Work in Progress: Study of a Mad Golfer's Daughter

Inspired by Andrea Churchill's Work in Progress: Study of a Mad Golfer. Both the idea AND the title character belong to her. Although I don't own Bessie, I love the character, and I'm honored to come up with this story for her. UGH! Do I HAVE to go up to 100? I'm not sure if I can, or WILL do anything of the sort, I'll do my very best, and I promise that I will actually finish this, whether or not I write 100 "chapters."

Although Andrea gave hers the highest rating, I'm only giving mine a T rating, and I'll do my best to make sure there's nothing "too mature" in here. If there is, PLEASE don't be afraid to tell me.

And one more thing. I don't own Bess or Duff Killigan. They all belong to Andrea and Disney. So anyways, happy reading lads n' lassies!

Selkie

The love story of her parents as imagined by wee Bessie Killigan

There once lived a man named Duff Killigan who lived by himself in a castle on an island. Though he never liked to admit it, he felt lonely in that giant castle. He had no one to play golf with or enjoy a good chat with. What he wanted most was a mate of any sort to call his own.

But one night as he was playing a round of golf outside, he saw a group of seals come from the sea to his island shore. But these seals were no ordinary seals. As they took off their skins, the seals transformed into beautiful women. Duff was amazed by what he saw and quietly walked towards them to get a closer look. As beautiful as the selkie women were, there was one in particular that caught his eye: the one with long black hair and eyes as blue as the sea. Duff knew he must have that selkie woman for himself, but he also knew that she would never marry him unless he had her seal skin, so he quickly searched the shore for one of the seal skins and snatched it. As the night ended, the selkies put on their seal skins and returned back to the water. That is, except for the woman with black hair and sea blue eyes. She desperately searched all over the island for her missing seal skin until Duff approached her with the skin in his hand.

"I hae yer skin, bonnie maiden," he said. "And now ye must become meh wife."

The selkie woman knew she had no choice and knelt before her suitor.

"Yes," she said with her head low. "I will do as you wish and marry you."

Duff and his new selkie wife were married soon after, and it wasn't long until they had a wee baby named Bessie. Duff felt he couldn't be happier since he was not lonely anymore, but he knew deep down that his selkie wife didn't feel the same way. He would often see the sadness in her eyes whenever she looked out to the ocean. He also knew that if she had her seal skin, she would leave him and their child forever, so he hid her seal skin deep in the castle so that his wife would never find it.

But one day as the selkie wife was walking alone in the castle, she stumbled across an old abandoned room that looked as though it had not been cleaned in ages. She decided to take time to clean it, and in the process she found her seal skin. Feeling a sense of joy and freedom, she dashed out from the castle to the seashore and immediately put on her skin. Duff, who was playing golf outside, saw his wife take her seal form and dive into the water. He rushed out to her as fast as he could, but his selkie wife was long gone before he even reached the shore.

Duff was completely and utterly devastated by his wife's departure. He was so devastated that he refused to talk about her or her sudden disappearance with anyone. Even though his wife left him, she didn't take their child with her, so he wouldn't feel completely alone. However, he began to fear that his daughter would also attempt to run off, so he kept Bessie in the castle and forbade her to step outside. But by being trapped inside, she felt just as lonely as Duff once did. With him constantly leaving for long work trips, Bessie longed for someone, anyone to keep her company—someone to play with, be her friend, and make her feel safe. But once in a while, whenever Bessie looked out her bedroom window, she would see a seal gaze up at her from the castle shore—and for a wee moment she wouldn't feel as lonely.

I am so sorry that I haven't put up a new chapter in so long. I don't even know if anyone has been waiting for a new chapter to come up, but I'm at least happy that I finally have one posted. This was an idea I thought up when learning about the Scottish lore of the selkie. I thought it would be fun to have young Bessie make up a story to explain her mother's absence by making her a selkie, even if the idea is implausible in this universe. (Although to be honest I kind of wish it wasn't…) But this chapter is short and sweet, and while I do lead a busy life nowadays, I PROMISE it won't take me years to post a new chapter.