The Mersey Angels

by Sheila Riley

  ‘A surprise? For me?’ Nipper sounded doubtful. ‘I haven’t had many of those, Is it a good one?’

  ‘The best,’ Anna said, ‘and I will probably break every rule in the book, but I don’t care. I have someone who will be thrilled to see you without your bandages.’ She turned, leaving Nipper to wait for her return.

  He decided to close his eyes, just for a moment, to rest them.

  When he opened them again, he thought he was still dreaming when he saw his Ma standing beside the bed, and she had tears in her eyes. With his bandages off, he could see the deepening lines on her face, as tough as old boots. She didn’t cry for nothing or nobody, but now she was wiping her nose on a clean handkerchief and sniffing past herself.

  ‘It’s so good to see those lovely chocolate-coloured eyes again?’ Izzy’s voice was as soft as a kitten’s purr. ‘How are you feeling?’ Her heart went out to her son who looked like he had been in a fight with one of those tanks the fundraisers were so eager to buy.

  ‘My hand’s a bit sore, like,’ Nipper said with his usual understatement, ‘but apart from that I’m tickety-boo. But don’t tell the doctor, Ma, they’ll be shoving me out the door and back on the battlefield.’ He grinned, knowing he was a long way off being sent back to the battlefield, but he didn’t want his Ma worrying over him. ‘I love being here and you visiting every Sunday. Ashland Hall is another life from the battlefields, and I felt sorry for all those poor men still out there.’ He started coughing and wheezing. He had talked too much.

  ‘I’ll get the doctor,’ Anna said, fearing he had overdone it. The damage to his throat caused by gas burns had blistered and she worried they may become infected, even though she had been scrupulous in her care, but Nipper still looked a little flushed. ‘We will have you up in no time.’ Anna’s voice was upbeat, even though she was worried, feeling heartsore for the lad who was so young and vulnerable, she saw the pain etched on his face, even though he tried to hide it with a lazy grin. But Izzy could not hide her worry. ‘Doctor Bea will come and have a look at your hand, just lie back and have a little rest.’

  ‘Diya think they’ll cut it off, Nurse?’ Nipper’s eyes were wide in alarm, and Anna knew it was a consideration if his wounds became gangrenous, but she had to keep him calm.

  ‘Not before tea.’ Anna’s words encouraged him to relax a little.

  As she turned to go and fetch the doctor, she heard him say to his mother in a throaty whisper, ‘She’s a real angel you know, Ma. If anyone can fix me it’s Anna.’

  ‘Rest your voice, Nipper,’ Anna said soothingly. And when he began to cough, she hurried back to his bedside, offering him a drink of water. ‘You’re going to be fine.’ Anna smoothed his sheets and patted his good hand while Izzy sat by her son’s bedside, having been allowed to stay at Ashland Hall for the night. ‘I will make sure of that.’ There was not a lot Anna could do for him, but human contact and gentle words were a comfort at a time like this.

  ‘That night…’ he struggled to speak, and she gently shushed him. However, she could see he wanted to go on. ‘The night… of the fire…’

  ‘The fire?’ Anna asked, her heart plummeting at the thought of that Christmas Eve six years ago when her life changed forever.

  ‘Jerky got riled… you’d got the better of him, see…’ Nipper took a deep breath, ‘you, putting him on his arse like that… sorry for the language…’ Nipper closed his eyes as if trying to block out the memory. But Anna realised he needed to speak out. To make his peace. Because there was no telling what he might say. ‘He went and got rags… and paraffin…’ Nipper was talking about the night her mother and two of her three brothers perished when their house was on fire. The police never did find out who started the fire.

  ‘What did he do then…?’ Anna was afraid to ask, but she needed to know. She held her breath and listened to the young lad.

  ‘He lit the rags, and…’ Nipper was obviously exhausted now, slumping back on the pillow.

  ‘Go on.’ Anna’s mind could barely take in what he was telling her. His face was solemn. His words, halting. Nothing prepared Anna for what she heard next.

  ‘He waited until you’d gone with the big fella… Kincaid… Then he went back to your house. He thought everybody had gone to church and he stuffed the lit rag through your letter box.’ As if all the energy had been sucked out of him, Nipper shrank into the bed as a chill of iced water ran through Anna’s veins. She stood at his bedside with Izzy.

