‘Is that your bike, then?’
Alice braked quickly to avoid the small figure who’d stepped out in front of her as she was returning to the nurses’ home. She was still on duty but had run out of boracic lint in her Gladstone bag, despite having repacked it only that morning. But it was just one of those things: every patient today had seemed to need it. She couldn’t afford not to have it available but she didn’t have time to stop to chat either.
However, the little girl wasn’t going to give in so easily. ‘How do you keep your balance? Can I have a go?’
Alice sighed and shook her head. ‘No, Pauline. It’s far too big for you, and really heavy.’
That only made Pauline more determined. ‘I’m very strong, Nurse. Everyone says so. Look, I’m like Popeye.’ She rolled back the sleeve of her baggy jumper and flexed her little arm. Alice noted she wasn’t wearing a coat, despite the bitter weather.
Reluctantly she dismounted. ‘You’ll need to grow a lot taller before you can ride this,’ she pointed out. ‘Your legs have to reach the ground when you’re sitting on the saddle. Otherwise you won’t be able to get on or off, or stop safely.’
‘Pity,’ said Pauline. ‘I fancied having a go.’
‘Sorry, you can’t. Not today, and not for a long while, I’m afraid. Besides, it’s for work, not for fun,’ Alice told her seriously. ‘Anyway, why aren’t you at school?’
Pauline sniffed. ‘I’m going there now, ain’t I,’ she said. ‘I’m just a bit late, that’s all. I had to see to me gran.’
‘You’re more than a bit late,’ Alice replied. ‘It’s nearly lunch time. They’ll be worried about you. Miss Phipps will be wondering if you’re sick.’
Pauline shook her head. ‘They won’t know. It’s all different now. When everyone left they changed the classes and I was still with Miss Phipps, and that was good cos I like her. But now loads and loads of kids are coming back cos there weren’t no bombs after all. Just like me gran said there wouldn’t be. So we all got to change again. Nobody knows who’s meant to be where. Me gran says they don’t know their arse from their elbow, scuse me, Nurse.’
Alice frowned. Then again, the little girl was only repeating what someone else had said and she’d probably heard far worse. ‘That must be quite confusing,’ she said. When she’d last seen Janet Phipps, the teacher had said that children were beginning to trickle back from their various billets, as parents felt there was little risk and that the whole thing had been a mistake, an overreaction. Alice hadn’t realised that more and more had returned.
‘It must be nice to have your friends around you again,’ she suggested. ‘What was your special friend called – Dotty, wasn’t it? Is she back?’
Pauline’s face fell. ‘No, she ain’t come back yet. Me gran says she won’t cos her mum’s too lily-livered to come back herself. I wish she would, I miss her something awful.’
‘So who do I know who has come back, then?’ asked Alice.
Pauline’s eyebrows went up. ‘Bleedin’ George, that’s who.’
Alice tutted. ‘That’s not a nice thing to say, Pauline.’
‘To be fair though, Nurse, his ma calls him that as well,’ Pauline said. ‘I heard her when she come to collect him from school last week.’
‘Doesn’t matter.’ Alice swung back onto her bike. ‘You’d better hurry along now. Say hello to Miss Phipps from me.’
‘If I even sees her,’ said Pauline gloomily, but she obediently turned and began walking in the direction of St Benedict’s, dragging her feet.
‘Nurse Adams! A word with you, please!’ Gwen called when she noticed the tall new nurse hanging her cloak up.
Belinda turned around and smiled in friendly greeting, but the expression froze on her face when she realised that the deputy superintendent was bearing down on her looking extremely stern. She had heard from her new colleagues that this woman had a bit of a reputation but as yet hadn’t found out why.
Gwen didn’t wait for the young woman to speak. ‘I had cause to inspect the district room after you left it earlier this morning, and I have to say that it was a disgrace. Packets of bandages were left out, the spare jars of Vaseline hadn’t been put back and there was actually a spillage. A spillage, Nurse Adams. Copper sulphate, all over the surface of one of the tables. Need I remind you how important it is that the district room is kept in immaculate order?’
Belinda blanched. ‘N … no,’ she said, casting her gaze to her feet.
‘It is of paramount importance. Paramount,’ Gwen went on. ‘Not only for reasons of hygiene, which are self-evident, but out of consideration to your fellow nurses. They must all be able to find what they require to replenish their bags at a moment’s notice. Sometimes they will have to do this with hardly any time to spare. They simply cannot risk turning up at a patient’s home only to discover some vital piece of equipment is missing.’ She paused to check that the new nurse was taking in what she was saying. ‘If any one of us leaves the district room in anything other than pristine condition, we put patient safety in jeopardy. That must never happen. Do you understand me, Nurse Adams?’
‘Y … yes,’ whispered Belinda, pushing her thick black hair out of her eyes.
‘Very well. Don’t let me have to speak to you about this again,’ Gwen finished.
‘No. No, of course not.’ Belinda could feel herself blushing. She hated the way her skin betrayed her every emotion, and knew she would be glowing like a beetroot. Pointless to say that she hadn’t spilled the copper sulphate or left the Vaseline out. Admittedly the room had been a little untidy when she’d gone in and she hadn’t taken the time to put it right, as she was close to being late for her first appointment with a new mother. But she could tell Gwen was on her high horse and saying anything would only get another nurse into trouble. That was if the deputy superintendent even believed her.
