Rosie

by Lesley Pearse

  ‘Which one of you is Smith?’ she asked. As usual the smell was appalling, the noise deafening and Maureen had turned from white to green. Rosie introduced herself.

  ‘Right,’ Clegg said with a broad smile. ‘Now I believe you are familiar with this ward, so we’ll start the bathing together. Jackson, you can tag along, an extra pair of hands is always useful. Can either of you tell me if that Coates woman is usually so sullen. I can’t get a word out of her.’

  Rosie explained that she always cleaned the rooms on her own, and that she was a woman of few words. She took down a rubber apron and gave one to Maureen.

  ‘Come on, perk up,’ she said. She didn’t know why Maureen was looking so green, it wasn’t as if she’d never been on this floor before. ‘It won’t be so bad without Aylwood or Saunders. And the smell does go once the patients are clean.’

  After the terrible sights of the past week, Rosie felt heartened to see a nurse go into action who combined strength with compassion and a sense of humour. She marched into Monica’s cell with as much bravado as Aylwood, but she didn’t wince at the mess, and as she bent down to help the cowering woman up from the floor, she spoke gently as if Monica was a small child.

  ‘Well you are in a fine mess,’ she said. ‘Ups-a-daisy, and into a nice warm shower. We’ll soon have you all cosy again.’

  It was necessary for Clegg to restrain Monica as Rosie washed her, but unlike Saunders she kept up a flow of gentle chat, and as the warm water soothed the patient, she slowly loosened her grip while still watching closely.

  ‘There’s some nasty bruises you’ve got,’ she said as she came from behind the partition to towel the woman dry. She stroked her arm in sympathy, tutting over the marks. ‘You won’t be getting any more of those, my love, don’t you worry now.’

  If Monica understood what was said to her she showed no sign of it, but for once she willingly allowed herself to be put back into a clean shift and she didn’t struggle as they took her back to a clean room.

  The same thing was repeated with each patient and those who weren’t dirty were allowed to use the lavatory, with the door half closed to give them some privacy.

  Clegg spoke to each patient, explaining that the kinder treatment they were getting today was going to be normal procedure from now on. Like Monica, none of them appeared to be taking in what she was saying, but they were all much more docile than usual. Perhaps it was just because Clegg was a stranger, but Rosie wanted to believe it was because they were soothed by her gentle tone of voice and the lack of aggression.

  Miss Pemberton arrived just as they were about to bring Angela out for her shower. Angela’s eyes were full of anger, and she was fighting mad, trying to claw at both Clegg and Rosie; her linen shift was soaked in blood and for a moment Rosie thought it was an injury.

  ‘Now, now,’ Clegg said soothingly, grabbing the woman’s arms firmly behind her back. ‘So you’ve got the curse and you feel nasty, but there’s no need for that rough stuff, you’ve got friends here this morning.’

  Usually Angela washed herself, but today she stood under the jet of water glowering and muttering, refusing to co-operate. There was a vivid red bite mark on her breast that hadn’t been there the day before. Rosie guessed that Saunders had made another nocturnal visit last night and she wondered if she should say something? She wondered too where he and Aylwood were. Had Mr Brace-Coombes rounded up all the real offenders together somewhere downstairs?

  Miss Pemberton took over from Clegg and with Rosie’s help washed and dried Angela, put a clean shift on her and a sanitary towel. As they led Angela back to her room, she began to cry and clutched at her stomach.

  Miss Pemberton astounded Rosie. She put both her arms around Angela and held her firmly against her shoulder for a few moments, talking soothingly in her ear as if she had no idea of the patient’s formidable reputation.

  ‘You are quite safe now, my dear,’ she said. ‘He’ll never come near you again, I promise you. Doctor will be in to see you soon and he’ll give you something for your tummy ache. Now why don’t you lie down for a while and rest until breakfast?’

  Miss Pemberton ordered that the mattresses were to be left in the rooms with a clean sheet on them. She insisted that the small windows were to be opened as wide as possible and that during the day each patient was to be brought out on a rota basis and given the opportunity to walk up and down the corridor and use the lavatory.

