by Betty Neels
She glared at him from puffed-up eyes. ‘Give those back!’ she snapped, and then had the wind taken out of her sails by his instant compliance. He didn’t say anything either, only asked her to get the male orderly to go to his room when he had the time and went back to his reading.
He put the book down the moment she had left the room, however, and when the orderly arrived, wrote busily for a few moments and then handed him what he had written with the request that it might be handed in to the radio room as soon as possible.
It wasn’t until the following morning, while Annis was peering at the fast healing wound, neatly surrounded by plaster, that Jake remarked casually: ‘We’re going back to the station today—Willy sent a message.’
She put down her forceps carefully. ‘You’re not fit to go. Oh, I know you whip around on your crutches, but you’ve only just finished your antibiotics.’
His black eyes gleamed with amusement. ‘My dear Annis, it’s only my leg which is out of action, not me. I can manage perfectly—the men can come to me, and if I need to move around you can drive me in the jeep.’
‘Indeed I’ll do no such thing.’ Her splendid bosom heaved with annoyance. How like him to arrange everything just so to please himself!
‘Oh, I thought you could drive…’
‘Of course I can drive.’
‘Well, what’s the argument, then? Not scared?’
‘No, I am not.’ She added accusingly: ‘I suppose you arranged all this behind my back.’
His dark eyes held no expression. ‘Yes; it’s time we were all back at work. I’m bored stiff and so is Harald, and you’re unhappy.’
Annis blushed. ‘I don’t see,’ she began stiffly, ‘that you need to poke your nose into my business.’
‘But my darling girl, I have done no such thing; for one thing I’ve much too much to do that’s far more interesting. What gave you the idea, I wonder?’
The blush, which had subsided, got worse. ‘You’re impossible,’ she told him coldly, and went away to help make the beds in the general ward.
But she realised that sooner or later she would have to find out at what time they were to go. When she had finished her work in the ward, she went back again to Jake’s room. ‘When are we going?’ she wanted to know.
He was standing balancing himself on his crutches by the window, looking out at the world outside. ‘After lunch—two o’clock at the latest. The weather report isn’t good, so we won’t hang around.’ He glanced at her. ‘If you would pack our bits and pieces?’
She went to see Harald next, still a little pale but playing cards with another patient. ‘We’re going back after lunch,’ she told him. ‘I’ll pack your things—do you want to say goodbye to anyone? I should do it before lunchtime, Jake says he wants to get away on time.’
She went away to pack her own scanty possessions, say goodbye to her colleagues and new-found friends and then to help serve lunches. She had barely time to eat her own when she was warned to be ready to go within a few minutes and went back to Jake’s room to find him lying back in his chair, asleep.
She frowned. She hadn’t been told how they were to get down to the plane—Harald had said carelessly: ‘Oh, with the jeep, of course,’ and the fear that she might be expected to drive the thing had been simmering in her head ever since. She turned to go and find someone to settle the vexed question, but Jake stopped her. Without opening his eyes he said: ‘They’ll drive us down. There’ll be an orderly with us to help me on board; all you need to do is stand about and look beautiful.’
She gave an indignant snort and he opened an eye. ‘Do you blush when you’re angry or because you’re shy?’ he wanted to know.
‘Neither. It’s very warm in here.’ She turned away towards the window and stared out at the road—the road where she and Ola had walked only yesterday. The memory of it all washed over her in a great wave of misery and she stood there, fighting back a desire to have a good howl, even if Jake were to stand there mocking her.
But he didn’t do anything of the sort. His voice was gentle. ‘Don’t try and creep back into yesterday,’ he advised her, ‘it never did any good. Come over here and I’ll tell you who’s off sick at the station…nothing much, but as you’ll have to take them in hand you’d better know.’
Annis forced herself to do as he asked so that despite herself she had no more time to think about Ola, and she was kept busy when the jeep arrived and even busier seeing Jake and Harald safely stowed in the plane. Freddy was piloting it and she was so occupied by all three of them asking questions and inviting her to express an opinion on every topic broached that she forgot all about herself.
