The Pearl of Penang

by Clare Flynn

  ‘Oh, Mary,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

  Later that day the bad news was confirmed. The air attack on the aerodrome at Butterworth was intense with the entire RAF and Australian airforce presence wiped out. The enemy had been careful to use only anti-personnel bombs on the runways, presumably to preserve them for their own eventual use.

  Mary told Evie she didn’t know whether Frank Hyde-Underwood had been one of the few airmen who had managed to scramble but had been shot down by the superior Japanese aircraft, or whether he had been one of the victims of the annihilation on the Allied presence on the ground at RAF Butterworth. Either way, he had almost certainly lost his life and with it, Mary Helston had lost her second chance of happiness.

  Over the following days, as well as bombing the two airfields, the Japanese attack included a less successful attempt to sink all the ships in the port at George Town. The city was completely unprepared. Within three days of the Pearl Harbour attack, the Japanese had total supremacy of the skies above Penang and soon after that, the last of the Brewster Buffalos, sent up from Singapore after the first attack as reinforcements, limped away from Butterworth.

  The civilians of Penang were now alone, and on the 11th of December the Japanese began to bomb George Town. There was incredulity among the population that this was happening to them.

  Evie and the children had taken shelter in the relative safety of Bellavista, up in the hills above the city. She stood beside Susan and Reggie Hyde-Underwood on the lawns where she had once walked with Susan to admire the orchid garden on her first visit to the estate, looking up at the sky.

  Reggie had taken the inevitable, but still unconfirmed, death of his brother stoically but Evie could see that he and Susan were badly shaken.

  Clutching Hugh tightly in her arms, Evie stared up at the regimented planes, flying like geese in a perfect V-formation across the pale empty canvas of the sky. They couldn’t see the bombing from Bellavista, but they could hear it. It lasted for two long hours and left the Chinese quarter a burning ruin. Later Evie discovered the planes had not only dive-bombed the buildings, including the Temple of Harmony, but had machine-gunned the streets, killing many unsuspecting citizens who had been standing outside to watch what would happen. Among them, Evie would soon discover, was Aunty Mimi’s husband, Cookie, who had been on his way back from the market. She never discovered the fate of her friend the monk.

  Two days later, the news spread through George Town and throughout the island that the order had been given to evacuate the entire European population from Penang.

  An uncharacteristically pale Reggie walked into the drawing room, where Evie and Susan were drinking tea. ‘Arthur Leighton is on the telephone. He wants to speak to you, Evie.’

  Picking up the receiver, she felt a rush of emotion as she heard the familiar but long-absent sound of Arthur’s voice.

  ‘Evie, are you all right? The children?’

  ‘Yes, we’re all well. Reggie and Susan have been wonderful. We’re safe up here away from the city.’

  ‘For now, but not for long. You know we’re evacuating you all?’

  Evie bit her lip, torn between a wish to say that they’d be fine up here in the hills and a very real fear that more danger was imminent.

  ‘It’s only a matter of time before they invade. Who knows what they’ll do once they’ve taken the island. Sir Shenton’s already taken the decision to get you all out, because the Chiefs of Staff are withdrawing the troops from Penang. It’s going to be a complete capitulation. The island is being abandoned. The Japanese imperial flag will be flying there within days.’

  Evie gasped.

  ‘Percival wants to withdraw and abandon so he can focus the troops on the mainland rather than splitting his resources. George Town is about to become an open city.’

  ‘Dear God, how has it come to this?’

  ‘I could write the book, but right now my job is to manage the evacuation. I’m in Butterworth. The first train has already left. You need to get here as fast as you can.’

  Evie’s heart lurched. He was here.

  Arthur’s voice was urgent. ‘Look I don’t have long so I want to make sure you do exactly as I tell you. Reggie knows the drill. You all need to get down to George Town. We’re getting everyone onto the ferries and then on trains to Singapore.’

  ‘Singapore? But–’

  ‘No buts. Just do it. No time to spare. We have to get you to safety. The clock’s ticking.’

