Nurse Kelsey Abroad

by Marjorie Norrell

  Jane murmured something in polite agreement, expecting him to say something about hoping she’d be happy there, settle down all right and so on, but he said nothing of the kind.

  “Mrs. Petrobraun will be almost ready for me now,” he observed. “If you’d like a quick look at the theatre while I’m scrubbing up, now’s your chance. This way...”

  There was so much more she wanted to ask but dared not. She wondered who acted as theatre nurse, who else save himself operated, but there was no opportunity. He went striding ahead of her, and she had perforce to hurry herself in order to keep up with him. She wondered briefly if Ann would guess where she had gone, but even as she wondered Ann materialised from a side-ward and trotted along beside her.

  The theatre was clean, sparsely furnished and with only inferior quality equipment, but Jane guessed some wonderful surgery had taken place there from time to time, and her admiration for this man who strode along ahead of-her, increased by every step she took.

  “I’ll leave you here,” he said briefly, and Ann took her by the elbow and completed the brief tour. As they were passing the entrance to the theatre Jim Lowth reappeared.

  “Make certain Nurse Kelsey knows the places where it’s better she should not venture unescorted, and preferably not at all, won’t you, Nurse Palmer?” he said crisply. “I don’t want to have to look after two members of staff who believe they can flout authority and always get away with the consequences!”

  “I don’t think you need worry about Nurse Kelsey, Doctor,” Ann said with her quick, warm smile. “She’s quite willing to ... fall in, as it were. Just as I’ve done.”

  “In that case there’s certainly no need for me to worry,” Jim Lowth said pleasantly, and as the two girls walked away he added, “Nurse Palmer! What time does your train go, please?”

  “One a.m., Doctor,” Ann called, and he nodded.

  “I remember,” he said briskly. “Then get what sleep you can, Nurse Kelsey. Tomorrow evening, between duties—you’ll realise I’m always on call here—I’ll take you in person to see one or two places where, alone or accompanied, we know you’ll be all right,” and without further word he turned on his heel and went into the theatre.

  “He didn’t even ask me whether or not I wanted to go!” Jane said indignantly as they emerged from the hospital precincts and went for their taxi. “I mightn’t even be interested...”

  “You are.” Ann wasn’t interested in histrionics, knowing full well that it was merely Dr. Jim’s manner which had upset the other girl. “You wouldn’t be human if you weren’t! He’s busy, overworked, underpaid and we’re, as he said, understaffed and without so much that would make his work so much easier for him! He’s a wonderful person,” she said reflectively, “but he does tend to issue orders rather than invitations. All the same,” she prophesied, smiling as the taxi stopped outside a long, shed-like building with all sorts of eatables on view, “you’ll enjoy your evening, and end up liking him as much as do the rest of us, whether you like his manner or not!”

  Jane was by no means certain this was true, but all the same she said nothing. She didn’t mention Jim’s invitation for the remainder of the day, while Ann trailed her round a store where she could purchase materials and make her own off-duty dresses, should she so desire. There was, Ann told her, ail ancient sewing-machine in the common room at the flats, but Ann had always taken such work to an elderly woman who lived close to Granny Hansyitch.

  “I never was a needlewoman,” Ann confessed, “not for anything practical, that is. I thought I could embroider until I came to live here, but the youngest girls do the most complicated patterns of all sorts of things, so that they make my best efforts look like a child’s first sampler. It’s easier to give your odds and ends to someone else to do. They do it all so much better, don’t charge much and really enjoy doing something for one ... I ought to tell you the majority of the folks here look upon us hospital staff as special people. Very gratifying at times.”

