East of India

by East of India (retail) (epub)

  She closed her hand over his. ‘I know you don’t. But the guards will. I’ve made many plans, but now it’s up to you to make one. I don’t think I can think straight any more.’

  He nodded. ‘And nothing can be arranged overnight. Escape has a high price. Anyone involved is likely to forfeit their life.’

  Nadine swallowed the fear that sat like a stone in her throat. ‘We both know what Yamamuchi is like. He’s a cruel man and I am but a toy. I dance for him and he…’

  ‘I have to do this – or die in the effort.’

  Their eyes locked. They had made a pact. There was no going back.

  * * *

  When Lucy took the news to Peggy and the others that they were finally to be transferred, the hut erupted with noise.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Caroline, Betty and the rest of the women were agog with excitement. Only Rosalyn, who worryingly seemed to be enjoying the lifestyle, expressed reservations.

  ‘We’ll be terribly hungry. And we’ll have no clothes, no soap, and certainly no make-up.’

  ‘And nobody to dress up for,’ said Peggy with a caustic sneer.

  ‘It can’t come soon enough.’

  ‘And what about the money Madam Cherry owes us?’

  ‘Don’t count on getting anything. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask.’

  Peggy got to her feet. The high humidity and direct sunlight outside the shady hut brought her out into an immediate sweat. Feeling a little light-headed, she leaned on one of the uprights holding up the roof. After a few deep breaths she felt better, though the pain in her stomach did not go away. Neither did the one in her head.

  She marked Madam Cherry walking the camp and decided the time was ripe.

  ‘Madam,’ she called, running after her, then dropping into a deferential bow once they were face to face.

  ‘Madam,’ she bowed again. ‘I hear we are to go to the women’s camp. Is this true?’

  There was hesitance on the heart-shaped face, and bad temper lurked around the little red mouth. Her response was sharp. ‘You do go there. Very shortly. The colonel is a good man. He has arranged this.’

  Peggy adopted as subservient a demeanour as she could. ‘Yes, Madam, but perhaps it is thanks to you that the nurses visit the camp and do what we can for the women there. I thank you most sincerely for allowing this.’ It was a downright lie. Nothing happened without the colonel’s permission but Peggy knew when to suck up.

  ‘I am glad to see you appreciate it,’ said Madam Cherry.

  Peggy pretended she did. In her mind she wanted to slap the woman on both cheeks. Perhaps one day she would, and by God would she enjoy doing that! But for now she took large bites of humble pie. ‘I do. We all do.’

  ‘So you should. You should be grateful.’

  Peggy judged the humble pie had gone far enough. ‘The money you earned from us is rightfully ours. We should have been in that camp ages ago as prisoners of war. I understand it is our right under the terms of the Geneva Convention.’ Her knees shook. It took guts to mention this.

  Madam looked at her aghast. ‘Japan does not recognize the Geneva Convention.’ Tossing her head in disgust she pattered back into her shady domain, the bamboo door closing behind her.

  Nadine called out to Peggy from around the back of Genda’s private quarters where the chickens were pecking at rice grains and grass stalks. Genda was with her. ‘Great news,’ whispered Nadine. ‘Genda tells me the Japanese Imperial Army are being beaten back. It’s only a matter of time…’

  Peggy grimaced. ‘Hope they get here before we’re all dead. We might be over in the internment camp. Still. I’m glad to be going there.’

  ‘She said we will all be going over to the women’s camp once the Japanese women arrive. But not those from countries allied to Japan. She means nationals from those countries that have been overrun.’

  Nadine felt herself heaving with relief. ‘When?’

  ‘Soon. She said she’ll speak to old Iron Pants. It is he who will make the final decision as to the actual time and date.’

  Nadine grinned at Peggy’s disrespectful name for Yamamuchi. No one would dare call him anything like that to his face. ‘I can’t wait. She’s made money from my dancing. But she wants Yamamuchi to herself.’

  Peggy’s blue eyes sparkled with disbelief. ‘Don’t say the bitch is in love with that bastard.’

  ‘And jealous with it.’

  ‘Christ.’

  Nadine exchanged a worried look with Genda. ‘The sooner I get into that camp the better. If he doesn’t kill me, she certainly might.’