  Evie was numb. ‘I need to let Aunty Mimi and Benny know. They’re still in the house in George Town.’

  ‘Europeans only.’ Arthur’s voice was clipped, and she could detect the anger underneath it.

  ‘I can’t leave them! Aunty Mimi’s husband, our cook, has been killed. It happened in the street. The Japanese were machine-gunning people from the planes. I can’t abandon my servants here with the enemy coming.’

  ‘Orders. I have no say. The decision has been taken that it’s Europeans only. It’s come from the top. From Duff Cooper himself. The local population will have to fend for themselves. It stinks but I can’t do anything about it. I have to go, Evie. Hurry up. I’ll keep a look out for you. But don’t waste time looking for me at the port. Just get the hell out of here. Do as the officials tell you. You’ll all be safe in Singapore.’

  By the time they got to the quayside that night the queues for the ferries were long. Amidst the crowds, Evie caught sight of Benny and called out to him. He was heading away from the port. ‘Where are you going, Benny? Where’s Aunty Mimi?’

  ‘I go back to house. They say can evacuate me because in Volunteers but can’t bring wife and children. Also Aunty Mimi and Boy. So I must stay. Can’t leave them behind. Only Europeans go.’

  Evie felt a rush of anger. It was appalling. ‘That’s a disgrace!’

  ‘Volunteers can leave but no wives and children. So no one go. Can’t leave families behind.’ He shook his head, his face lined with anger.

  It was unjust. Disloyal. Not only had men like Benny joined the defence volunteers in good faith but they had served the European population dutifully for decades. Now they were to be abandoned, left behind to the mercy of the Japanese.

  Before she could say any more, Evie was swept up in the crowd around her and moved forward in the crush as the next ferry docked. She looked back as the mass of white humanity pushed her forward, and saw Benny walking away from the quayside. What would Doug have said? He had employed Benny since he came to Penang – and his uncle before him. Aunty Mimi too. They were part of the fabric of the Barrington household and because of the sweep of a pen in Singapore, they and others like them were to be left to their fate.

  When the ferry landed in Butterworth, she spotted Mary with her mother and father in the crowd. Before she could push her way through to them, Arthur Leighton appeared at her side.

  ‘I’ve saved you seats on the train. Women, children, elderly and disabled. Men will follow later, once we’ve got you all away. Most of us will drive. We don’t want to leave any usable vehicles here for the Japanese. Veronica will be waiting for you at the station in Singapore.’

  ‘Veronica?’

  ‘Things are better with her. She’s stopped drinking. Thrown herself into the war effort. But there’s no time to talk. I need to get you on that train.’

  Arthur steered her across the concrete, signalling the Hyde-Underwoods to follow. To her relief, Mary Helston and her parents had seen them and worked their way over to join them.

  Arthur broke the news that Mr Helston and Reggie would have to travel by road, reassuring them that they would all be reunited in Singapore.

  Mary’s face was gaunt and her eyes cold. Evie had never seen her usually smiling friend looking so angry.

  Arthur helped the women and children into the carriage. Evie hung back.

  ‘What about you?’ Evie asked him.

  ‘Never mind about me – you and the children need to get to Singapore.’

>   ‘What happens then?’

  ‘Veronica will explain. We’re getting you on a ship out.’

  ‘But I thought Singapore was safe?’ Evie was alarmed.

  ‘For now. Can we talk a moment?’ He looked over his shoulder. ‘In private?’

  Evie handed the baby to Mary and got down from the train. Arthur was waiting behind a baggage cart piled high with suitcases, waiting to be stood on the train.

  ‘Three days ago the Repulse and the Prince of Wales were sunk. Our best warships, crucial to defence.’ He looked into her eyes. ‘We’ve well and truly messed this up, Evie.’ Glancing around him to make sure they weren’t overheard he added, ‘I think Singapore will fall too. Intelligence reports say the enemy are already moving down the peninsular. We’ve all assumed they’ll attack by sea but I think they’ll come by land.’

  ‘But how? They’ll never get through the jungle and the roads aren’t big enough to handle mass troop movements.’

