The Pearl of Penang

by Clare Flynn

  But it was no good. Mary and her mother were ushered off the train with all the other adult women without dependent children. Evie was angry yet powerless. She tried to get off too, but was ordered to remain on the train.

  Arthur had been right. Veronica Leighton was indeed waiting on the platform. Wearing an uncharacteristically simple cotton frock, she exuded a business-like manner and clearly relished being in charge. Her fingernails were devoid of their signature red polish, her hair looked as though she’d dragged a comb through it and there was no trace of her usual immaculately applied makeup. She pushed her way through the crowds of passengers leaving the train and came to stand beneath the window where Evie was leaning out.

  ‘Veronica, they won’t let us off the train. Apparently we’re to be taken straight to a ship and packed off to Australia. Can you speak to someone? Susan here doesn’t want to leave without Reggie. He’s driving down from Penang. And I want to stay with my friends.’ She gestured towards the platform where Mary had seated her mother on a bench while she tried to locate their suitcases.

  ‘There are to be no exemptions from the evacuation order, Evie,’ Veronica said briskly. ‘I’d even managed to get you a hotel room which was a bloody miracle, but they’re adamant you can’t get off the train. Frightfully sorry. You’re going to Batavia first where you’ll be put on a ship for Perth. It’s all arranged.’

  Evie saw Susan was in tears beside her. Behind them Stanford had started wailing. She leaned out of the window to speak to Veronica again. ‘Can’t you pull some strings? Not for me. Just for Susan. Her husband will be here in a day or so. She doesn’t want to be separated.’

  ‘No strings left to pull, darling.’ Veronica lowered her voice to make sure only Evie could hear her. ‘And when her husband gets here he’ll be expected to stay and fight. We may have lost Penang but they aren’t going to give up Singapore. For some reason, the army hasn’t even attempted to defend the Perak River. Arthur said the plan was to dig in there and hold the positions but I heard just now from a chap I know in Percival’s office that they’ve just upped sticks and headed south.’

  Evie stared at her. Abandoning Penang had been inconceivable but it had just happened. It seemed Britain was walking out on the entire country. She looked back into the carriage where Jasmine was sitting patiently with Hugh in her arms. The children had to come first. She had to get them out. Slipping an arm around Susan she said, ‘We have to do as they say and get the children to safety.’

  In her anxiety about being held on the train, Evie had forgotten about the Helstons. She looked over Veronica’s head to the crowds of refugees moving through the station but Mary and her mother had disappeared.

  ‘What’s happening to everyone else?’ she asked Veronica. ‘My friend Mary and her mother were travelling with us.’

  ‘I don’t know yet. But there’s plenty of work to be done. Once the mothers and children are gone, they’ll probably ship anyone else out who wants to go, but most people will be staying on here I imagine. We need men to fight and women to help in the hospitals and so on.’

  ‘What will you do?’

  Veronica shrugged. ‘I’m rather enjoying myself actually. Life had got frightfully dull lately. Nothing like a bit of war to spice things up and keep one busy.’ Her voice was chirpy. It was as if she had long been waiting for a chance to play this role and was enjoying it immensely.

  Evie stared at her. Where was the woman who had rolled her eyes and groaned at the thought of supplies of French champagne drying up? The woman who claimed war and politics were such a bore. She remembered Arthur telling her that Veronica was a consummate actress and knew how to play the part of the colonial administrator’s wife to perfection. She was clearly doing that now.

  Veronica soon disabused her of any notion that this change was more fundamental, when she added, ‘Singapore’s terrific fun at the moment. Uniforms everywhere. Parties at the club every night.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘And I do so like a man in uniform.’

  Noticing the anxious look on Susan Hyde-Underwood’s face, she quickly added, ‘Don’t worry, Suze, losing Singapore would be unthinkable. Our boys will stop the Japs before they get anywhere near. Righto, I must go.’ She looked back at Evie. ‘I’ll try and find your friend Mary. She can have that hotel room.’ Then she walked away, her right hand raised and twirling in the air in a gesture of farewell as she vanished into the crowds.