  Rosie was cheered by this; Maureen looked even more anxious than before.

  ‘It’s doubtful that we’ll get any response for several days,’ Miss Pemberton warned them. ‘I dare say they may become even more aggressive until they get used to it. If you keep people locked up like animals, they begin to behave that way and they resent change. But we must try. Almost all of them have atrophy in their limbs and we must fight this with nourishment and exercise.’

  It wasn’t until after eleven that morning that Rosie had time to consider what was going to happen next. Miss Pemberton had been rushing in and out, checking on everything from files in the office to patients’ charts and the food brought up for them. She’d been in attendance as a new doctor made his rounds and she still hadn’t taken Rosie aside for a private word. Apart from a secret smirk here and there she had barely acknowledged her presence.

  Clegg was a ball of fire too, unlocking cupboards, checking drawers and files. And in between this she was writing a list of suggestions which included a chair for each of the patients, issuing them with proper day clothes and opening the closed-off room at the end of the corridor as a day room where they could socialize now and then if they were up to it. She was scandalized by the lack of fluids offered to the patients. She could hardly believe Rosie when she said that they had only one cup of tea after each meal, with no offer of water even during the hottest days. She dug out one of several large tins of biscuits from a cupboard and said they were to have them with tea for elevenses, just like the staff, which would be made up here, and ordered Maureen down to the kitchen to bring up mugs.

  It was in this lull with Maureen out of the way and with Clegg busy at the far end of the corridor that Rosie approached Miss Pemberton who was in the office looking at some patients’ notes.

  ‘I know you are busy,’ she said hesitantly from the doorway, ‘but have you got a moment to tell me what’s going on?’

  ‘My dear,’ Miss Pemberton looked up and smiled at her. ‘What a little nest of vipers you’ve uncovered for us, and how remiss of me not to take the time out to thank you.’

  ‘I didn’t expect thanks,’ Rosie said. ‘I just feel awkward. The girls all know it’s me who’s been telling tales. I dread to think that it will be like at dinner time.’

  ‘You needn’t worry about that. I’ll have your lunch and Jackson’s sent up. In fact I am hoping that by mid-afternoon we’ll have some reinforcements arriving, and that we could pop out somewhere in the fresh air for a real talk. Now, can you wait that long?’

  Rosie smiled. She wasn’t used to being spoken to so civilly. ‘Yes, of course I can,’ she said. ‘It’s nice having you here, and Sister Clegg is so very different from Aylwood.’

  ‘I should think she is,’ Miss Pemberton chuckled, her grey eyes sparkling. ‘We were together in the Q A s. But as she once said to me during the war, “Remember, Pembers, walls have ears, even potatoes have eyes!” So we’ll have our little chat later. I’ve got an interesting proposition to put to you, aside from passing on all the news.’

  Maureen came back from the kitchens with snippets of gossip, which she related to Rosie as they made tea together. Rosie found it pitiable that this girl who had been so very spiteful was now trying to creep round her. But Rosie was only human and she was as anxious to hear the news as anyone, so she put aside her personal views on the girl and listened avidly.

  It seemed there were another two new nurses on the first floor, ordering the girls about and making alterations to just about everything. Mr Brace-Coombes and two other gentlemen
were in Matron’s flat, and Aylwood and Saunders had been in there too for at least some of the time. Pat Clack had passed on this information, and she seemed to think Saunders had been taken away by the police at about ten o’clock. She wasn’t sure where Aylwood was, but Simmonds had reported that her room had first been searched and now one of the domestics was packing her belongings.

  ‘I wish they’d tell us all what’s going to happen next,’ Maureen said. She still looked grey with worry. ‘Do you think we’ll all get the sack?’

  ‘I shouldn’t think so for one minute,’ Rosie reassured her. ‘Who’d look after the patients? Besides you haven’t done anything wrong, have you?’

  Maureen didn’t reply directly to this, just said she was taking Clegg her tea. Rosie was alone in the kitchen and her mind turned to her arranged date with Gareth.