  His mother gripped Anna’s arm, ‘Oh Anna,’ Izzy gasped, ‘I am so sorry.’

  ‘Are you telling me your brother murdered my family?’ Anna felt numb. She could not voice the terrible thoughts of revenge that were crashing through her mind.

  Nipper barely nodded. That night changed her life forever. She lost her whole family. Her mother and two younger siblings died and Sam was taken by the church and sent to Canada. Anna had not seen him for six long years.

  She saw Izzy’s tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

  ‘Jerky’s a downright badd’n, and Nipper hasn’t got anything to do with him. Please don’t think that, Anna.’

  ‘I’m no angel, Izzy,’ Anna said, ‘and I promise you this, if your oldest lad ever has the misfortune to cross my path, I will not be held responsible for my actions. But I will do everything in my power to save this young hero.’

  For the next few days, Anna felt as shell-shocked as the soldiers coming in from the battlefields. She kept going over and over the revelation in her head.

  ‘It’s my fault,’ she told Archie when the information became too huge to keep to herself. ‘If only I had not challenged Jerky Woods. If I had gone straight home… given Ned the money to take back to Ruby. If only I had gone to check on Michael and James first.’

  ‘It was not your fault, Anna,’ Archie’s tone was determined as he headed out of the door to begin his daily duties, ‘don’t you dare think that.’

  When Anna arrived on duty a couple of days later, she found the ward unusually quiet. The young soldiers, always eager to hear news, were all in their beds, quiet as cherubs.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Anna asked Ellie, who was closing the curtains round young Sproglet’s bed.

  Ellie shook her head, and Anna’s heart lurched. Popping her head through the curtains, hoping to see him sitting up at least, Anna saw the sooty lashes of the young soldier resting on marble cheeks and she knew immediately this young Sapper would not be going outside today. Or any day after that. He had passed away in his sleep.

  ‘He had a smile on his face,’ said Ellie, ‘as if he was glad to meet his maker.’

  Anna was surprised at how sad she felt. Young Sproglet, as she too had come to call him, could not read, and write his own mail he had jumped at the chance when she offered to write to his family, to let them know he would appreciate a visit. But he took a nasty turn when the infection in his leg became uncontrollable, and he was moved nearer to Matron’s office, swapping beds with Nipper.

  ‘The poison travelled quicker than anyone could have foreseen, it knocked the life right out of him.’

  ‘Why do the good ones have to go first?’ Anna asked, unaware of the tears running down her cheeks.

  20

  October 2016.

  ‘Are you off duty this afternoon?’ Anna asked, catching Ellie coming out of the long ward, where the more boisterous, recovering soldiers were singing round the grand piano.

  ‘…What’s the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile…’ The rousing chorus of military voices filled the mezzanine and Anna sighed. It had been a busy morning and she wanted to get away from the house for a while.

  Ellie nodded, yes, she was off duty.

  ‘Oh good. Do you fancy a train ride into Liverpool?’ Anna loved her vocation, and she valued being back at Ashland Hall. Nevertheless, her head had buzzed with thoughts of Ned all day. She had forgiven Ned for walking out without saying goodbye knowing she could never stay mad at him for long. Especially when the
stories, bandied freely round the wards, were so bloodcurdling. They were beginning to set her nerves on edge, because she knew whatever these brave men had been through, her Ned and Sam would be experiencing the same thing.

  ‘One of the Tommies told me there was a cracking film on at the Scala,’ Ellie said eagerly. ‘It’s been extremely popular by all accounts.’

  ‘Is it a comedy? Is it Charlie Chaplin?’ Anna threw the words over her shoulder as she led the way into the sluice room. ‘I don’t fancy watching The Perils of Pauline again,’ she said, handing the bedpan to the VAD nurse standing nearby.

  ‘No,’ Ellie said eagerly, ‘it’s called The Battle of The Somme. It was premiered in London.’ She watched Anna’s grim expression. ‘Apparently, in the last six weeks of general release, twenty million people have seen it!’

  ‘Twenty million?’ Anna’s eyes widened. ‘And it shows real soldiers, not actors?’

