.When Dalrymple came into the room for the first time I saw him
shorter and some ways thinner than I was, but not much. I noticed he was fond
of continual gestures with his hands. He had bold ginger hair that made him
almost Technicolor. My family had some red hair and my uncle how fought
at Monti Casino was similar to Dalrymple, so I was far from a stranger to
ginger locks. What surprised me much more than his stature was his consistent
use of profanities or to speak plainly, swearing profusely. In fact, at
least every second word seemed to be an effective cuss that came out of
determined ginger Dalrymple . He was master at this linguistic art and did so
naturally, he could have been born to it.
Someone remarked he was sure he dropped in a French profanity
every so many words. This made me wonder if he was multi linguistic and liked
to show off occasionally. But the best theory was his natural ability to swear
without rhyming a word and minus any French. His likeliest words were in a
stream of intermittent curses that came out if his mouth matching a Morse code
message. He had this technique of emphasising the words to such a good effect
they painted the picture perfectly.
What happened next was completely unexpected. Dalrymple arrived in
the room and stood between the beds and began to speak and did not swear. It
was so different we couldn’t understand a word he was saying. We waited for a
profanity that was as sure as three comes after two. But this didn’t happen and
we were forced to ask what the problem was. He told us solemnly and not without
some sign of regret, he was finished with bad language for keeps. We did not
swallow this easily and waited for an eventual slip up. It did not come and
Dalrymple became normal and may I say a little boring.
One late afternoon Dalrymple came into the room more dynamic that
he had recently been. He looked as if he was about to lecture us on the evils
drinking. Instead he began a torrid of bad language our ears picked up as quite
pleasant. He swore he would never stop fucking swearing again and to prove it
he swore for a minute or two. I was sure I heard a French word or two.
Dalrymple was back and sounded great.
A door opened in my life when I saw a picture of Dalrymple
recently and memories flew in. I could hear his pleasantries resound down the
paths of time, uncensored and humorous. Such things are priceless.
Andy Anderson. 2 Troop.
I have been lucky, with a good attentive wife and am a proud
Grandfather of nine children, all good looking. More the merrier I say
for children are after all our future. 20015.