  Under these extreme circumstances she felt very guilty being so concerned about a boy she’d only been out with once, rather than thinking about the patients and the other staff, but yet she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Would Miss Pemberton expect her to stay in this evening? Suppose she had plans to take her back with her to Somerset? How would she let Gareth know, and when would she see him again?

  Miss Pemberton didn’t come back on the ward after lunch until nearly three and Rosie noticed that she seemed to have lost all the energy and fire she’d had earlier in the day. She went into the office with Clegg and shut the door behind her. Rosie wondered if something more had happened downstairs.

  It was a beautiful day outside, hot and sunny, but up on the second floor there didn’t seem to be a breath of air. The patients were quiet, just a few moans from old Mabel to remind them she was there. Clegg had put an armchair in her room in an attempt to make her more comfortable. It was taken from the downstairs day room, with tubular steel arms, and cushions covered in a waterproof material. Each time Rosie looked through the viewing window Mabel was just sitting hunched up on the bed, looking at the chair. It was a very sad sight. It would take a great deal of kindness and patience before any of the people on this floor began to respond to a new regime.

  Rosie was almost on the point of dropping off to sleep in her chair in the corridor when Miss Pemberton came out of the office and beckoned to her.

  ‘We’ll go out for our chat now,’ she said, but her smile was weak and her eyes looked tired. ‘Jackson can take over. Where is she?’

  Maureen heard her name mentioned and came scuttling out of the staff room bringing with her the smell of cigarettes and looking very guilty.

  Just walking down the stairs felt heavenly after the stuffiness of the second floor; the windows were open wide and a soft breeze brought in the scent of newly mown hay from the field beyond the garden.

  Miss Pemberton didn’t speak until they’d reached the garden and sat down on a bench under the shade of a tree. ‘I’m sorry, Rosie, that I couldn’t find time to speak to you earlier,’ she said. ‘It’s been an interminable, very upsetting day.’

  Rosie made some sympathetic remarks about the heat, the strangeness of it all, and how early Miss Pemberton must have got up today. Then, unable to wait any longer, she asked point-blank what was happening.

  ‘After the findings in our early morning check today in which we found no staff on duty and neglect to all the patients on the second floor, Mr Brace-Coombes and a business colleague went through the accounts and the drug cupboard,’ Miss Pemberton said in a crisp, dry voice, looking straight ahead of her rather than at Rosie. ‘It seems your suspicions were correct, Rosie. Along with a failure to maintain a proper standard of care and abusing her privileges, Barnes is also guilty of fraud and misappropriation of funds.’

  ‘And Saunders and Aylwood?’ Rosie asked, a little dismayed by the older woman’s dull tone and lack of enthusiasm.

  ‘Aylwood was given instant dismissal. It is my recommendation that a full report should be sent to the nursing board and that she should be struck off the register. As for Saunders, that despicable creature,’ she winced as if she could barely bring herself to say his name, ‘he has been taken to the police station for questioning. It seems he was observed by a police officer entering and leaving late last night, just as you claimed you’d seen him do on previous occasions.’

  ‘But what will happen to him and Matron?’ Rosie asked.

  When Miss Pemberton didn’t answer immediately, Rosie got the idea she was angry about something.

  ‘Freda Barnes – I refuse to honour her any longer with a nursing title – has been sent away,’ she finally blurted out. ‘Whether criminal charges are laid against her or not is up to Mr Brace-Coombes. He hasn’t seen fit to discuss his plans with me as yet. As for Saunders, we have to leave that in the hands of the police. Rape is a difficult enough charge to prove with a woman prepared to testify against him. I’d say it was well-nigh impossible with someone insane.’

  Rosie was just about to open her mouth to remind the older woman that she had witnessed him raping Angela, but all at once she realized exactly why Miss Pemberton was angry. She had stormed in here this morning like an avenging angel, found it to be every bit as bad as Rosie had said, and perhaps discovered even more disturbing things. But now instead of seeing the guilty get their just deserts, it seemed as if they were going to get away with it.

