Front Line Nurse

by Rosie James

  ‘Oh, I wish I was still going to be in my own bed tonight,’ Angelina grumbled. ‘One evening and one day at home are not nearly enough!’

  ‘Never mind, I’m back at work tomorrow, too,’ Ruby said. ‘We open first thing in the morning as usual.’

  The journey did seem to be taking a long time and Angelina said, ‘Do you remember how Miss Jones sometimes got us to sing songs as we walked back from the park? Especially when we were all tired? The thing I liked most was, “This old man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb, with a knick-knack, paddy-wack give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home.” Remember, Ruby?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ Ruby said. ‘Miss Jones was always fun, and never ever got cross with us, did she?’

  Finally, they reached the orphanage and almost at once Mrs Marshall answered their knocking with the usual resigned expression on her face.

  ‘Happy Christmas, Mrs Marshall!’ the girls chorused

  ‘Oh, I knew that was you,’ she said, standing aside for them to enter. ‘Come in and take off those wet things and I’ll dry them off for you.’

  ‘It’s very quiet,’ Angelina said as she handed over her mackintosh. ‘Where is everybody?’

  ‘Oh well – I think the kids have worn themselves out,’ Mrs Marshall said. ‘You know what Christmas is like at the Garfield! Late nights and early mornings and too many toys and sweets. This afternoon Miss Kingston decided that there should be a quiet time, so they’re mostly in the playroom reading or messing about with something or other.’

  Angelina smiled. The festive season at the Garfield was unforgettable.

  Hearing voices, Emma Kingston popped her head around her study door, and clapped her hands when she saw who it was.

  ‘What a lovely surprise! Come in! I want to hear all your news, everything! Oh – and would you bring in tea and mince pies, Mrs Marshall, please,’ she added.

  Presently, after Emma Kingston had kept the girls up to date with everything going on at the Garfield, and after she had heard all about Ruby’s life as a hairdresser, and what Angelina thought of St Thomas’s, the three sat around the small table while the superintendent opened the presents the girls had brought for her.

  There was a dainty pink scarf from Angelina, and Ruby’s gift was a jar of hand cream – suggested by Mrs Walker who’d said it was the best brand she’d come across. The presents were not expensive, because neither of the girls had much money to spare, but to the superintendent they were more precious than gold.

  ‘I shall use both of these straightaway,’ she said.

  ‘And here’s a tin of Quality Street for the others, Ruby said, reaching into her bag. ‘I didn’t know whether to buy peppermint creams or sugared almonds, but decided to be on the safe side because everyone likes Quality Street, don’t they?’ She smiled quickly. ‘I am the one having to make all these important decisions, you see, because Angelina never has the time off to do any shopping. So she trusts me to try and get it right.’

  ‘And you haven’t put a foot wrong so far, Ruby,’ Angelina said.

  Emma Kingston marvelled, once again, at the two in front of her. These two helpless orphans, who’d come into the world with absolutely nothing, had become confident youngsters, working for their living, and obviously enjoying their freedom.

  Just then there was a tap on the door and Father Laurence looked in.

  ‘Ah – sorry to intrude,’ he said, ‘but the nuns were wondering when school starts again. Is it this week or next?’

  ‘Come in, Father Laurence,’ the superintendent said. ‘Angelina and Ruby have called to see us. Isn’t that lovely? And look – there are two mince pies left here on the plate. Would you like to take them with you?’ She smiled as she spoke. The priest was very fond of his food and always seemed to know when anything sweet might be around.

  Entering, he glanced down at the girls. ‘It’s very nice to see you both again,’ he said, ‘and may I wish you a most happy Christmas.’ Then, after a moment, he picked up the pies and turned to go. ‘Thank you, I shall enjoy these with my cup of tea,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, and by the way, Father Laurence, school won’t be starting again until the week after next,’ Emma Kingston said to his departing back, ‘so the nuns have a nice long holiday.’

  After he’d gone, the three giggled together. ‘Poor man,’ Emma Kingston said. ‘I think he is a rather lonely soul and he does love popping in to see us.’

