time flew by given how busy he was and Donnie was actually surprised when he heard Katie's voice calling his name.

"Donnie? Donnie? Where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen," he called his answer.

Katie wandered into the room to find Donnie surrounded by an incredible array of food. She saw that his hands, shirt-front and trousers were dusted with flour.

"My word!" she exclaimed. "What are you making?"

"I thought we could have some Mexican food," Donnie explained.

Katie was already tasting some of the mouth-watering dishes.

"Oh gosh! That's hot!" she squealed. "I think we girls are going to be hot enough without all this chilli! Do you have a death wish or something?"

Donnie blushed. He hadn't thought of the connotations of making so much hot and spicy food. Katie saw the blush and she laughed.

"You are just too easy sometimes! Come on, wash your hands and come and get re-acquainted with Amira," she said. "I know you've met already – albeit briefly – but you have to admit that the circumstances were ... difficult."

Donnie did as she suggested and even tried to brush the worst of the flour from his front. Katie led the way through to the huge lounge and there was Amira waiting patiently to meet him.

"Um, hi," said Donnie, offering the exotic girl his hand.

Amira ignored the hand and stepped forward to hug him tightly.

"Thank you," she said in a deep sensuous voice.

Donnie could feel her moulding her body to his and he knew it was going to be a long and difficult evening.

"Ahem, I'm not sure what you're thanking me for," he managed to get out, "but whatever it is, it was my pleasure."

"The 'thank you' is for appearing out of nowhere and giving me the chance to avenge my family and to survive. The 'thank you' is also for last night and the nights to come," said Amira.

Looking over her head, Donnie could see that Katie was finding all this highly amusing.

"I'll let Katie get you settled-in," he said. "I need to get back into the kitchen and finish making the food. It's really good to see you and I'm sorry for your loss."

Amira looked up at him and Donnie almost lost himself in her big brown eyes. Her kiss snapped him out of it and he tasted her for the first time. Pulling away from him, Amira smiled.

"You are so sweet," she said.

Katie giggled as she grabbed the other girl's arm and dragged her from the room.

"Come on," she said. "Let's look in my wardrobe and see if we can find something you like."

Back in the kitchen making final preparations, Donnie heard Vivien and Lizzie arrive, followed by shrieks of delight as the girls shared something together in the lounge. He just had time to rush upstairs for a quick shower himself and he changed clothes before heading back downstairs.

Donnie decided that Katie could help him carry the food through from the kitchen, so he stepped into the lounge to ask her.

"Katie could you..."

His words tapered off as he took in the sight of the girls together. They were breath-taking.

Katie wore a deep green dress that accentuated her red hair and complemented her green eyes. The dress was tight and left little to the imagination as to the 34-24-34 figure that was underneath it.

Amira had changed into a figure-hugging black dress that made the most of her hair, eyes and skin colour. Donnie could see a smouldering look in the brown eyes that were once again highlighted by the thick, black, eye-liner.

Lizzie's brown hair was tied back in a pony-tail, which drew attention to her graceful neck and bare shoulders. If Amira's eyes were smouldering, Lizzie's blue eyes showed an intensity that would have been frightening if Donnie hadn't been connected to his gifts. The strapless top she wore sculpted itself to her breasts and her trousers looked painted on.

Last but not least was his little nightingale, Vivien. Gone was the innocent, vulnerable schoolgirl and in her place there was a sultry brunette whose expression exuded lust. Vivien was wearing a white shirt that tied under her breasts and left her midriff bare. She had on black satin hot-pants that hugged her ass like a second skin. Her blue eyes were fixed on him in an almost predatory look and as he watched, she licked her lips as if in anticipation of what was to come.

"Did you want me for something?" Katie giggled at his 'rabbit in the headlights' look.

The other girls giggled too at the obvious effect they were having on him.

"He is just too cute!" observed Lizzie.

"Not cute, more buff," Vivien disagreed.

"Strong, strong and protective," said Amira.

"When you've all finished drooling over my husband, perhaps we could help him serve the food he has been slaving over all day?" laughed Katie.

Donnie found his services were no longer required as far as the food was concerned. All of the various dishes were transported to the large dining table in short order and the girls also found the chilled juices, Mexican Sol beer and white wine he had bought.

Donnie relaxed as the meal progressed and he saw just how comfortable all of the girls were with each other. It almost seemed as if they had been together for years and they anticipated each other's needs.

The food proved to be a huge success and his idea of mainly eating without cutlery also had the desired effect of emphasising that this was something being 'shared'.