  They called on the old people Ann called “Granny and Grandpa Hansvitch.” She was a small, plump rosy-cheeked seventy or so, and he tall and so spare of frame that Jane wondered how he managed to hold himself so erect. They were welcomed and given tea, also a hot meal of what Jane was learning by this time to recognise as very highly spiced goat’s meat, a conglomeration of vegetables and dry, beaten potatoes. It was warming and satisfying, and Granny had set something which strongly resembled dumplings to boil within her stew. The “dumplings” were light and fluffy, and not in the least as Jane had expected them to taste. She saw Ann’s smile of amusement and guessed her face must have registered her surprise as she sampled the meal.

  As it appeared to be the custom of the country, they completed the meal by eating fruit, and when at length Ann managed to say, her goodbyes and give her promise to write frequently and tell them all about her new life when she had married and gone abroad, dusk was falling.

  They had arranged for Larlez to pick them up from the end of the road, little more than a cart-track, where Granny and Grandpa lived, but either they were a few minutes early or Larlez was late, for as they emerged at the end of the road, there was no sign of him or his ancient vehicle.

  “Look!” Jane said as her teeth began to chatter a little in the chill wind which seemed to spring up as dusk fell. “That place over there has a light. They’ve just put it on. It looks like a cafe or something. Let’s go inside and keep warm. We’re sure to hear when Larlez arrives, even if we can’t see him from inside.”

  “That,” Ann said sternly, “is one of the places you mustn’t go, if you want to keep on the right side of the authorities! Its literal translation is ‘New Thought Club,’ and most of the people who frequent the place are the ones I told you about, the musicians, writers, painters and so on. Some of them are O.K., grand kids, but some of them are wild. In any event they’re frowned upon by authority, and for that reason alone it’s as well for people from St. George’s to steer clear of them, unless we tend them on a case, accident or illness or something like that. Doctor Dean won’t listen, and sooner or later he’ll be in trouble, you mark my words!”

  Jane thought fleetingly of Kevin Dean. She had only met him for a few moments that morning, as he was acting as anaesthetist for Dr. Lowth, but she had liked what little she had seen of him, and his manner was distinctly agreeable.

  “But I’d never feel I could depend on him in a crisis,” Jane surprised herself by the reflection. “Dr. Jim’s different...”

  She could not have said why Dr. Lowth appeared in a “different” light, but she was certain of it, without in the least thinking what that “different” light could be. Suddenly she had a mental picture of the two of them, of Dr. Dean, small and merry-eyed, almost impish, with crisply curling dark hair, long dark lashes and mischievous, dancing eyes. Alongside this image she carried one of Jim Lowth, his tall, broad frame with its square shoulders looking ready to take on the problems and worries of his own immediate little world.

  “I can’t think of two people more unlike one another,” she said, and only as Ann turned a puzzled glance in her direction did she realise she had spoken her thoughts aloud.

  “I was thinking,” she confessed a little shamelessly, “of how different Dr. Lowth and Dr. Dean appear to be. One’s—oh, I don’t know how to put it, so serious...”

  “I know what you mean,” Ann interrupted. “Dr. Jim’s here for one reason only; he genuinely wants these people to have the best treatment available, now and always, and he’ll work for them until he drops if necessary. He doesn’t spare himself in anything, and he also has a healthy respect for the government. He’s not afraid of them, not in the least. His argument is that as this is their country in a way they are his hosts, and to do anything which would occasion them distress would distress him equally. He doesn’t agree with all their laws and ways of governing, but he realises they are a newly developing community, newly developing into the modern world, that is! He does all he can to
help, and his outlook is that if they want his advice, his help, require his services in any way, they will let him know. But he isn’t curious about their political outlook, for example. He isn’t curious as to whether or not the young people are right in their opposition to so much which has been handed down to them from the past. Dr. Dean likes his finger in every pie, and,” her eyes twinkled, “if anyone tells him he’s not welcome to look around and to ask questions, he isn’t satisfied with that! He wants to know why he should keep out, what it’s all about, and that gets him into trouble more often than not!”

  “That sort of behaviour gets people into trouble in more countries than Dalasalavia,” Jane observed, her own glance twinkling too. She could just picture a defiant Kevin Dean pushing his enquiring nose where it wasn’t welcome, just as she could picture Jim Lowth’s disapproval of the entire affair.