  30

  Australia felt like exile to Evie. She was relieved to have brought the children to safety but was desperate for news of her friends. She devoured the newspapers and discovered that Europeans from the entire Malay peninsula had crowded into the small island of Singapore. Officers as well as the rank and file of the retreating British army, engineers, planters, tin miners, civil servants, and their wives and children, all racing for safety to the impregnable fortress that Singapore was claimed to be.

  The men were drafted into service to lay barbed wire on the northern shore, which had been left undefended in the misguided assumption that the only conceivable attack by the Japanese would come by sea from the south.

  But on the 15th February, the island that had been the strategic pivot of the British Empire in the east, the gateway and presumed defence to the dominion of Australia, was toppled in what would later be described by the Australia Prime Minister as ‘an inexcusable betrayal’ by the British. The Japanese had achieved the unthinkable and Singapore and the Malayan peninsula now flew the imperial flag.

  Of Mary Helston, Evie heard nothing. There was nowhere to make enquiries regarding the whereabouts of unrelated individuals and the assumption was that, unless she and her parents had escaped before the fall of the city, Mary would now be in a civilian internment camp.

  The women were placed in cramped accommodation via the Red Cross – Perth and the surrounding areas were awash with refugees, not only from Malaya but also from Darwin and Hong Kong. After delays during which they were granted government loans of around three pounds a week, both women were able to access their own funds via the Australian banks. They managed to rent a bungalow together, pooling the childcare and supplementing their income by taking in paying guests.

  After several months in Australia, Susan was notified by the Malayan Agent for Tokyo Cables that Reggie was interned in the civilian camp in Changi, Singapore. This came first as a relief then a source of anxiety to Susan.

  Time dragged for Evie. It was not that she disliked Western Australia – the climate was pleasant after the mugginess of Penang and the beaches a welcome playground for the children – but she felt displaced, rootless. Neither she nor Susan wanted to risk the long sea voyage to Britain, knowing the perils of U-boats and airborne attacks. After their experiences in Penang they were grateful to be away from the main theatres of war.

  Three months after the nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the subsequent Japanese surrender, Evie returned to Malaya. Susan had left for England as soon as Victory was declared in Europe in May 1945.

  Meeting Mary Helston again shocked Evie to the core. Approaching the bungalow in George Town where the teacher had lived with her parents, Evie was anxious and unsure whether she would find anyone there. The closed shutters and neglected garden reinforced these doubts. The figure who opened the door caused her to gasp.

  Mary Helston was emaciated. Her arms and her legs were scarred and discoloured and her skin hung from her bones with barely any flesh. Dark rings circled her hollowed eyes and her cotton dress billowed about her, many sizes too large for her stick-like frame. Mary’s previously thick lush hair was thin as a baby’s, cropped short and choppy.

  ‘Evie.’ The voice was flat. She gave a hollow laugh. ‘I know. I look hideous. Would you believe I’ve already put on almost a stone. You should have seen me the day we were liberated. Come in.’

  She led Evie into the drawing room at the back of the modest house. It was cool in there, the shutters and French doors were shut to keep out the light. Evie co
uldn’t help remembering how they used to be always open so that the garden seemed part of the house.

  ‘Every day I get a little better. They say it will take time. It took more than three years to get into this state so I can’t expect to get well in just a few months.’

  ‘Your parents?’

  ‘Dead.’

  ‘Oh Mary, I’m so sorry.’ Evie felt tears welling up inside her.

  ‘We left it too late to get away from Singapore. I volunteered at the hospital. Mum didn’t want to leave without Dad. He was determined to do his bit. And no one thought Singapore would fall. When Mum and I finally got on a ship, the Japs intercepted us in the Straits of Malacca and we were arrested. We found out later Dad was in Changi from where he was sent on to a forced labour camp and died there. Mum and I were together but she died just six months before liberation. Dad had been due to retire this year. He was reasonably healthy and could have had a long life, but they killed him with hard labour, starvation and disease. Mum was only fifty-eight.’

  Evie didn’t know what to say. How could any words of comfort be adequate in the circumstances? In the end she asked, ‘Frank?’