  Angelina sighed. ‘I’m afraid we shall have to go now,’ she said reluctantly. ‘I’m on duty first thing in the morning, so I shan’t be sleeping at home tonight, worst luck’

  Ruby stood up. ‘I’ll go and fetch our macks from the kitchen,’ she said. ‘I expect Mrs Marshall has got them dry by now.’

  After she’d gone, Emma Kingston looked across at Angelina kindly. ‘And you really are enjoying the nursing world, my dear, are you?’ she said. ‘I mean, are you still sure that it is what you want to do? You can always change your mind, you know.’

  ‘I never want to do anything else, Miss Kingston,’ Angelina said quietly, ‘and although it is very tiring and there is so much to learn and remember, and Matron’s nightly round is a bit frightening – she’s very, very stern – I know that this will always be the life for me.’

  There was silence for a few moments, then Angelina continued, ‘Mr Garfield and Mr Alexander – and Miss Honora – visited St Thomas’s on Christmas Eve’, Angelina said.

  ‘Oh, did they? Well, I know Mr Garfield is a great supporter of the hospital and he always takes a genuine interest in the things he’s involved with,’ Emma Kingston said. ‘Did they come to your ward?’ Were you on duty?’

  Angelina nodded. ‘I’d just finished cleaning a bed in which a young soldier had just died and I was getting off my hands and knees and holding a big bucket of disinfectant. I was dressed in a horrible overall and most unbecoming hair net and smelling of carbolic and my face was all red and I must have looked an absolute fright. I mean, why couldn’t I have been in my uniform? They came at just the wrong moment and I felt … awful. Especially as Miss Honora was immaculate! She was wearing the loveliest winter coat and hat and looked so pretty.’ Angelina paused. ‘I can’t imagine what Mr Alexander thought of my appearance,’ she added.

  Emma Kingston’s eyes softened. She leaned forward and touched Angelina’s hand for a second. ‘Miss Mason is certainly an attractive young lady, but shall I tell you what I think, Angelina? Mr Alexander would not even have noticed what you were wearing, or how hot and dishevelled you were looking. All he would have seen was a very beautiful young woman, doing her best.’

  Chapter 10

  May 1916

  Angelina stirred restlessly, not wanting to wake up. It was 5 a.m., and nearly time to get ready for another long shift. While she had been deep in an exhausted sleep, how many new patients had been admitted during the night, she wondered. How many of them so injured that the ward in this hospital would be their final resting place?

  Her thoughts rousing her fully, Angelina sat up, resting her head on her knees. When she had been so desperate to join the nursing profession, had she really thought about what it might entail? After all, she’d not been stupid enough to think that she would be bandaging damaged knees or putting TCP on scratches and soothing bumped heads, or wiping up sick. She had fully realised that it was going to be much more than that, but the reality of what she had seen, and had already had to deal with, had surpassed anything she might have imagined.

  She smiled to herself ruefully. Perhaps it would have been better to have begun her nursing career when the country wasn’t at war, because in peace-time hospitals were not likely to have seen the type of injuries that they were now confronted with every day. Then, it would have been the ‘normal’ trials and tribulations that beset the human body, and the treatment would have been set out neatly in all the textbooks. It would have been simple, straightforward, compared with today …

  Angelina glanced over at t
he other bed. Norma was a theatre nurse full-time now, and there were so many injured soldiers constantly arriving that operations went on day and night. It was like a revolving door, never stopping. Norma would come off her shift and collapse down on her bed too tired to say much at all. But later, on the few opportunities when the two of them were off duty at the same time, Norma would enthrall Angelina with what had gone on, what she had assisted with. The amazing surgeons as they literally welded broken bones together, stitched back protruding internal organs, kept helpless patients alive against all the odds.

  ‘If you’ve got an hour to spare,’ Norma had said once, ‘go to the observation balcony and watch, Angelina, if you’re interested. It’s fascinating.’

  Was she interested? Angelina was enraptured! She had taken Norma’s advice and had already stood up there several times, leaning over the balcony and taking in everything that was going on beneath her. The bright, overhead lights, the gowned and masked theatre staff moving swiftly, noiselessly, to obey the surgeon’s terse request for the specific, sterile instrument he needed at that vital moment. Angelina had watched, fascinated. This wasn’t just medicine, it was magic!

