by Annie Groves
At two in the morning, a bell sounded near Sister’s desk. Connie was making cotton wool balls and putting them into huge jars at a table nearby. Sister Neil looked up anxiously. ‘That’s the patients’ bathroom on antenatal. Who would be having a bath at this time of night?’
Connie was just as puzzled.
‘Nurse Dixon,’ said Sister, ‘you come along with me. I’m not going on my own.’
Taking torches, they walked purposefully along the dimly lit corridor to the bathroom. The light was on, the door slightly ajar and they could see movement inside. Glancing back at Connie, and taking a deep breath, Sister pushed the door and strode in. Afterwards, Connie wasn’t sure which of them had been the most surprised, Sister, herself or the bearded man standing stark naked in the bath, drying himself with the hospital bathmat. While he was washing his feet and legs, he must have bent a little and accidentally pushed the emergency bell with his bottom. As soon as he saw Sister and Connie, he used the mat to cover his modesty.
‘It’s okay, missus,’ he said gruffly. ‘I ain’t gonna hurt nobody.’
Sister Neil puffed out her chest. ‘What on earth do you think you are doing?’ she demanded.
The man held his hand out in surrender. ‘I’m sorry, missus. This is the only place I can get cleaned up. I’ve got an interview for a job in the morning.’
Sister Neil strode towards the bundle of clothes on the floor. Her mouth was set in a tight line. Oh, you’re in for it now, my lad, thought Connie. Even from where she stood, Connie could see that his body was covered with clusters of little red dots, not unlike the German measles rash. The man obviously had body lice. His clothes were probably alive with them. He stepped out of the bath and stood on the tiled floor.
‘Please, missus,’ he begged. ‘Don’t call the police. I’ll get dressed and be out of here in two minutes. You won’t even know I was here.’
Sister Neil tut-tutted. ‘Well, you’re not walking out of here with those clothes.’
‘I have to,’ he said. ‘They’re all I’ve got.’
Sister Neil turned to Connie. ‘I hope I can trust you to say nothing about this, nurse,’ she began. ‘Go to the porter’s office and ask him for a complete change of clothes from the lost property box.’
Connie couldn’t believe her ears but she said, ‘Yes, Sister.’
‘But first of all,’ said Sister, ‘go and get a brown paper bag from my office and take those things with you. Tell the porter to burn them in the boiler and then ask him to come up here in about half an hour.’ She had taken a cloth from the cleaning cupboard and was rubbing Gumption onto the side of the bath. ‘As for you, my lad,’ she said addressing the astonished midnight bather in a far more gentle tone of voice, ‘when I’ve cleaned this scum from the sides, you can have a proper bath. In fact, you can have a good long soak.’ Sister turned and saw Connie standing in the doorway. ‘Are you still here, nurse?’ she said sharply and Connie fled.
Down in the bowels of the hospital, the porter’s lodge was empty. Connie was just wondering what to do when a fresh-faced young man came towards her. He looked familiar but Connie couldn’t work out where she’d seen him. He was younger than her, tall, average looking with round rimmed glasses and a small moustache.
‘Can I help you, nurse?’
Connie handed him the bag of clothes and explained what Sister wanted. He seemed surprised. ‘You’ve left her alone up there,’ he said anxiously. ‘Is she going to be all right?’
Connie grinned. ‘If you knew Sister Neil,’ she began, ‘you wouldn’t ask me that.’
‘Oh, it’s Sister Neil,’ he said with a knowing grin. ‘Why didn’t you say?’
‘I think I know you,’ said Connie as they searched the lost property box for a new set of men’s clothing. ‘Have you always lived in Worthing?’
‘I’m from East Worthing,’ he said. ‘How about you?’
‘Goring,’ she said. ‘Where would we have met?’
‘I don’t think I have met you before,’ he said candidly.
Connie wasn’t about to give up just yet. ‘Did you go to the dances in the Assembly Hall?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve been abroad serving King and country for two years,’ he said. ‘I only got demobbed four months ago.’
It was then that it dawned on Connie where she’d seen him before. ‘Did you have a girlfriend called Sally?’