  ‘Yes. I found out while we were in Singapore. They told me he was killed in that first air attack on Butterworth and the island. He was shot down in flames over the Straits. Wouldn’t have stood a chance.’

  They lapsed into silence. Mary looked up at Evie. Her eyes were so empty it was disconcerting, as though she wasn’t really seeing. ‘Enough about me. How was Australia? You got there safely?’

  Evie nodded, feeling guilty. ‘To Perth. It was fine. Susan Hyde-Underwood was there too, and lots of other women from here. We all looked out for each other. Some of us volunteered at a hospital. Caring for injured troops.’

  ‘The children? How’s Jasmine?’

  ‘She’s nearly fourteen. Quite the young lady. She’s been marvellous. Such a support to me. And Hugh has turned five.’

  ‘Where are they?’ Mary’s voice was flat.

  ‘Here in George Town. At home, with Aunty Mimi. Jasmine wants to see you.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. Please, Evie. I don’t want anyone to see me this way.’ Mary shook her head violently.

  Evie shivered. This wraith in front of her didn’t seem like her old friend. ‘I’m going back to live in England. I think you should come back with us.’

  ‘Come back? It wouldn’t feel like that to me. I left there when I was a small child. The place means nothing to me.’

  ‘But it would be a fresh start. A new beginning after the war. Put it all behind you.’

  ‘Why do I want a new beginning? I’d rather stay here with what’s left of the old world. With everything I love. All the little things. Things of beauty after so much hate. After all the brutality.’

  Mary’s eyes looked into space, appearing to be seeing something beyond the gloom of this shuttered room. ‘How could I leave everything I love about this island? The moths at night-time on Penang Hill. The golden orioles and the kingfishers. The sound of the breeze in the casuarina trees. Heavy rain hammering on the rooftops. How could I give up all that? What for? My memories of England are vague but they’re all cold and gloomy. And I’ve seen the newsreels. No, thank you. This is my home and always will be.’

  She gave a little shake of her head. ‘I’d never fit in in England, Evie. I’d be odd and angry and out of place. And how can I possibly leave here when everyone I’ve loved died in Malaya. Mum and Dad, Frank, and before him Ralph. Surely you can understand that, Evie? This country is my country and always will be.’

  ‘But everything will change. I’ve heard the war has bankrupted Britain and it no longer has the resources to hang onto the Empire.’

  Mary shrugged. ‘I welcome that change. We British betrayed Malaya. Let them down. We have no right anymore to try to determine the country’s destiny. The British empire is dead. It’s just a matter of letting go in an orderly manner. Maybe it will take years but I want to be a part of a new Malaya. As soon as I’m fit, I’ll be going back to teaching.’

  She wove her bone-thin fingers between each other, and Evie saw that her fingernails were discoloured and ridged. Whatever Mary had been through during the Japanese occupation had left its mark, physically as well as emotionally. Evie lent forward and placed her hand over her friend’s.

  Mary looked up at her. ‘I’ll never tell you what happened to me in that camp. I’ll never speak of it to anyone. But there’s one thing I do want to tell you. It will probably surprise you.’

  Evie waited.

  ‘I owe my life to one person. She kept me alive when I was ready to give up. She forced me to go on. And in the end, she sacrificed her own life for me and for another woman – barely more than a girl really. We both lived because Veronica Leighton protected us and ultimately sacrificed her life for us.’

  ‘Veronica?’ Evie was shocked. ‘How? What did she do?’

  Mary’s eyes were dull, void of expression. ‘In the camp Mum got dengue fever and was weak from starvation. Mum only lasted as long as she did because Veronica stole some medicine. The Japs kept all the medications from the Red Cross parcels. We had nothing. Veronica was clever. I don’t know how she did it, but she got medication for Mum. But in the end it wasn’t enough. Mum was too weak. When she died I had to dig her grave. Veronica and some of the other women helped me make a wooden crate as a coffin and helped me carry it across the camp to where the grave was.’

  ‘Oh, Mary that’s horrible. To have to dig your mother’s grave. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘That was the least of it. Everything that happened to us in that camp will go to the grave with me. But every day for the rest of my life I will be grateful to Veronica Leighton for what she did for me. She may have been a bitch for most of her life but when faced with what we faced, she chose to do the bravest thing I have ever known. When they caught her they executed her. We had to watch. That’s all I’m going to say. Please don’t ask me anything more.’