  Genda handed out cigarettes, the three of them sitting in the shade beneath the hutch, the chickens clucking and scratching above them. It was the only place they were truly alone.

  Peggy snapped a cigarette in half, passed one half over and stuck the other between Vaseline-coated lips. Vaseline was their mainstay beauty treatment. Adding a little of a tangy herb used by the Malay girls helped keep the mosquitoes at bay.

  Peggy inhaled deeply, then exhaled the smoke with a sigh of relief. ‘She’s got you doing everything for these chickens.’

  ‘I don’t mind. I collect the eggs.’

  She felt Peggy’s eyes on her. She smiled. ‘Once it’s dark I slide the guard a few Kooas.’ She pulled three cigarettes out from her bodice. ‘He sneaks off for a smoke and whilst he’s away I pass a few eggs beneath the fence.’

  Peggy’s eyebrows rose in surprise. ‘Beneath? How and when did you dig that?’

  Nadine smiled. ‘I didn’t. The kids on the other side of the fence build little castles and forts in the dirt. The guards smile at them, but don’t interfere.’

  Peggy had a rich laugh, the sort that turned heads and influenced people. ‘My, but you’re a sharp one, Nadine Burton.’

  ‘Steady,’ said Nadine. She held a finger to her lips. ‘We are in the dragon’s lair.’

  Peggy slid sidelong looks at Genda. In her heart of hearts he still represented the enemy, and yet she could see there was a strong bond between the American-Japanese man and the Anglo-Indian girl beside her. Every so often as they sat there enjoying their smoke, she eyed her with undisguised curiosity.

  ‘You’ve got a wise head on your shoulders for a girl not yet twenty years of age.’

  Nadine shook her head. ‘I feel so much older.’ She glanced at Genda. ‘Sometimes I feel as though I’ve lived a lifetime.’

  ‘Peggy, I have to tell you something. I’ve got a little problem…’

  ‘It’s not little. I was waiting for you to tell me about it, but you’ve been taking your time. I was a midwife, you know.’

  The smell of nicotine effectively masked the cloying reek of chicken dung and dusty feathers.

  The major got to his feet. ‘I have to go.’ With great affection he touched the top of Nadine’s head, gently ruffling her hair as though she was a much loved child.

  Once he’d left, Peggy spoke again.

  ‘Major Shamida seems a good sort, well, as far as you can regard any Japanese as a good sort. You know, the only good Jap is a dead Jap…’

  ‘He got caught up in this like the rest of us. I think he’s frightened.’

  ‘Of Yamamuchi?’

  She nodded. ‘And he hates him. It’s all to do with what happened in China.’

  They’d all heard about China and the outrages there.

  ‘I’m frightened of him too,’ Nadine added.

  Peggy remained silent as they finished the cigarette. ‘If Yamamuchi finds out I’m pregnant he’ll kill me. I have to escape.’

  ‘But you’re pregnant! You need to be with us – me and Betty.’

  Nadine shook her head. ‘You know that I can’t.’

  ‘So what will you do?’

  ‘Escape. I have to. So does the major.’

  Peggy’s blue eyes narrowed questioningly.

  ‘Both of you?’

  ‘Both of us.’

  Peggy sighed. She felt sick but wasn’t sure whether it was physical
or apprehension that Nadine and Major Shamida were entering dangerous territory. Attempted escape was punishable by death. Even the major would not be immune if it was found he’d aided her effort – worse still that he was escaping with her.

  ‘How?’

  Nadine lowered her voice despite the fact that only the chickens were likely to overhear her. ‘There’s a gate behind the guardhouse.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Genda… Major Shamida showed it to me.’

  ‘Why didn’t you say before?’

  ‘Someone might have done something stupid.’

  ‘You bet they would.’ Peggy sounded angry. She frowned. ‘Why haven’t you used it?’

  ‘Sometimes it’s guarded. It’s behind the guardhouse so don’t expect it to be easy. And if we don’t get transferred into the internment camp, I intend to use it.’

  Peggy slapped the dust from her behind as she too got to her feet.