His expression clouded. ‘I might have done.’
‘Sally Burndell,’ Connie persisted. ‘I seem to remember seeing your photograph in her handbag.’
‘What do you know about her?’ His voice was hostile and it was obvious he didn’t really want to talk about Sally.
‘Did you know, for instance, that Sally has been having poison pen letters?’ She could see that he had been brought up sharply so Connie went on. ‘Someone has been accusing her, quite falsely as it happens, of being a loose woman. We’ve been quite worried that someone who didn’t know what a lovely girl Sally was might actually believe all that stuff.’
Terry had paled but he said nothing.
‘I just thought as a friend of hers, you might like to know that.’
They continued pulling clothes from the box until Connie was sure that she had something suitable for the man upstairs. ‘Sister wants you to give us half an hour and then come up to chuck the man out,’ she said.
Terry nodded.
When she came back with the clean clothes, Connie was amazed to find the man clean shaven and sitting on a chair, wrapped in a bath towel while Sister cut his hair. She had obviously put Dettol in the bath. The smell pervaded the whole bathroom. Once he was dressed in the clothes Connie had brought, he looked quite presentable. ‘Good luck,’ said Sister Neil. ‘I hope you get that job.’
There were tears of gratitude in his eyes and he snatched her hand and kissed it.
‘That’s enough of that nonsense,’ she said stiffly. Terry had appeared at the doorway and Sister Neil changed her demeanour. ‘Escort this man off the premises,’ she said tartly. ‘He is trespassing.’
The man followed the porter, stopping only for a second as he reached the stairs to turn and mouth ‘thank you’ to Sister Neil. She straightened her cap and went back into the bathroom.
They cleaned up the room, scrubbing the bath and putting his tramp’s cut hair in another brown paper bag for the incinerator. Outside in the corridor, another nurse advanced towards them. The woman in labour was in the second stage and Sister was wanted in the labour ward. It had been an eventful night and to her absolute delight, Connie saw baby John Charles Dare come into the world about forty minutes later.
Twenty-One
When the night duty came to an end, Connie had three whole days off. It was absolute bliss. She slept for part of the first day and then went home to Belvedere Nurseries. She especially wanted to see Pip. He greeted her warmly but she noticed that all of a sudden he seemed a lot older. There were even more grey hairs around his muzzle and he had white in his eyebrows.
‘I wish you could talk,’ she said softly as she fondled his ears. ‘What happened to you in that wood?’ She racked her brains to remember. She and Clifford had heard the mother shouting and they had joined the other walkers searching for the child. All the while, Pip had been barking and then she’d heard that yelp. Then she remembered somebody running out of the undergrowth just before Emmett brought the little girl out. She froze. ‘I don’t remember seeing that bloke afterwards,’ she whispered to Pip. ‘Was it a bloke or a girl?’ She thought some more and decided it must have been a man. ‘Did he do something to you? Where did he go?’ She tried to recall his face, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t even sure she’d seen it because he was running away from everybody, and besides, she had such a shock seeing Emmett, everything else went out of her mind.
Her mother came downstairs with a couple of shirts that needed mending. The two women embraced. ‘Connie, I don’t want you to worry,’ said Gwen drawing her to one side and looking round an
xiously, ‘but Clifford and I have been thinking about something.’
Connie lowered herself into a chair. This sounded serious.
‘Where’s Ga?’ said Gwen.
‘Serving in the shop when I came in,’ said Connie.
‘Clifford and I both want a new start in life,’ her mother said. ‘This past winter has made us both realise that we want more than this for Mandy and Clifford is positive that we’ll never get it here.’ A shadow moved in the hallway. ‘We’ll talk later,’ whispered Gwen.
‘What are you two whispering about?’ Ga demanded as she walked into the room.
‘Hello, Ga,’ said Connie. ‘How are you?’
‘Overworked,’ snapped the old woman.
Give it a rest, thought Connie. ‘Oh, dear,’ she said taking her bags upstairs to her room.
Connie brought up the subject of the man running in the woods as they ate their evening meal.
‘I don’t recall him at all,’ said Clifford pulling the corners of his mouth down.
