‘Shuggie Bain’ By Douglas Stuart

Hugh ‘Shuggie’ Bain (Jnr.) grows up with his alcoholic mother, Agnes; on a ‘scheme’ (or project) of tenement housing, among the remnants of mining families who with the closing of the mine no longer have wages coming in the hold them together. They have been abandoned there (along with Shuggie’s half-brother, Leek, and half-sister, Caff) by his taxicab driving father ‘Big Shug’ — who for some reason got them to move there under the ruse of a ‘new start’ (away from Agnes’ parents, Lizzie and Wullie, who’s flat they had all been sharing) before immediately getting back inside his taxi and driving off to live with his mistress, Joannie. Agnes had previously been ‘the other woman’ herself. She left her first husband, Catherine and Alexander’s father, for Shug with whom she’d been having an affair consisting of torrid sex in his cab, before pushing her claim and insisting on something more. They do often say a leopard doesn’t change it’s spots, and Big Shug in this respect seems extremely spotty. Of course, Agnes isn’t really any better,  <a href="https://medium.com/counterarts/shuggie-bain-by-douglas-stuart-d3e872be4a13">Visit Now</a>