They received a royal welcome, too. Anyone would think that we’d been away for years instead of a few days, thought Annis as she was borne away to give an account of herself and her patients to the boss. A quite unnecessary exercise as it turned out, for Jake was already there, sitting with his plastered leg stretched out on a stool, looking as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
Willy gave her a thoughtful look over his old-fashioned spectacles.
‘You look as though you could do with a few days off.’
Jake answered before she could even open her mouth. ‘That’s the last thing she needs; she’s had several days tasting the delights of Ny Aalesund—daily visits to the shop, tea with the pastor, cards every evening with the nurses, not to mention all the bustle of hospital life. Besides, if she doesn’t get down to the cooking stove pretty smartly, we shall have an unending queue of men with indigestion.’
Willy laughed, although his eyes were shrewd. ‘I must say we missed your splendid meals.’ He went on without giving Annis a chance to say if she wanted some free time, ‘If you feel you can, we could all do with a good supper. If you like to start, my dear, I’ll tell Jake about the few cuts and bruises which may need your attention.’ He smiled dismissal and she went, not looking at Jake, tiresome man that he was, arranging everything to suit himself, as usual.
He certainly kept her busy during the next few days. No sooner had she finished one thing than he demanded something further of her, and as well as that he expected her to drive him each day to the radio station where some of his tests were being undertaken. She was speechless with annoyance the first time as well as being scared of going off the narrow track, but the doctor didn’t appear to share her feelings; he sat beside her, his plastered leg sticking out awkwardly, carrying on a rambling chat about nothing much, and on the return journey he had his eyes shut, presenting the appearance of a man peacefully sleeping.
The fine weather held, but she didn’t accept any of the invitations to go out fishing with any of the men, or make expeditions to see the colonies of seals in the neighbourhood. Instead she sat in her room, thinking of Ola. He had treated her badly and she told herself unendingly that he wasn’t worth another thought. Besides that, although she hadn’t admitted it, even to herself, he had behaved very badly when Harald had fallen into the water. Even loving him as she did, she found that hard to forget. Why couldn’t he have been like Jake, calm and resourceful and utterly dependable? And vexing too, she reminded herself, and then frowned fiercely because he had thumped on the door with his crutch and told her to come at once.
She had joined him reluctantly, but he had ignored that. ‘There’s a whale fairly close in to the shore,’ he told her. ‘We don’t sight them very often, it’s worth making an effort.’
Annis stopped herself just in time from asking him crossly what effort he was talking about and accompanied him down to the flat tongue of land where several men were standing, her heart in her mouth in case he should miss his footing and fall again. In the excitement of seeing her very first whale she forgot all about Ola.
It was strange to her that no one ever spoke of Ola; he had been with them for only a short time, but he had seemed popular with everyone. The wish to know as much as possible about him even though it was turning the knife in the wound caused her to ask Nils Var
dal, a tough young Norwegian with an open face and a steady gaze, whose hand she was dressing: ‘No one ever mentions Ola Julsen…’ She tried to sound casual.
He answered her instantly. ‘Because we are ashamed of him. We are proud, we Norwegians, and I think brave. He left you in great danger with Jake—he should have remained with him and sent you for help. For this we do not forgive him easily.’ He added as an afterthought: ‘Also Jake said that we were not to speak of him to you.’
Annis bent her head over his hand. ‘This is quite a nasty burn,’ she managed to keep her voice calm. ‘That was very considerate of him and all of you. You’re all so nice—I love being here and I shall be sorry to go.’
‘Not yet, surely? Freddy’s staying until September. It’ll be a bit wintry by then, of course.’
‘I don’t think I’d mind that—in fact I think I’d like it, but your regular nurse and cook will be coming back before then, won’t she? I can’t do her out of a job. Besides, I must find myself work in England again.’
‘You wouldn’t like to work in Norway?’
‘I think I’d love it, but I can only speak about a dozen words. I shall go there on holiday though, just as soon as I can.’ She straightened up. ‘There, that should do, but come back tomorrow morning, will you? Jake will want to look at it.’