‘Does it really matter?’ Ga challenged. ‘What’s done is done.’
‘That’s true,’ said Connie, ‘but it’s been puzzling me.’
‘You mean you think something happened to that poor child?’
Connie shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Mum.’
Gwen and Clifford shared an anxious look.
‘I think we should change the subject,’ said Ga. ‘Little ears are flapping.’
‘That’s not true,’ Mandy retorted. ‘I’m not listening.’
Connie grinned. ‘Tell me what you’ve been doing at school,’ she said. Her sister was pouting because they’d stopped talking. ‘I hear you’re going to dance around the maypole at the school fete.’
Mandy nodded vigorously. ‘It’s ever so hard. You have to keep counting.’
‘Tell me what day it is and I’ll see if I can get the day off,’ said Connie.
‘Will you help with the Sunday school outing?’ asked Mandy. ‘Miss Jackson says she needs lots of helpers.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Connie smiled. ‘When is it?’
‘Whit Monday,’ said Gwen. ‘The maypole dancing is on the Saturday before.’
‘I may not be able to do both,’ Connie cautioned. She didn’t tell the family she had two more days off when she went back to the nurses’ home that night because tomorrow, she was going to see Kenneth.
Her brother looked so much better. He had lost his elephant’s trunk and the skin over his nose looked pink and healthy. He was more excited about his hands and proudly showed her that Mr McIndoe had created a ridge along his palm at the base of where his fingers used to be. This would eventually give him the ability to grip, once the swelling had gone down.
‘Not quite as good as fingers,’ Kenneth smiled, ‘but it will certainly help.’
They both examined his hand and then Kenneth said, ‘Where’s your chap today? Couldn’t he come?’
‘He’s not my chap,’ Connie protested. ‘He’s the brother of a friend of mine.’
‘Oh,’ said Kenneth in an all-knowing way. ‘He seemed to like you though.’
Connie blushed and changed the subject. ‘I want to ask you something,’ she said. ‘It’s about the day you were sent away.’
Kenneth shot out his bottom lip. ‘Are you sure you want to talk about that? The last time I mentioned it you almost fainted.’
‘I’ll behave myself this time,’ she said. ‘You don’t mind me talking about it?’
He shook his head. ‘Not at all. If Ga was here she’d have something to say about it, but no, I don’t mind.’
‘You see,’ said Connie sitting closer as if talking in confidence, ‘I can remember some stuff but not everything.’
He looked puzzled. ‘You mean to do with Stan Saul?’
Hearing the name made Connie want to shudder but she tried not to let it show. ‘Over the years, I’ve blocked out so much of that day. I remember him kissing me and that I didn’t like it. I remember him giving us cider and then I remember him running away when Ga came.’
‘I reckon there was something in that cider,’ said Kenneth. ‘I didn’t drink very much of it but I felt really ill. Ga accused me of being drunk.’
‘So what did happen?’ said Connie.
‘All I remember is Ga coming in and giving me hell. She bashed me half to death with a hair brush. I could hear you upstairs being sick and she was telling me I was a pimp. I had no idea what the word meant but she was hopping mad.’
‘I know she told you to go,’ said Connie, ‘but why did you stay away?’
‘I was about ready to go anyway,’ said Kenneth. ‘I was coming up to sixteen and it was just the excuse I needed. The only trouble was, just as I was going out of the door, she told me she’d tell Mum about you and Stan if I came back. I kept away because I didn’t want to ruin your reputation.’
‘Me and Stan?’ said Connie. ‘There was no me and Stan. He was horrible. I hated him.’
‘She said he’d got you pregnant,’ Kenneth said quietly.
‘What!’ Connie stood up. ‘That’s awful. How dare she? Nothing happened, Kenny, I swear.’
The two of them fell silent and Connie sat back down. ‘He was nothing but a creepy little maggot.’
‘I knew if Ga told Mum she would skin me alive,’ said Kenneth staring at the floor. ‘Ga said she would protect you and that no one would ever know what you two had been up to. She made out as if it was all my fault.’
‘How?’
