Act one
The play opens with 11-year-old Alec recalling the death of his mother. His recollections are interspersed with the words of Davie, his father, bluntly telling him the news. Alec recalls the untidy home, the funeral and the point where father and son were left to continue with their lives alone.
Alec is then seen with his cousin, Ian. Alec has found a model yacht that had been put out of sight in the glory hole - an untidy cupboard full of random things. The yacht needs a mast and sails. Alec is keen to ask his father, a sailmaker by trade, to repair it.
However, it is clear from the boys’ dialogue that Davie is no longer working as a sailmaker but as a tick man
, collecting money owed. Alec and Ian display their imagination in a variety of adventure games. They discuss their cousin, Jacky, who has emigrated to America and sends them comics.
Life for Davie and Alec is hard and Davie is struggling to cope, as Alec reveals when he says He’s no very good at cooking
and that they regularly have fish suppers. The boys then discuss their interest in Rangers and music, and Alec mentions that he thinks he saw the Virgin Mary not long after finding a holy medal.
Alec is concerned when his dad comes home after being in the pub. Davie is struggling to collect money from his customers and is also finding it difficult to deal with his grief. They discuss Davie’s trade as a sailmaker and he explains the decline in skilled industry meant the factory closed. He promises Alec he will repair the model yacht before asking him to place a bet with the bookie. Alec is reluctant to do this as he finds the bookie creepy.
Davie is seen with his brother, Billy, from whom he has borrowed money. When Billy quizzes Davie about his inability to pay him back, he discovers Davie is in a lot of debt to the bookie through illegal gambling.
He is sympathetic up to a point and implies he will threaten the bookie to leave Davie alone. The dialogue also makes it clear that Davie is continuing to struggle with his grief following his wife's death.
Davie has not yet repaired Alec's yacht. In contrast, Billy offers to paint it for Alec and they discuss colours. Ian and Alec are then seen making bows and arrows, and Ian is a patient teacher, revealing his skills in practical work. Billy returns after a few days having painted the yacht. This is in contrast to Davie who has still not made the sail. Billy's bigotry is apparent when discussing colours. Davie, however, is more of a thinker and does not make such judgements.
Despite Billy's promise that he will take care of the situation with the bookie, Davie is beaten up and robbed which leads to him losing his job. He puts on a brave face when he shares this news with Alec, but the Act ends on this note of pessimism.