She tidied up slowly after Nils had gone, her thoughts busy. She had been a fool about Ola, but he had been so different from Arthur; she had really believed that he loved her too. Well, the quicker she got over it, the better, she told herself, at the same time acknowledging that it would need something rather out of the ordinary to make her do that.
And as it turned out, it was something out of the ordinary. It was three days later, after a period of lovely clear weather, that the grim mountain tops disappeared into heavy clouds and the sea, reflecting their grimness, took on an inky darkness. Willy warned her not to go far from the station: ‘Just in case there’s a bit of wind,’ he advised her. ‘We don’t want you blown off your feet.’
She nodded obediently, privately of the opinion that nothing less than a team of wild horses would induce her to leave the shelter of the huts. It was something very different from wild horses which sent her down to the rocky shore, though. She had been standing at the surgery door, watching the sky grow even darker, when a gust of wind had blown a seabird against the rocks and it fell injured. Annis took another look at the sky; if she sprinted there and back she would be quite safe. There was little wind and only the beginnings of a faint, mistlike rain. She didn’t even stop to get a jacket, but sped across the lichen-covered ground, across the tongue of rock and in the direction of the radio station. She could see the bird lying a few yards ahead, one wing flapping helplessly.
It made no objection to her picking it up; its wing was broken, but otherwise it seemed all right. She tucked it under her arm and began her return journey. She had reached the tongue of rock, the sea lashing it on both sides now, when she heard the wind, a soft, angry roar coming over the mountains, and a moment later it was upon her, rocking her on her feet and taking her breath. The bird fluttered helplessly and she grasped it tighter—she wasn’t going to let it go now after having rescued it, all the same she had been foolish to disregard Willy’s warning. The mist was swirling round her now, flung hither and thither by the wind. Annis wasn’t a panicky girl, but now she would have liked to give way to panic. Instead she started forward again, terrified that she would be blown into the water or miss her way in the mist. She didn’t see Jake at once, coming to meet her on his crutches, but when she did she caught her breath and then let it out in an urgent cry:
‘Go back, Jake, do go back. You’ll be blown over… Jake!’
The last was really a very small scream, for the wind had caught her and turned her round and just for a moment she thought she would fall.
‘I’m not sure if I was meant to go or come,’ observed Jake in an ordinary voice which restored her calm a little. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? I reminded Willy to tell you not to leave the station.’
She stood within the circle of one great arm, rather hampered by the crutches but feeling safe. ‘He did. It was my fault—I saw this bird fall and I came to fetch it; I thought I’d be back long before anything happened.’
‘Understandable but foolish.’
‘I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t think. It’s—it’s rather frightening, isn’t it?’ She added: ‘Only not now you’re here.’
He made a small sound which might have been a laugh. ‘Well, we’ll have to stay for the moment; probably it won’t last long and if it does, someone is bound to come looking for us.’
She relaxed against his arm. ‘You weren’t looking for me?’ she asked uncertainly.
‘Not exactly. I saw you running across towards the radio station. How is that bird?’
‘He’s here, under my arm—I hope he’s still alive.’ She was too squashed to see the creature. ‘I can’t really see him, not without…not unless you let go of me, and I’m too scared for that.’
‘I won’t let you go.’ His voice was placidly matter-of-fact; there was nothing about it to set her heart pounding and her suddenly chaotic thoughts racing, so clear and so vivid that for an awful moment she wondered if she had uttered them aloud. It wasn’t Ola she loved; he had become a cardboard figure meaning nothing at all. Romantic he might have been, but romance—that kind of romance didn’t matter any more, only Jake’s enormous arm holding her safe and his quiet, reassuring voice. She wanted to stay with him for the rest of her life and there would never be anyone else; she knew that, even in the shock of her discovery, it stood out like a huge milestone and wasn’t to be denied. And at the same moment the whole glorious wonder of it was doused by the knowledge that he wasn’t even faintly interested in her. He was kind and friendly and careful of her, but in a casual, big-brother fashion, and he had never bothered to spare her feelings…and on top of that she wouldn’t see him again once she had left the station.