  ‘You’re angry,’ she said in a small voice. ‘Does it have something to do with me? Did Matron tell everyone who I am? Is that the reason they’re all going to get away with it? Because no one would believe me?’

  Miss Pemberton turned in her seat to look at Rosie, ashamed that she hadn’t been able to summon up enough energy to feign jubilation at the day’s events, or even make up a few white lies.

  If Rosie gave evidence against Saunders, he would almost certainly get a long prison sentence, but what would that mean to her? Defence lawyers digging up her family history in cross-examination, a chance of a new happy life vanishing out of the window. Violet wanted that man nailed, and Barnes too, but not at the expense of a kid with a noble spirit who cared enough for the weak and needy to stick her neck out.

  Saunders would surface somewhere else. His sort always did. She just hoped the police would keep track of him. As for Barnes, maybe disgrace would be enough punishment, though she personally thought the woman deserved horse-whipping and prison too.

  ‘I’m not angry,’ Miss Pemberton lied. ‘I’m just tired. I suppose I’ve just burned myself out today. Barnes did bring the question of your father up, but only to me and I silenced her rather thoroughly. There was no question of anyone not believing you, either; everyone had the utmost admiration for your part in it all. Perhaps Barnes won’t go to prison where she belongs, Rosie, but she certainly won’t get a position of authority again and she’ll never be able to hurt you.’

  ‘But what will happen to Carrington Hall? Will it stay open?’

  ‘For the time being. I’ve roped in enough temporary staff to be getting along with for now, though of course its future depends very much on the owner. But for now all the staff still have jobs, including you if you want to stay. But that’s what I really want to talk to you about, Rosie.’

  Rosie gulped. Surely Miss Pemberton wasn’t going to try and make her stay here?

  ‘You’ve got three or four choices, my dear,’ Miss Pemberton went on, smiling at last. ‘You could stay here with a rise in salary. You could come home with me to Somerset for a holiday while you think about what to do next. Thomas would put you up at his flat until you found another job in London. Or –’ She stopped suddenly.

  ‘Yes?’ Rosie prompted, wondering what the fourth choice could be. ‘Or what?’

  ‘You could go to Sussex to help look after Donald with his parents.’

  Rosie blinked hard and her mouth fell open. She wasn’t sure she’d heard that right.

  Miss Pemberton laughed at Rosie’s astounded expression and all at once her spirits lifted. Let people like Aylwood, Barnes and Saunders wallow in their own dirt. This dear girl was worth
so much more, she deserved happiness.

  ‘As you know, it has been their desire to take Donald home for some time,’ she went on. ‘But they feel they are a little old to be starting out with him again from scratch. They don’t want you there as a nursemaid or a domestic, but as a companion to him. Someone to help him adjust to his new freedom, to keep any eye on him and teach him things. They have a fine big house, you would have a nice room and good wages. What do you think?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rosie said. Donald had been on her mind so much since Coronation Day. She had missed him so much, worried about him and been afraid she would never actually see him again. She couldn’t imagine anything better than caring for him. In her mind’s eye she could see all his family as they had been on Coronation Day. She liked them all and she had no reservations about that side of it. It sounded a job from heaven.

  ‘They know how much you like gardening,’ Miss Pemberton smiled as she laid on the temptations. ‘They have a large garden, by all accounts, and one of their ideas is that you and Donald could work in it together. You would have regular time off, they have no intention of imprisoning you in their home. They want you to become one of their family.’

  At that last sentence Rosie began to cry. Miss Pemberton had been leading her closer and closer to the gateway to heaven in everything she had said, but she’d finally found the right key to unlock it.

  ‘It sounds wonderful,’ she sobbed. ‘I can’t think of anything I’d like better.’ She paused for a minute, struggling to find a handkerchief in her uniform pocket.

  ‘But there’s a “but” if I’m not much mistaken,’ Miss Pemberton said, patting Rosie’s knee. ‘Now let me guess! It couldn’t be the young man you had a date with on Wednesday, could it?’

  Rosie blew her nose and wiped her eyes. She felt foolish.

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered sheepishly. ‘I really like him, and Sussex is a long way from London, isn’t it?’