  “See that building down there?” Ann pointed to the east where a huge squat black shape was outlined against the darkening sky. From somewhere in the midst of it someone opened a furnace door, and at once the night was illuminated in that area by tongues of flame, light from some great fire, and then darkness again as the door was, presumably, closed.

  “That’s military property,” Ann said quietly. “I don’t know what they’re doing or why. We had some people in the hospital from there once. They’d been burned, but not radiation bums or anything like that. The whole place is guarded by the soldiers night and day. Dr. Dean went ‘snooping’ as he called it, one night. It took Dr. Jim almost a full day to persuade Karl Brotnovitch that he meant no harm!”

  “No wonder your Karl what’s-his-name stared so pointedly in my direction, then!” Jane said, half laughing. “I hope he doesn’t think this member of the hospital staff is going to concern herself with what goes on behind steel bars and doors!”

  “I shouldn’t think so.” Ann was laughing now, but her voice and tone added a warning note when she spoke again. “I told you he’s fascinated by fair-haired people,” She paused a moment and added more quietly, more soberly: “Remember what I said about Dr. Dean. He’s a pleasant young man, and capable, but that won’t save him from serious trouble, should the authorities decide he was poking his nose into places and matters where it wasn’t welcome!”

  “I’ll remember all you’ve said,” Jane said, suddenly irritated by Ann’s emphasis on minding her own business. “I don’t think you need worry about my doing anything except the job I came here to do!”

  She felt she was being ungracious, but at that moment the taxi, driven by the burly Larlez, pulled up beside them.

  They were driven back to the flat without further opportunity for conversation, but they had scarcely reached “home” when there was a knock on the door.

  “I’ll go,” Jane said, being nearer the door than Ann, packing her last-minute odds and ends at the far side of the room. She opened the door with a small sense of adventure. After tonight it would be her door, her flat, Ann would be gone. She fully expected to find the elderly caretaker outside, and was already wondering how she would communicate with him once Ann had left. There was nothing of the old man about the person who stood outside, stooping slightly to look, it seemed, into her eyes, and smiling.

  “Ready?” Dr. Lowth asked quietly. “I think it’s time Ann got a little rest. We’ll be back in time for you to have a final cup of tea or coffee with her, before she goes off on the first stage of her journey home.”

  “I ... we’ve only just got in,” Jane said lamely, suddenly embarrassed and worried, for some reason she could not explain, that she was not ready and waiting for his arrival. “I won’t be a minute.”

  “Don’t worry!” Jim Lowth’s eyes twinkled for a moment as he added: “May I come in and wait, please? I don’t care to carry on a conversation through a half open door indefinitely!”

  “I’m sorry. Please come in.” Jane was doubly embarrassed. First she wasn’t ready, and it might indeed look as though she had forgotten their “date”. Next she was keeping him standing on the doorstep, and he was her superior! It was all very distressing.

  Dr. Lowth did not appear to think so. He took the big chair, the one which could so easily and so quickly be converted into a bed, and settled himself comfortably, chatting lightly and easily to Ann as he watched her pack the few remaining things into her case. When Aim said she was going to make herself another cup of tea before attempting to rest, Dr. Jim cheerfully invited himself to a cup, saying that nowhere else in Dalasalavia could he count on a cup of tea which tasted exactly as it was meant to taste!

  By the time the tea had been drunk, the small cakes—without which, or fruit, no cup of tea or coffee appeared to be enjoyed in these strange surroundings—Ann professed herself tired enough to nap, set the alarm and accepted their reassurances that they would be back in time to see she got away in good order. Then Dr. Lowth led Jane out to where his old but still serviceable Ford stood waiting.

