THE KILLING TIME

  May 11th, 2024, I find myself in Wigtown Parish Church. I’m not a regular churchgoer, by any means. I sit towards the back, trying to be inconspicuous. My friend Donna, who knows these stories better than anyone, and who has kept them alive with her faith and her many kindnesses, looks out to the congregation and speaks from her heart. “Today I’m going to do something unusual… would all those who are related to the two women, Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan, or the three men - William Johnston, George Walker and John Milroy – stand or make themselves known to the congregation…”     I stood, and found myself choking back tears. A line of heads, some known to me, some I would make myself known to soon, were dotted throughout the rows in front of me. Heads of grey or white hair for the most part, and not many, but we were there. There is a service and commemoration ceremony, every year now on May 11th. Their stories would go on. Their lives were celebrated, fol...