  And perhaps, one day, she, too, might join that illustrious group of the medical profession – the surgeons! She might become one of them, if she was determined …

  Now, she took a deep breath, trying to stem the kaleidoscope of thoughts that constantly filled her brain. For the moment, she was doing all right, passing all the tests without difficulty, though lectures had become less frequent because every nurse was needed on duty, and quite often it was a case of learning as they went along, learning on the job.

  *

  Later on, Angelina had just finished her fourth bed bath for the day when she felt a tug on her arm. She turned quickly. It was the new young nurse who’d only just come onto the ward and who was looking frightened.

  ‘Could you come over here a minute and help me?’ she whispered, darting an anxious glance in the direction of the senior nurse who had her back to them at the far end of the ward. ‘I should know what to do, but I’m afraid I don’t, and I’m feeling a bit funny.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Angelina said softly, accompanying her to the patient five beds along. ‘What’s happening?’

  ‘He’s gurgling and making such a funny noise, and he looks terrible …’

  They approached the patient and Angelina gasped inwardly as she saw the problem. Quickly, she reached for a bed pan just in time to catch the flow of blood coming from his mouth and lungs, and she supported him firmly as he leaned over.

  ‘Hold on, we’ll soon put you right,’ she said briskly. ‘All this will be over in a minute. Take short breaths when you are able to. That’s it … try and keep calm.’

  As she stood there trying to reassure him, Angelina felt her knees shaking. This was a typical symptom of advanced tuberculosis which she’d read about many times, but she’d never seen blood in this quantity oozing and bubbling from a patient. It was a horrible sight, and the poor man was coughing painfully, trying to clear his airways.

  ‘Don’t worry, you’ll soon be all right again,’ she said. Then she glanced at the other girl who was as white as a sheet. ‘Fetch some warm water and disinfectant so we can clean this up and make him more comfortable,’ Angelina said quietly, but the words were barely out of her mouth before the young nurse slipped to the floor in a dead faint, just as the senior nurse arrived on the scene, her eyebrows raised. It was unusual for any member of staff to collapse while on duty.

  ‘Oh dear,’ she said casually. ‘Thank you, Nurse Green, I will see to this patient while you revive your colleague.’

  *

  ‘It wasn’t very nice, Ruby,’ Angelina said, next time they were together. ‘I felt so sorry for the other girl. When she came round she was inconsolable, saying that they’d never let her go on training. But it was only her second day on the ward and she hadn’t got used to any of it.’ Angelina made a face. ‘We never know what each day is going to bring.’

  Ruby shuddered. ‘I honestly don’t know how you do any of it,’ she said. ‘I mean, the worst that can happen to me is that I don’t satisfy a client that I’ve got her set right or that I’ve let water run down the back of her neck and soaked her clothes! And so far, thank goodness I’ve been proved not guilty of either!’

  It was a Friday and one of Angelina’s rare days off. As they sat at home in their little room she was telling Ruby about what had happened earlier in the week.

  ‘I think it’s really kind of Mrs Walker to let you have today off so we can spend it together,’ Angelina said, as they sipped their morning coffee. ‘From all you say, she seems a wonderful person to work for – you really are happy, aren’t you, Ruby? You don’t sometimes wish you were doing something else, or somewhere else?’

  ‘Never,’ Ruby said at once. ‘It’s funny, but I never gave a thought about what I would do when I left the Garfield. Of course, I always knew that Miss Kingston would make sure I was all right, and as long as I was still with you, Angelina, I didn’t worry about a thing.’

  ‘Well, unfortunately we’re not together all that much now, are we?’ Angelina said. ‘But it doesn’t matter because you are quite happy being here by yourself most of the time, aren’t you?’

  Ruby thought about that for a moment. ‘I’m actually not alone all that much,’ she said, ‘because Mrs Carter is always popping down to see me, and I do look after Nesta for them whenever they want me to.’ Ruby smiled happily. ‘The baby is growing into the sweetest little thing you ever saw, and I often go up there to help at bath time.’