  ‘Real soldiers,’ Ellie repeated, ‘in a real battle.’

  Seeing what their men had to endure would give Anna a better understanding of what this awful war was all about, because, as things stood now, all they saw was the result of the fighting overseas, not the cause.

  ‘Oh yes, let’s,’ Anna said and Ellie, always up for a train ride into Liverpool, smiled broadly.

  ‘I heard the soldiers talking about it, and they say it is incredibly graphic.’

  ‘Is it?’ Anna looked doubtful, and when Ellie nodded, she said, ‘I’m not sure I want to see that… Is there a Mary Pickford on?’

  ‘Don’t be such a wet blanket, Anna,’ Ellie laughed. ‘I heard that King George has given it his approval.’ Ellie looked even more eager now, and grudgingly Anna agreed to go, if it was good enough for the King…

  ‘As long as it is not all dead bodies and buildings being blown to pieces.’

  ‘Certainly not, dear.’ Ellie laughed. ‘Who wants to see all that kind of thing in a war film.’

  The picture house would be full to bursting, given the size of this queue, Anna said, doubtful they would even get a seat. Ellie agreed as they queued outside the Scala, dressed smartly in jaunty hats and good woollen double-breasted coats to keep out the early October chill.

  A moment later they heard their names being called.

  ‘Is that you, Nurse Anna! Nurse Ellie?’

  The two nurses stood on the tips of their toes to get a good look at the owner of the commanding voice.

  The doorman, in full khaki uniform had his right arm missing.

  ‘Alfie!’ cried Ellie. ‘You got out then?’ Alfie was one of her Tommies from her days at The First Western. He had been in a right state when they admitted him, but he rallied quickly and soon became the life and soul of the ward. Ellie looked after him from the beginning, even when he was moved to Ashland Hall and she used to lark about, calling him her shadow. ‘I’m ever so glad to see you looking well,’ she said when he ambled along the line.

  Alfie edged back the crowd of onlookers, and beckoning the two nurses forward, said to the muttering crowd: ‘These are our ministering angels… The women who fix our boys.’ He looked proud, as if he had personally brought them to the line when a cheer went up.

  Anna could feel her face grow hot, but Ellie was loving the attention.

  ‘You didn’t have to move us to the front of the queue, Alf, we were quite prepared to wait our turn,’ Anna said as they were ushered into the brightly lit foyer.

  ‘Speak for yourself,’ Ellie answered, giving Alf a nudge of thanks with her elbow.

  ‘If I know anything, you two have been on your feet all day. You need a good sit-down.’

  ‘Thanks Alf,’ Anna said, buying some sweets at the kiosk. ‘Here, take these as a thank you and give them to your children.’

  ‘Oh Miss, you shouldn’t ’ave,’ he tugged the peak of his cap, ‘but I ’ave to be honest, the little ones will be right pleased.’

  Anna and Ellie managed to get a seat near the front of the picture house and settled down to watch the flickering black and white images on the big screen. Through a pall of cigarette smoke, they were entranced. Soldiers, sweethearts, mothers, and wives gazed up, their mouths agog as the film showed the new horrors of war… poison gas, flame-throwers and tanks aimed at the men.

  Unable to rip her eyes from the screen, Anna gripped the seat. Her stomach churning at the battle horror now showing ceiling high. Wounded soldiers on the shoulders of their brave brothers-in-arms. Others resting in the muddy trenches, writing, sleeping, and smoking to pass the time as explosions erupted behind them. There had been a lot of footage on the big screen, but none as ‘real’ as this.

  Viewing ‘The Big Push’, which took place last July, the film showed the joint offensive of English and French armies hoping to break through the German lines to achieve victory on the Western Front. But that was months ago.

  Anna’s heart was beating so fast she could hardly breathe. Everywhere was bare and stark, not at all like the posters, now papered on every street wall. She recalled the days when the men, fuelled with nationalistic fervour, thought they were marching off to the dawn of Britain’s greatest glory, the images of loyal mothers and daughters stood at neat windows, patriotically waving to their boys as they cheerily marched off… To this.

  ‘The women of Britain say go…,’ Anna whispered, repeating a familiar slogan, as tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘To this hellish place!’ Clearly now, in her mind’s eye, she saw Lord Kitchener’s forefinger pointing to England’s bravest, enticing them into the army, and now he was dead too.