  ‘That’s what everyone has been saying. But everyone’s wrong.’ His lips stretched tightly. ‘They’re using bicycles. Tens of thousands of bicycles.’

  Evie gasped. ‘Whereabouts are they?’

  ‘A day or two away – at most.’ Taking advantage of the confusion of people, he pulled her into his arms and drew her head against his chest. She heard the steady beat of his heart. ‘We’ve lost Malaya, Evie. The game’s practically over. Our airforce is destroyed, the army’s clogging the roads up as they race back to Singapore. There’s no attempt to try and keep the Japs at bay. I have never been so ashamed in all my life. Look at what’s happening.’ He swept a hand out to indicate the crowds of Europeans pushing their way onto the train. ‘Complete capitulation. Abandonment of the locals. Every white man for himself. And my job is to help make this sorry shameful mess happen.’

  ‘Will everyone leave Singapore too?’

  ‘That’s not the plan.’

  She looked up at his face and read in his eyes that while it might not be the plan it was the likely reality. The unthinkable was happening. Malaya, part of the crown jewels of the British Empire, would soon be a Japanese territory.

  ‘I have to go, my darling. I don’t know when I’ll see you again. But whatever happens, I want you to know that everything I said before is still true. I love you utterly and completely. If we make it through this war I promise you, my dearest love, I will find a way to be with you, to marry you.’

  Evie swallowed. A shiver ran through her body. ‘I’m sorry how I behaved the last time we met.’ She met his eyes. ‘And you need to know, I love you too. I always have, even when I tried to pretend I didn’t.’

  He held her face between his hands and looked into her eyes. Evie felt as if the world had stopped. Fearful of what lay ahead, she asked, ’But why won’t I see you in Singapore? Where are you going?’

  ‘I’m staying behind. I’ve been training in jungle warfare at the Singapore 101 Special Training school. Too little too late, but we’ll do the best we can.’

  Evie thought she was going to stop breathing. ‘What are you talking about, Arthur?’

  ‘It was set up in July. They’ve been training military and civilians – policemen and planters, locals too. We’re going to be in small teams, working behind the Japanese lines. But we’ve left it too late for an effective plan. We just have to do the best we can.’

  He looked away. But Evie didn’t need to hear the words to know what the implications were. Douglas was dead, Aunty Mimi’s husband and Frank were and it was probable Arthur would be killed too.

  A tear rolled down her cheek. Arthur took his thumb and wiped it away. Bending towards her, he kissed her softly on the mouth. ‘Stay safe, Evie. I love you.’ He left without a backward glance, melting into the throng of people.

  29

  The train journey to Singapore passed in a blur. The carriages were packed, people sitting or standing in the corridors, and Evie sent up a silent prayer of thanks that Arthur had been able to secure seats for them. As well as Mary Helston and her mother, Susan Hyde-Underwood and Stanford, four other women and two schoolboys shared the cramped space.

  Evie forbade herself from feeling any discontent, knowing that she and all the other passengers had walked out on the servants, shopkeepers, policemen, gardeners, estate workers, teachers and students that made up the non-European population. These people loathed and feared the Japanese as much as the whites did. Aunty Mimi had witnessed her husband being gunned down in the street. The old lady had loved and cared for Jasmine and her baby brother. Years of faithful service, of trust and loyalty, betrayed. Evie felt an acute sense of shame. She looked over at Mary, who was sitting in silence gazing into the darkness beyond the window. Most of Mary’s teaching colleagues were Malays. How must she feel, knowing that they had been let down? And Benny, who had served with the Volunteers, recruited by Douglas and an enthusiastic member, assiduous in attending drills and exercises. Benny had a wife and four small children. What would become of them?

  Lurching along in the darkness, the sticky tropical heat of the Malayan night bathed Evie in sweat. It was hard keeping Jasmine and the two schoolboys entertained, not to mention the baby and Stanford, who was now a toddler, when there wasn’t even anything to see through the window. Hugh, at eighteen months old, was a substantial weight to hold in her arms for a train journey of more than ten hours. Staring blankly into the blackness of the jungle, broken only by the lights of kampongs, she saw occasional fires burning in the distance – a token belated effort towards the failed scorched earth policy of the British.