  ‘I’d quite like to work on the children’s ward one day,’ Angelina said thoughtfully. ‘It would be a change and something of a relief! But as far as I can see, I’m rooted to my particular spot at the moment.’

  ‘And the other thing is, as I’ve mentioned before,’ Ruby went on, ‘Mrs Walker regularly invites me to have Sunday dinner with them. I sometimes make an excuse and don’t go because I don’t want her to feel she has to ask me.’ Ruby paused. ‘I suppose I’m a bit of extra company because I think they really miss their son when it’s just the two of them there at home.’

  Angelina nodded. Ruby’s life really had knitted up together, and that was largely thanks to Miss Kingston who seemed to have an instinct about what was right for her orphans. It didn’t work every time, but it did more often than not.

  ‘Do you realise we’ve been working girls for more than a year, now,’ Ruby said. ‘When I started at the shop I never thought that I would be doing sets and perms. Something I haven’t told you, Angelina, is that last month Mrs Walker started training me to do cutting! She has a list of young customers who come in and are prepared to risk their styling in my hands so I can practise – they get a free shampoo and set as a reward, and of course she watches me like a hawk! I wouldn’t dare snip in the wrong place!’ Ruby smiled. ‘Although I really shake when I begin, I’m not doing badly. Mrs Walker says she is really pleased with my progress.’ Ruby sat back and finished the last of her coffee. ‘So there you are, Angelina, I love my job – but are you as happy as I am? Honestly? Would you like to be doing something else? You know, when it’s been a bad day and you’re really tired?’

  There was a long pause before Angelina replied. ‘I have something to tell you, Ruby,’ she said, and Ruby looked up, startled. Surely Angelina wasn’t going to say that she wanted to change her mind and not be a nurse after all? After everything she’d always said? That would be a tremendous turnaround!

  ‘I honestly believe that when I came into the world – whenever and wherever that was,’ Angelina went on slowly, ‘my destiny had already been decided for me. All I want to do for the rest of my life is to care for sick people, and to get better and better at it … to become a senior nurse … or even a matron one day. And as I go on learning, to push my knowledge and experience to the furthest limit.’ She smiled briefly. ‘And whatever horrible thing life throws at me in the futur
e, I’ll lob it straight back. Nothing will ever make me desert my post.’

  ‘Well then, that’s us two sorted,’ Ruby said. ‘Everything in the garden’s lovely – at least for the time being!’ She stood to pick up their coffee cups. ‘Come on – shall we go into town for a change and hit the shops? I’ve had so many tips lately my purse is quite full, so I can buy us afternoon tea and cakes later.’

  *

  At the end of the month as usual, the senior nurse knocked on Matron’s door and went in. This regular meeting was held to discuss staff in general – which of them may not be giving satisfaction or any who were to be switched to another ward. But for the last year, the essential focus had been on which nurse could be spared to join the medical staff in France. The situation, Matron had been informed, was becoming so desperate it was essential for more and more nurses to be transferred.

  ‘Ah, good – come in, nurse,’ Matron said. ‘What do you have for me this month?’

  The senior nurse put her file down on the desk. ‘Not too much to report, Matron,’ she said. ‘Very few call in sick or come in late for their shift. In factm I have a fairly good team at the moment.’ She paused. ‘One trainee had a bit of difficulty at the beginning of the month – but she’s getting much better at the sight of blood. I told her we all had to go through that.’

  Matron smiled briefly. ‘Well then, she will obviously not be one of the nurses I am going to ask you to shortly release for war duty.’ She glanced up. ‘In your opinion, are there any who are ready and capable to join the fray? I am told that they would like the next batch at the beginning of August, which is when medical staff who have been over there for a while are due to be sent home for some respite.’

  The senior nurse sighed. ‘I’ve only got one who really stands out, I’m afraid,’ she said, ‘and I would recommend her with regret because she would be greatly missed on the ward. She has become very competent, reacting to any situation with a calm and courage that belies her youth and experience.’