  Another camera angle showed a soldier carrying his wounded oppo on his shoulder through the trench. A close-up showed his cheery smile, his laughing eyes, and soldiers all round them. Suddenly Anna grabbed Ellie’s arm when she saw a familiar face. It couldn’t be him. Could it?

  ‘Sam!’ The name of her beloved brother burst from Anna’s lips when she saw him smiling out at her.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Ellie asked, knowing it had been six long years since Anna had seen her brother.

  ‘It’s Sam! I know it’s him.’ Anna was on her feet and the audience turned to watch her, almost dancing with contained excitement and pointing to the screen, as a rousing chorus filled the picture house. ‘What’s the use of worrying…’ the audience sang, ‘it never was worthwhile… so… pack up your troubles in your old kitbag… and smile… smile…. Smile…’

  Laughing now, thrilled at seeing her beloved and much-missed brother again, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, Anna knew what she had to do…

  ‘I’ve got to go and find him, Ellie!’ Anna had to shout to be heard above the singing. After Nipper told her that his absconding brother Jerky Woods had caused the fire that changed Sam’s and her life so dramatically, she was determined. ‘If the Good Lord spares him, I am going to bring my brother back home to his birthplace, back to Liverpool.’

  ‘And I’ll go, too!’ Ellie put her arm round Anna’s shoulder, and with a new determination, they both joined in the singing.

  ‘What’s the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile so…’

  But Anna could not help but worry.

  21

  Dusk was descending when they left the picture house, and they were in no hurry to face the patients back at Ashland, after having seen how they got their wounds.

  ‘I told Aunt Ruby of my intentions to nurse overseas, but I don’t know what she will say when you tell her you’re going too,’ Anna said, when Ellie declared that she was going as well. ‘She is not going to make it easy for either of us to go.’

  Nevertheless, Anna brightened when Ellie laughed, and said impertinently, ‘I know, we could take her with us.’

  ‘She could be England’s secret weapon,’ Anna quipped, holding on to her hat as a gust of September breeze threatened to whip it from her head.

  ‘The Germans would run a mile if they saw Aunt Ruby stampeding towards them.’ Ellie doubled up with laughter at the idea of Aunt Ruby stampeding anywhere.

&n
bsp; ‘Oh, Ellie,’ Anna wiped the tears of laughter from her cheeks, ‘you are outrageous.’

  ‘She wouldn’t mind,’ Ellie said, ‘Aunt Ruby can take a joke, look how she wiped out the old gardener when he tried to tell her she could not demolish the rose garden, to make way for a vegetable patch. That was a sight to see and proved Aunt Ruby is not for the faint-hearted.’

  ‘Look at that,’ Anna said, ‘those women are trying to give that fellow a white feather.’ It had become a widespread practice for some women to issue men out of uniform with the commonly acknowledged sign of cowardice.

  ‘Let’s not get involved. Who knows what the situation is?’ Ellie answered.

  Anna shook her head at the ferocity of the female race, her mind returning to the amazing footage of the soldiers which they had just seen and the heart-stopping moment when she saw her brother for the first time in six years. Anna wanted to talk about it at length with Ellie, discuss every detail of the film in the teashop, but she noticed that it was already closed. One thing she did not want to do was to interfere with suffragists dishing out their own reprimand to men who would not fight.

  Scarcely glancing across the road, Anna immediately recognised the man yelling and cursing at the two women from the public house doorway.

  ‘That’s Jerky Woods,’ Anna gasped, ‘Archie told me he was still AWOL! And according to Izzy, her son only married Lottie so he could return home each night from the training camp and be paid for the privilege.’

  ‘Didn’t he go absent without leave when he found out his battalion were on standby to go overseas?’ asked Ellie and Anna nodded.

  ‘Yes, he said he had an affliction,’ she told Ellie. ‘It is called cowardice.’ Since she had known what he did, she had dreamt of getting revenge on Woods for what he had done to her, her brother and their family all those years ago. ‘I’ll show him what people from the dockside do with murdering cowards.’ She was about to cross the road when Ellie grabbed her arm.