  Her thoughts returned to Arthur. She tried to picture him, hiding in dense undergrowth, boot polish applied to his face, as he moved secretly behind enemy lines. Her imagination kept failing her. Where were those enemy lines and where and how would Arthur and other white-skinned men hope to hide from detection? While Arthur, and no doubt his colleagues, spoke Malay, it was impossible he could pass as a native. As well as the risk of being caught by the advancing Japanese, there was the risk of being seen and betrayed by frightened local villagers. Their abandonment by their former white masters surely made their support for any stay-behind British unlikely. And no doubt, if the Malays didn’t turn them in to the Japanese, and the British guerrillas were subsequently discovered, the repercussions would be fatal for the Malays, so who could blame them?

  She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. It was all too horrible to think about. If Arthur was operating undercover, he would lack the protection afforded by a military uniform. Not that Evie had a lot of confidence that the Japanese would respect the Geneva Conventions anyway. She’d heard enough about the terrible massacres that had taken place in China in the Sino-Japanese war to make her feel sick to the stomach.

  Hugh, as if sensing that tonight was no night for misbehaving, had gone off to sleep quickly, lulled by the movement of the train as it hurried along between the dark shapes of palm oil and rubber trees and virgin jungle. Evie let her thoughts drift back to Arthur’s final words to her, his promise that if they both got through this war alive, they would one day be together.

  It was almost a year since Douglas’s death. The passing of time had helped her to accept what had happened, but she still missed her husband. She hadn’t loved him the way she loved Arthur. They had never been soul mates, but she had cared for him deeply despite his shortcomings as a husband and a companion. Now that she’d had time to reflect on her marriage and Doug’s character, Evie believed she had come closer to understanding him since his death than she ever had while he was alive.

  Douglas had been damaged as a child and that damage had persisted into the character of the adult man. It had stunted him, crippled him emotionally just as the fall into the tin mine had crippled him physically. But Evie was beginning to feel able to follow the words of the Taoist monk and forgive herself for her inability to love Douglas as much as she would have liked to or thought she ought to. And at last, she could forgive herself, because with his death she had completely f
orgiven him.

  Looking past her reflection in the train window into the inky blackness beyond, Evie allowed herself to think of Arthur again in a way she’d forbidden herself from doing over the months since Doug’s accident. That soft brush of his lips against hers tonight had reignited a fire inside Evie that hadn’t burned since the afternoon on the beach in the weeks before war was declared. How long ago that seemed. Another era.

  When she and Arthur had sat side-by-side under the casuarina trees, the idea of the British abandoning Malaya had been inconceivable. Now it was happening. By the same token, the once inconceivable possibility of her having a future with Arthur Leighton now seemed tangible. But they both had to get out of Malaya alive first – and the Axis Powers must be defeated before any future was possible. That felt like a faint hope. But hope was all she had left. Hope, and her two children.

  Jasmine, sitting beside her, was sleeping, her head resting against Evie. Less than three years ago, Evie hadn’t even known this little girl existed. Now she loved her as completely as if she were her own child. That was another thing to be tackled in the future. She must formally adopt Jasmine. There must be no ambiguity about their relationship, no conditions attached to her love.

  As the train reached its destination, officials entered the carriages and handed typewritten notices to every adult refugee. Evie read the printed words with growing alarm. The orders were stark. Childless women were to get off the train and remain in Singapore. Women with children, who were ungenerously described in civil service officialese as “ineffective”, were to remain on board. They were to be delivered straight to the waterfront and transferred onto a vessel bound for Australia.

  This was too soon, too sudden. Evie couldn’t face the thought of being bundled with her children, as well as Susan and Stanford, onto a ship and sent off to a place she didn’t know at all. And most of all, she didn’t want to leave Mary. Not when her friend was grieving the loss of her fiancé. Mary needed all the love and support she could get. Evie didn’t want to be separated.