  An icy chill spread through Evie’s veins. No matter how much she had loathed Veronica Leighton, that she had been murdered in cold blood by the Japanese was too brutal to contemplate.

  After a few moments silence, Evie asked, ‘Do you have any idea what happened to Veronica’s husband? Arthur.’

  Mary shrugged. ‘No idea. He’s probably dead too. He wasn’t in Singapore. I do know that.’

  ‘That night we left Penang, he told me he had trained to stay behind. To hide in the jungle and try to perform sabotage. Behind their lines.’

  ‘Well, he’s almost certainly dead.’

  Unable to control her emotions, Evie began to sob.

  Mary looked up in surprise. ‘My God! You have feelings for him, Evie? For Arthur Leighton. I’m terribly sorry. I was tactless. I wouldn’t have been so blunt if I’d realised.’

  Taking her handkerchief from her handbag, Evie wiped her eyes. ‘Don’t apologise. I only asked you in the hope that you might know something. I’ve been making extensive enquiries, but no one seems to have a clue what happened to him. I can’t find any official records in Singapore or KL. That’s why I’ve decided to go back to England. I’m hoping the Foreign Office might be able to give me some information about what happened to him.’

  Mary stretched her lips into a tight line. ‘Look, Evie, it’s extremely unlikely he would have survived as a white man behind enemy lines. If he was lucky, he was killed in a skirmish. If he wasn’t, and was captured, he would almost certainly have been executed.’

  Evie shuddered. But something inside was telling her that if Arthur was dead, she’d know it. She’d be able to sense it, and she didn’t.

  Mary broke the silence. ‘What will you do when you’re back in England?’

  ‘Get the children into schools. Buy a home for us. I’ve been making enquiries and it appears I can sell Batu Lembah to one of the big companies. I never want to set foot in that place again. It’s cursed for me. I’m renting the house in George Town.
Thank God, Aunty Mimi and Benny both came through the war. They want to stay on there to look after whoever rents the place. And I’ve given them each a little nest egg. It was the least I could do after the government abandoned them.’

  ‘And the other estate? The one the Hyde-Underwoods managed?’

  ‘I’ll keep Bellavista if Reggie wants to continue to manage it or sell to him if he wants to buy – Douglas wanted Hugh to take over from him eventually. I always intended to stay close to Doug’s wishes. But I can’t live my whole life based on what he wanted. And it’s not right for Hugh to be forced to follow in the steps of a father he never knew. He has to make his own choices.’

  ‘And you? What about you, Evie?’

  ‘I’ll keep looking for Arthur. That’s all I want to do.’

  31

  January 1946, London

  At a coveted window table in the Lyons’ Corner House in Coventry Street, near Piccadilly Circus, Evie was sitting with Jasmine and Hugh, surrounded by carrier bags full of school uniforms. She was exhausted. Remembering Mary Helston’s assertion that England was always cold and gloomy, Evie had to admit her friend was right. Today had been draining, trailing from shop to shop, an increasingly tetchy Hugh dragging his feet, while Jasmine tried not to show her boredom with the whole business. London was grim, foggy, and still bearing the scars of the Blitz, gaps in rows of buildings like missing teeth, bomb sites everywhere. Getting the school uniforms had been a trial – to get each child kitted out had necessitated visits to several different stores as rationing meant stocks were desperately low.

  During their time in Australia, Hugh and Stanford Hyde-Underwood had formed a solid friendship, so that it was unthinkable that they should be separated in England. Reggie had returned to Bellavista and Evie had agreed a plan for him to continue to manage the estate with an option to buy eventually. She herself had no wish to go back to live in Penang. Susan felt the same, refusing to return with her husband. The couple had talked of holidays and Reggie coming to England each year, but Evie sensed their marriage would never recover from the war. Reggie had survived internment in a camp in Borneo but, like Mary Helston, was unwilling to talk about his experiences, which had driven a wedge between the couple.