The Lingerie Castle | Markee Anderson

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Story Behind The Story: The Lingerie Castle

This is a tough story to tell, because it hits on all emotional levels for me. My oldest sister was a PhD student of Anthropology in New Jersey, back in the early 80s. She went to the tiny fishing village of Pittenweem, Scotland, just south of Aberdeen, with nothing to her name, pretty much. She had no place to stay, and ended up on someone's doorstep because the mayor of the town didn't get her letter so they'd know she was coming. The people of the town took her in as one of their own, found her a flat, and she stayed there for a long time (I forget how long, but it was a long time to me). I'd talk to her on the public phone, and ask about her travels. It amazed me at how at home she felt there, so accepted and so loved by strangers.

When she came home, she had the most wonderful stories to tell us about the people of Scotland. They were like family to her, so kind, yet down-to-earth. It seemed as if they'd given her a purpose for her life because she came home a different person than when she'd left.

My sister couldn't get a job in Anthropology, but did become a high school history teacher. Her students loved and respected her. She turned around so many lives, telling them they were stronger than they thought they were and to actually do something with their lives that meant something. She stopped kids from dropping out of school, encouraging them to go to college. She saved a lot of lives by just talking to the kids just like the people in Scotland had spoken to her...like family.

In 2004, my sister died of uterine cancer, wrapped in my grandmother's quilt on my grandmother's birthday. The students at her school were devastated (as was my family), and still talk about her today. They credit her with their success, because she made them work, yet truly cared about each of them.

I wanted to remember the wonderful people of Scotland and how they'd taken my sister in, giving her a purpose in her life. So, I concocted a story about a wonderful Scottish celebrity who spoke to a young woman on a plane, heading to Scotland to get a contract for her brother. At first, the celebrity wasn't nice, but there was a method to his madness. As the story unfolds, not only did the woman connect with the celebrity, but also with his entire family.

This story was in tribute to the wonderful people of the tiny fishing village of Pittenweem, to thank them for taking in my sister, so many years ago, and treating her like family in a place so far away from home for her. Some day, I'd love to go to Scotland, myself, and visit the tiny town, just to get that same feeling of family my sister enjoyed while there. Thank you, all residents of Pittenweem and of Scotland. You're an incredible people, with common sense and an amazing history.

Read the first chapter here.

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