Mary raised her eyebrows. ‘Like I said, you’ll be back, I’ll put money on it. A penny it’s within the fortnight. What do you say?’
‘I … I don’t really bet,’ Alice said, secretly shocked. She had been raised to think of gambling as a sin, and yet here was Mary blithely offering to put money down on a patient getting sick again. It didn’t seem right, but she didn’t want to appear too disapproving on her first day.
‘Oh, Alice doesn’t like a flutter but I do.’ Edith’s eyes gleamed. ‘Just you wait till I have my first case.’
‘Didn’t you get called out today, then?’ Alice asked.
‘No, I’ve been unpacking and making myself familiar with where everything is around here,’ Edith explained. ‘Nearest bathroom, quickest way down the stairs, who sleeps where, that kind of thing. Met a few of our colleagues and heard all the stories about which doctors are easiest to work with and which try to palm you off with patients they don’t want to deal with. Tested out which of the chairs down here are the comfiest.’
Alice nodded. ‘Have you been outside?’ She had a very good idea of what Edith had been on the lookout for.
‘I might have.’ Edith rolled her eyes. ‘There’s a solid tall fence to the side but the one at the back is a bit rickety.’ She grinned.
Alice said nothing but sent a silent message to her friend to go no further. Neither of them knew Mary well enough yet to share what Edith was up to, but Alice was sure she’d been checking for ways in and out after curfew. She’d done the same at their last place, working out where the rotten fence posts were and pushing in that way if she hadn’t got back in time. Alice didn’t exactly approve, but she wasn’t going to land Edith in hot water if she could help it.
Mary remained blissfully ignorant of what was going on under her nose. ‘I got called out just after you left. One of the girls who works in the gas-mask factory had run a needle through her hand, but hadn’t done anything about it. She stayed off work but only thought to tell the doctor once the wound started puffing up. Should have disinfected it immediately but too late now. Anyway I cleaned it and dressed it and she should be all right, but it’ll take her twice as long to heal than if she’d had it seen to at once.’ She shrugged.
‘Gas-mask factory?’ Edith sat up in her hard-backed chair.
‘Yes, it’s not far from here. Used to be a furniture factory but now it turns out all those ghastly masks in case there’s a war. Which there won’t be,’ Mary said confidently, draining her cup.
Alice looked up. ‘Are you sure? There are lots of people who’d disagree with you.’
Mary nodded. ‘Oh, of course. Mr Chamberlain wouldn’t declare war, that’s tosh. He’ll keep us safe, there’s no question of it.’
Alice swallowed slowly. She wondered how her new colleague could be so definite in her views when all around quiet preparations were going ahead in case the worst came to the worst. This very morning they had seen many kerbstones painted white to stand out if the city was in blackout, and from the top deck of the bus they had glimpsed skylights painted black to hide any lights beneath them. ‘So why are they making gas masks?’ she asked.
‘It’s just a precaution,’ Mary said breezily. ‘I expect they’ll go back to making toys or whatever those factories did until recently. Give them a few months and all the panic will be over. I’m not going around wearing a gas mask, I can tell you that right now. It’s bad enough trying to keep my hair in order as it is.’
‘Yes, they aren’t really designed with fashion in mind,’ said Edith, trying to make light of it while keeping an eye on Alice. She knew her friend followed public events with keen scrutiny, and had little patience with people who buried their heads in the sand. Would Alice start an argument now? Normally she was the most level-headed person around, but she had been known to grow hot under the collar about world affairs.
Alice held her tongue, but Edith could see it was an effort. ‘Well, all I can say is there are lots of Canadian and American servicemen in town, so I shan’t complain.’ She smiled at the memory of the last time she’d been out dancing.
‘Edith, you are dreadful,’ said Alice, but without malice. ‘Mary, pay no attention to her.’
‘Oh no, I completely agree,’ Mary said. ‘They’re so smart, aren’t they? And I do like their uniforms. Especially the Canadians. They’re so straightforward; you haven’t got to go through the usual palaver about who their families are or if they’ve gone to school with your brothers.’
Edith nodded dubiously. She didn’t usually have to worry about that sort of thing, especially as all her brothers had done their best to avoid school whenever possible. ‘Lots of them are good dancers,’ she said.
‘Aren’t they just? And they aren’t shy to ask you onto the dance floor,’ Mary said with growing enthusiasm. ‘We’ll have to put them to the test the next time our shifts allow. We’ll have such fun. Long may they stay over here.’
There was a sound from the door, a gruff cough, and an older woman appeared in a highly starched nurse’s uniform.
‘That’s enough of such frivolous talk, Nurse Perkins,’ she said, her expression lined with severity, her cardigan buttoned tightly all the way up to her throat. ‘You might think war is just an excuse for dancing with young men, but I can tell you right now it is no laughing matter. Besides, you owe it to your training to put your profession first and not to lower our standards. Kindly bear that in mind.’ She let her gaze rest on each of them in turn before abruptly swirling around, leaving them open-mouthed.
‘Who was that?’ asked Edith after a moment.
Mary pulled a face. ‘Gwen. You heard her earlier. She’s been here for ever, and is as old as the hills. Well, as you saw. She disapproves of everybody and everything and her pet hate is anyone enjoying themselves. As she’s Fiona’s deputy, she’s always telling us off for something. Bet she hasn’t been out dancing for years. Well, that’s not my fault.’
Edith grimaced. ‘That’s too bad, but I can tell you right now, I think we deserve a bit of fun in our time off. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a nurse and I work hard, but everyone is entitled to a spot of recreation now and again. Isn’t that true, Alice?’
Alice paused. She’d caught a look in the older woman’s eye that made her wonder why she was so sharp, so judgemental. Still, it couldn’t be much fun watching young nurses arrive, full of life and energy, if you were older and more set in your ways.
‘You go on out and enjoy yourselves,’ she said. ‘I’m no good at dancing. I’d rather stay in with a good book, if you want the truth.’
‘Oh, I’m sure that can’t be so!’ Mary exclaimed. ‘Look at you, you’ll be bombarded with offers to dance. We’ll have to take your rejected suitors.’
Alice smiled gamely but her heart wasn’t in it. She had no intention of going dancing, with Mary or anyone else. She used to do it with a light heart but that was before. She was no longer that carefree young nursing student. Life had seen to that.
As soon as Mattie and Kathleen opened the door the steam hit them. Delicious wafts were coming from the kitchen and they could hear Mattie’s mother singing at full volume, unaware that anyone had come in. ‘My old man said follow the van,’ she sang, slightly off-key.
Mattie grinned. ‘Come on through, then we can put Brian down with Gillian.’ She led the way down the short corridor to the big kitchen, three times the size of Kathleen’s, where little Gillian was tucked into a cot in the corner and her grandmother stood at the range, her sleeves rolled up and her face red with the heat from cooking.
‘Kathleen Berry! And there was me