‘Because I had invited him,’ said Kenneth. ‘She even accused me of taking money from him.’
‘What money?’ Connie shook her head. ‘You mean the money on the table?’
Kenneth took in his breath. ‘How did you know about that?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Connie. ‘I can’t remember exactly. Kenny, I tried to tell Ga it was nothing to do with you, but she wouldn’t listen. Who did the money belong to anyway?’
Kenneth shrugged.
‘But Ga said Stan had paid you to take me to bed.’
‘That’s a barefaced lie!’
‘And I was thirteen, for goodness’ sake,’ said Connie. ‘What did I know about stuff like that?’
‘So I stayed away all this time for nothing,’ said Kenneth.
Connie’s heart went out to him. ‘Well, we’ve found each other now, Kenny. We have to tell Mum that you’re alive. I can’t keep this up much longer.’
‘Not yet.’
‘But why?’
‘There’s something else,’ he said. ‘I’ve met someone.’
Connie was completely taken aback. ‘Met someone?’
‘I know,’ said Kenneth. ‘I find it pretty amazing too.’
‘It’s not that,’ Connie said quickly and her brother laughed as her face flushed. ‘Who is she?’
‘One of the nurses,’ he said. ‘Her name is Pearl.’ His eyes misted over. ‘She’s wonderful.’
‘Do I get to meet her?’
‘She’s on duty today,’ he said. ‘She’ll be bringing the teas around in a minute.’
Connie was totally gobsmacked. What a surprise! She hadn’t expected that, and yet why not? Kenneth was still a young man. She rubbed his arm affectionately. ‘I’m really happy for you,’ she smiled.
‘Ah, here she is.’
Connie looked around as a small woman with her mousy blonde hair pushed back in a French plait walked towards them. She was smiling.
‘Darling,’ Kenneth called, ‘I want you to meet my sister.’
Connie stood up and Pearl reached for her hand. Her handshake was firm. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ she said.
She sat with them on the lawn as Connie and Kenneth drank their tea. With a little gentle probing, Connie found out that Pearl had nursed her brother from the beginning of his stay at the Royal Victoria and somewhere along the line, they’d fallen in love. Certainly when Pearl looked at Kenny, Connie couldn’t help being aware that she gazed at him as if he was as handsome as
Tyrone Power or James Stewart.
‘About Mum?’ Connie asked as she was leaving. ‘I should tell her.’
‘Soon,’ promised Kenneth.
On the way home, as she dozed on the train, she finally pieced together the events of that day. The only thing that eluded her now was why. Why did Ga send Kenny away for good? What possible motive could she have?
For her third day off, Connie was going to Chichester with Eva. They knew there was a market there and it would make a lovely day out on the train. Connie had to be careful not to spend too much. All these train fares were beginning to eat into her money but she’d never been to Chichester before and the long journey meant that she and Eva could talk.
‘Steven is taking me to meet his parents at the end of the month.’
Connie grinned. ‘Does that mean your romance is no longer a secret?’
Eva nodded. ‘It’s getting harder and harder to deny it,’ she said candidly. ‘I’m about to enter my third year of nursing and he’s got another two. We’re planning to marry as soon as he graduates.’
‘How exciting,’ Connie enthused. ‘Did you go and see Queenie? Was she all right about it?’
‘She was fantastic,’ said Eva. ‘She said she couldn’t face coming to the wedding …’
‘Understandable,’ Connie interrupted.
‘But she wants to help me with the reception. Will you be my bridesmaid when the time comes?’
‘Oh Eva, I’d be thrilled.’ Connie paused. ‘It looks like your romance won’t be the only secret out in the open at last.’
They spent the rest of the journey talking about Emmett and his wife and Connie’s visit to Kenneth the day before. The one person they didn’t talk about was Roger. Every time Connie went into Eva’s room, she’d look at the photograph of Roger she kept on her dressing table. It wasn’t very big, and Roger was standing a long way from the camera, but Connie’s eye was always drawn to it. She had to be careful Eva didn’t see her looking, because she didn’t want to give her ideas. In the end Connie had to ask. ‘How’s Roger?’ she said, trying to sound as casual as possible.