She leant against the wall in relief as Gwen turned on her heel and briskly walked back upstairs.
Mary appeared from the district room doorway. ‘Blimey, what did she want?’ she asked.
Belinda told her. ‘She didn’t even ask if it was me,’ she said, the injustice of it beginning to annoy her. ‘I know I’m new but I wouldn’t do that. We were told over and over again in our training that we were to keep the district room clean and tidy.’
Mary’s hand flew to her face. ‘Oh no. Oh, I am so sorry. I think it must have been my fault.’
‘Your fault?’ Belinda looked at her colleague in amazement. Mary had bent over backwards to be helpful to her and Primrose as newcomers, and they thought the world of her. She found it hard to believe that their mentor would do such a thing.
‘Yes, well, sort of,’ said Mary ruefully. ‘I was restocking my bag before going off to see one of Dr Patcham’s patients – have you met him yet? He’s an old sweetie, we all love him – and then someone called me from the common room so I stepped away for all of five minutes. Then I went back in and put everything back in its place. Even the beastly copper sulphate. It’s too bad you went in there after me and Gwen thought it was you. Shall I go and confess?’
Belinda shook her head. ‘No, what’s the point? She’s said her piece. It would only get you into trouble as well. Really, don’t. Thank you for telling me though.’
Mary shrugged her shoulders. ‘I am sorry you caught it from her like that. Don’t take it personally. She’s like it with everyone. Come on, have you got time for a cup of tea? Don’t let her ruin your day. If you get into that habit you’ll be miserable for most of your time here, as you don’t usually get a cheerful word from the woman. Nobody knows why, but there we are.’
‘Yes, all right.’ Belinda still wasn’t completely sure how long it would take to get to her next set of visits but she was fairly confident she wouldn’t be late. Anyway, she deserved a cuppa. Really, that Gwen could take all the joy out of a day.
Gwen pursed her lips as she flicked through a set of patient notes in her file. She’d had a vague hope that because of the war the new intake of nurses would be more conscientious, but she could see that she had been sadly mistaken. This latest pair were showing all the characteristics she’d come to expect from the younger members of her profession: lack of attention to detail, sloppiness, general indiscipline. What went on during those training courses she dreaded to think.
Perhaps they still thought they were safe, in their cocoon of a cosy home with everything provided, three good meals a day, comfy accommodation, few domestic duties. There had been no gas attacks or raids as yet, and she knew the widespread opinion was that everything would soon be over with hardly anyone suffering a scratch. Yes, there had been a few casualties, but so far they’d been far away: Scotland, or far out at sea. In London more people had been injured because of accidents in the blackout than anything else.
Gwen knew they wouldn’t escape so easily. She had been to Miriam’s house at the weekend and met her latest arrivals. Now not only did her friend have the Schmidts from Vienna living with her, but another young couple from Germany, also Jews, also fleeing while they still could, bringing with them only what they could carry. The Goldbergs had been used to a life of comfort, as he had been an engineer and she had studied to be a scientist. Now they were reduced to living in what had been Miriam’s music room, before she’d got rid of the piano.
Despite that, they were cheerful, relieved to have got away, hopeful of getting their parents out once they’d found somewhere more permanent to live. They had entertained everyone with stories about what Berlin had used to be like before the days of the Nazis, glossing over what had happened in the years just before their departure. Gwen had found herself laughing along with them, enjoying their company, and only afterwards did she pause to reflect on what had really occurred to make them take such a drastic step, leaving everything behind.
Miriam’s son Max was still in New York. ‘Of course I want to see him, more than anything,’ she’d confessed, as she and Gwen stood in her kitchen making dark, strong coffee for all the guests. She’d fussed over the silver coffee pot, the aroma bitter and pungent, which Gwen could not get used to. ‘I miss him more than I ever thought I would, and he’s a grown man now. Funny, isn’t it?’ She turned to put some spoons on a tray. ‘But Jacob and I have asked him to stay there. Not just for the business. We hope he can arrange for some of these good people to find jobs or houses; anything to get them away from Hitler and to new lives.’
‘It’s a lot to ask of a young man,’ Gwen had pointed out.
Miriam had nodded, and in the glow cast by the kitchen lamp, Gwen could see the large shadows under her friend’s eyes, almost like bruises. ‘It is, but he’s not alone. This young lady friend of his has influential family. They will help. It’s more important he does that than see his old mother.’
Gwen had tried to cheer her up. ‘Not so old. Steady on, we’re the same age.’
Miriam had smiled ruefully. ‘Exactly.’
Now Gwen slammed shut her file, exasperated yet again by the way the young nurses failed to realise what was happening virtually under their noses. As for that Belinda, well, she’d have to keep an extra-special eye on her. Just when she had thought some of the others had begun to settle down, in came trouble once more. She’d simply have to redouble her efforts to maintain standards and strict discipline in the home. The world might be going to hell in a handcart, but that didn’t mean this one establishment in the East End had to do the same.