  A languid breeze swept the dust of the chicken run into dancing swirls before letting it resettle. Storm clouds brooded in the east, but still the sweat seeped into uniforms, sarongs and rags and down the spines of men and women alike.

  * * *

  Unseen by the two women, Madam Cherry watched with a glowering expression. She could not hear what had been said and did not care. Jealousy burned greener than the jungle, hotter than the torturous glare of the midday sun. The main thing about conceding that some of the women would be transferred to the internment camp was that Nadine would be one of them. Now she had found out that it was not to be so. Yamamuchi had taken great pleasure in telling her this.

  A centipede chose that moment to scuttle close to her foot. The creature was harmless but had chosen the wrong time to make his presence felt. Clenching her jaw she maimed it with the toe of her shoe, enough to leave it writhing in soundless agony, just as she was.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Lights-out was approaching and there wasn’t much time. There was a tension in the sultry air falling on the camp from a moonless sky. The darkness was good. Not so good was the sheet lightning so desperately promising rain but failing to deliver.

  Yamamuchi had left the camp for a meeting with a general somewhere. Madam Cherry had gone with him.

  Lucy and Peggy sneaked in to see Nadine. She found a little sake at the bottom of a clay bottle. The three of them took it in turns to sip before passing it on. There were also rice cakes smeared with honey. It was frugal but still something of a treat.

  Lucy sighed. ‘I hear the Japanese courtesans are coming at the end of the week. I can’t wait to join the other women.’

  ‘I agree,’ said Peggy. ‘Not that it’s any great shakes. Beriberi is rife and there’s not enough nutrients in watery rice and rancid vegetables, I’m afraid. The poor sods need protein. It’s the kids I’m most worried about…’

  Nadine looked up at the mention of children.

  ‘They need eggs,’ she exclaimed.

  Peggy agreed with her. ‘Yes. Any form of protein for that matter. There’s the fish, of course, but not enough and as for meat… well… I think they’ve forgotten what it tastes like though I’m told rat or snake flesh is a little like chicken.’

  ‘Madam Cherry is out,’ Nadine said suddenly.

  ‘So?’

  Nadine got to her feet. ‘Then I’d better work fast.’

  ‘You’ve got some eggs left from this morning?’

  ‘A few, but a night-time raid on the nesting boxes should add a few more.’

  ‘What if you get caught?’

  ‘I won’t.’ She didn’t explain that a quiet soldier named Corporal Suzuki and trusted by Genda, eternally grateful for selling him bits of jewellery for his beloved, did the stealing on her behalf. ‘I marry her after the war,’ he’d explained to her in halting English. ‘I go home to Nagasaki. We marry there in Catholic Church.’

  ‘I bought some more food from the Chinaman. I’ve got some here but he’s bringing more tomorrow.’

  ‘How did you manage that?’ asked Lucy. Everyone knew the man only came in once a week unless by special request.

  ‘One of the guards likes shortbread.’

  ‘Shortbread?’ cried Lucy and Peggy in unison.

  ‘I found a single tin of it amongst Madam’s loot. Some poor mother had sent it out from England with her Malaya-bound son. The shortbread must have made it. Not sure about him, though.’

  ‘You can’t help everyone, Nadine,’ said Lucy, frowning and wondering just how many people Nadine was bribing and how soon she might get found out.

  ‘I know that, but helping just one mother and her children…’ She stopped herself before putting her feelings into words, telling Peggy about the pain her own mother had suffered. ‘A mother’s heart bleeds for her children.’

  ‘You’ve never been a mother.’

  ‘No. But I had one.’

  Lucy turned away. She’d so wanted children but now wondered if she ever would. None of them would ever be the same again.

  Nadine had noticed her retreating into herself more and more. She’d hoped this evening might have lifted her spirits. Perhaps she’d be less insular once they were in the internment camp.

  ‘How are you paying for these extra eggs?’

  ‘With a ring.’

  ‘Another ring?’

  Nadine nodded. ‘Yes.’

  Peggy shook her head. ‘Now come on, Nadine. ‘You didn’t have any rings on your fingers when you came here.’

  ‘Of course not. I hid them.’

  ‘I don’t believe you. How are you doing this? Are you stealing valuables from the She-Dragon, because if you are you could end up in bloody hot water?’