The quiet matter-of-fact voice brought her back to reality. ‘The mist’s clearing, it usually does after a few minutes, though it comes back sooner or later. We’ll nip back now.’ He took his arm away. ‘Hold my crutch, and for God’s sake look where you’re putting your feet.’ He glanced down briefly. ‘You should be wearing your boots.’
Her meek: ‘Yes, Jake,’ was lost in the howling wind.
They reached her hut without mishap and he went in with her, to find Freddy taking his ease with a book. He looked up as they went in, said: ‘Hullo, hardly the weather for a stroll, is it?’ and went on reading.
His sister gave him a resigned look. ‘We weren’t strolling—there was this bird…’
She laid it gently on the table and Jake bent to examine it. ‘A broken wing,’ he pronounced, ‘A wooden spatula should do—I’ll get one from the surgery.’
Freddy got to his feet. ‘I’ll get it,’ he said obligingly. ‘You don’t look quite so peaked, Sis, the tempest seems to have done you good.’
He wandered off and left the two of them, Annis standing nervously by the small centre table, aware that the doctor was studying her face.
‘He’s quite right,’ he observed. ‘You’ve quite lost your looks, Annis—perhaps you do need some days to yourself.’
She felt her cheeks redden; if he hadn’t been handicapped with his crutches she would have thrown something at him. Unfair, of course, for she knew, none better, that the pale, serious face she was forced to look at each time she made it up was plain with its grief. And now it was another grief, not for Ola any more but for her companion’s detached manner towards her. She could have burst into tears with the greatest of ease.
‘Thank you, Doctor,’ she told him austerely. ‘I’m perfectly all right as I am, I certainly don’t want days off; I know Ny Aalesund very well indeed now and there’s plenty to keep me busy here.’
He grinned at her, lounging on his crutches. ‘Well, I hardly thought you’d want to go back to Ny Aalesu
nd, though I’m afraid you’ll have to go once more before you leave to get the next lot of stores.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Freddy will fly the plane—and take care not to rescue any handsome young men on the way.’
The fire died out of her cheeks, leaving them paper-white, and she had to bite her lip to stop from crying. She would never forgive herself if she did, and luckily Freddy came back then with the spatula.
‘Nasty weather outside,’ he remarked cheerfully, ‘hope it wears itself out before morning, it’s my early duty.’
Nobody answered him as he sat down again and picked up his book, and Jake moved to the table and began to splint the bird’s wing. He had large hands, beautifully kept, and he was very gentle. When he had finished he looked across at Annis. ‘Where shall we put him?’
She didn’t quite look at him. ‘There’s that little empty room at the back; the window’s covered in mesh—I’ll put a tub of water there… Food?’
‘Fish. No difficulty there, you can get all you want; there’s always someone fishing. It’s a simple fracture, it shouldn’t take long to knit. As soon as the weather clears we’ll let him live outside. He won’t go away; he can’t fly and he’ll have discovered that he’s getting free meals.’
He gave her a lazy smile and went away and she listened anxiously to the tap of his crutches, terrified that he might fall.
Freddy said, without lifting his eyes from his book: ‘Don’t worry, Sis, he’s able to look after himself.’ And when she turned her green eyes on him: ‘Nurses always fuss over their patients.’ His look was limpid.
The bird proved a distraction which helped Annis. It was a suspicious creature, gobbling its fish while it eyed her suspiciously, trying to fly with its splinted wing held awkwardly, and after a couple of days, when the weather had cleared again and it was settled out of doors between the huts, it sat gloomily for the greater part of the day, but once it drew towards evening, even though it was never dark, it came to life, uttering piercing cries and waking everyone up. The doctor, taking a look at its wing after surgery, declared it to be a damned nuisance. ‘We’ll be handing out sleeping pills,’ he complained to Annis. ‘It’s a good thing it’s healing well.’ He straightened up and leaned on a crutch. ‘I’ve christened him Immortal.’