  “We’ll go to the Golden Fiddle, shall we?” Jim asked. “I know you’ve seen it, but not at its best. I happen to know there’s a small party in progress there tonight. One of the regular patrons has twin sons who’ve just come of age. As I believe you told me, you’re a twin yourself, so perhaps it would be as well to look in and drink to their good health, as I was invited to do?”

  Jane nodded agreement and settled down for the short drive. The little inn, if that was its correct name, was crowded, but there was no doubt as to the doctor’s popularity. The moment he walked through the door he was greeted on all sides, and more than one foaming tankard of the local brew set up for him and for Jane, who shook her head, laughingly refusing more than was necessary to drink the toast.

  They stayed at the inn a long time. Once again they were entertained by the small group of players, the singer and the assembled company’s roaring accompaniment to so many of the songs.

  “We’ll go on to what must be the equivalent of the British fish and chip shop,” Dr. Lowth suggested after a time. “It’s a sort of street snack bar where one buys a napkin full of cooked shellfish brought from the coast, and a scoopful of small, cooked beans—at least I think they’re beans. They’re tasty and succulent, and when one is out for the evening that’s what matters!”

  “Are there no cinemas, theatres or anything like that?" Jane asked, not because she wasn’t thrilled by the evening, but because she was suddenly curious to know how the local inhabitants spent their leisure hours.

  “Not in the towns as small as this,” Jim said briefly. “To their eyes this is a big town—a city, in fact—and in due course they hope to have a theatre, an opera house and, I’ve no doubt, a cinema. But,” the twinkle was back in his eyes, “I believe I’ve tried to point out to you that the Dalasalavians put first things first, and luxuries of that nature don’t figure very high up on their list as yet! I’ve no doubt you’ll enjoy the remainder of the evening, that is,” for a moment he looked doubtful, uncertain of himself, “if you .haven’t been bored to distraction so far?”

  Hastily Jane assured .him she had been anything but bored and that she was looking forward to the remainder of their evening off duty. “I’m not really off duty,” Dr. Lowth explained, “and that is why I like to adhere to a set routine. Before we came out I left an approximate chart of where I’d be and at what time, so that someone can always contact me if I’m needed in an emergency.”

  Jane made some non-committal reply and looked more closely at him. He was grave and concentrating on his driving, which, with the state of the roads as they were, required full attention. He was grave-faced and kind, she decided. He took his duties and his responsibilities seriously, mid he sincerely wanted to do his very best for the people into whose country he had come to live. He must have sensed her intent regard, for as he pulled the car to a halt beside a small stall-like enclosure where lamps flared in the darkness, he turned and gravely regarded her, meeting glance for glance.

  “Well?” he asked quietly. “What are you thinking, Staff Nurse Kels
ey? That it isn’t all you’d hoped it might be, that the life here is lacking in colour, excitement, in all the things you might have hoped to have in some other place, some large town in Africa or India, for example?”

  Jane felt he was mocking her, although honesty told her he was not that sort of man. She felt the quick, hot colour rush to her cheeks and was glad he could not see it.

  “No, Dr. Lowth,” she said, quietly and sincerely, “I wasn’t thinking anything like that! Had I gone to any of the W.H.O. places I might have been somewhere worse than this. I could have been sent to a fever-ridden jungle, to a drought-stricken outback, to almost anywhere and to anything where people like you and I are needed! As it is, I’m glad I came here. We’re needed here too, and if I asked about seemingly frivolous things it was only because I want to know more of the place and the people. I have to understand a little if I’m to continue to do my best.”

  He regarded her quietly for a moment or so before replying, then, as gently as if he had been performing some delicate operation, he touched her cheek, moving back a tendril of silver-fair hair which had fallen forward.

  “I’m glad you feel like that, Nurse,” he said gently. “That’s the way I feel myself. We’re here to do a job, and to help in any way we can, and that’s all there is to be said about it. If there is anything I can do, any way in which I can help you to understand more of this place and its people, you have only to ask. Now,” he smiled suddenly, the gravity gone, “shall we get out and sample the local fare?”