  Nadine looked at Peggy and grinned. ‘I could show you, but you must keep it secret.’

  ‘Cross my heart.’

  Nadine glanced at Lucy who had heard and looked interested. ‘Let me show you.’

  They slipped through the back door of the solid building that housed the storeroom and Nadine’s own quarters.

  ‘This,’ said Nadine, placing her hand on the smooth surface of the highly polished credenza. She opened the drawer, slid it out and then reached in.

  ‘This,’ she said, holding up the small casket, ‘is my newly acquired wealth.’ She rolled the rings and other jewellery into the palm of her hand. ‘Imagine how much fish and eggs we can buy with this.’

  Peggy puffed out her cheeks and made a whooshing noise. ‘Think how much quinine, salts and other medicines!’

  Nadine dangled the sparkling gems before Lucy’s eyes. ‘They’re pretty,’ said Lucy.

  ‘They’re a means to an end,’ said Nadine. ‘I don’t want this baby to be born here.’

  Peggy eyed her thoughtfully. ‘How about a termination. We could do it.’

  Nadine’s eyes met hers. ‘I don’t… we don’t want our baby born here.’

  Lucy gazed at the credenza as though it was the high altar in a richly decorated cathedral.

  ‘Then you must escape.’

  * * *

  The hens had laid well. Two fresh eggs and she had a Korean guard as lookout.

  She added one dozen eggs to the half-dozen remaining in the bucket. The others had already been distributed to Madam’s business associates both inside and outside the camp. Under cover of darkness she packed the remaining eggs into an empty tin, gathered up a few items from the storeroom and slid the whole lot into a half-filled rice sack. The rice would cushion their journey over the rough scrub to a spot where the wire fence of the internment camp was not so heavily guarded as elsewhere.

  The wind was more vigorous and the first droplets of rain fell like pennies on the parched earth. Tree branches beyond the fence heaved like a huge black sea.

  The women on the other side of the fence were taking advantage of the cooler air and the sprinkling of rain, milling around whilst their children slept inside their cramped huts. Their muted conversation was accompanied by the sound of rain falling into improvised containe
rs. There was never enough water for both drinking and washing.

  Gaunt and ragged, the inmates ambled about, staring at the sky or merely sobbing in a dark, secret corner.

  She’d studied Doreen’s habits from afar and knew where to find her. She’d tried to contact her, called her through the fence, but Doreen either didn’t hear or preferred to ignore her.

  There were six feet of wire and several guards between them, and yet it might as well have been six miles.

  Nadine knew Doreen had seen her, but also guessed Doreen regarded her as a traitor. After all she was living a more comfortable life than those in the women’s camp. None of them were to know that their time in the Bamboo House was running out. Soon they too would simply be prisoners of war, wearing rags and eating slop. Perhaps she could get in touch with Doreen then and explain… if she hadn’t escaped by then.

  Frequent flashes from a thunderous sky threw light upon their features. Hostility disfigured the old Doreen just as badly as the scabs on her face and her filthy hair, hair that was probably now hosting a colony of lice.

  A guard approached, apprehensively looking around him to check if anyone was watching.

  Nadine passed him a packet of cigarettes; they were French and bartered in exchange for a small bag of rice. Madam had a good supply of cigarettes in her storeroom, but Nadine was being cautious. She’d already received a beating when it was noticed the tin of shortbread had gone missing.

  ‘Go!’ He gestured with the muzzle of his rifle.

  Nadine slid down the shallow bank and across the gully to the barbed-wire fence.

  ‘I’ve brought this for you.’

  Doreen’s tense figure turned round at the sound of her voice and sidled nervously closer.

  For a moment Doreen stared, frowned and looked angry, not seeming to hear what Nadine was saying and offering her.

  ‘Doreen! Take these. Quickly!’ Nadine passed the sack of rice, eggs, sugar and tinned peaches into Doreen’s snatching hands. ‘And this.’ At great risk she had added a box containing a Dundee fruitcake. Goodness knows how long it had been in the storeroom wedged at the bottom of an army kitbag, like many other things sent out from Britain by a loving mother to her soldier son. The rice remained in the bottom of the sack to cushion future smuggled items.