Far From Home

by Anne Bennett

  ‘Will she recover?’

  ‘It’s too early to say categorically,’ the doctor said. ‘But early indications point to the fact that, if she was to recover, she would have quite extensive brain damage.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Are you a relative?’

  ‘No,’ Kate told him. ‘My sister lived with Ruby because she was engaged to her son Phillip, who is – I mean was – in the Army.’

  ‘And it was the arrival of the telegram telling her of the death of her son that brought this on.’ the doctor said. ‘That much the ambulance drivers were told by the neighbour who found Mrs Reynard unconscious.’

  ‘Yes, my sister was at work, and when the neighbour told her what had happened she came to find me.’

  ‘And has Mrs Reynard other family?’

  ‘She had,’ Kate said. ‘They were all wiped out with TB, and Phil was the only one spared. I don’t know if there were other relations; my sister always said that it had just been Phil and his mother for years.’

  The doctor shook his head. ‘The human mind is very powerful,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, people make remarkable recoveries, many of which confound the doctors, usually when the patient has powerful reasons to want to go on living. In Mrs Reynard’s case, on the other hand …’

  He didn’t have to complete the sentence; his meaning was abundantly clear. Kate thanked him for his time and went to get the tram to Sally’s place of work. She went to the main office to say who she was and why she had come, but it was lunchtime, and so when she went into the cloakroom to collect up Sally’s handbag and normal clothes she was inundated by her work colleagues, eager to find out what had happened. They were all stunned. Some shed tears; many were aware they could receive such news about their loved ones at any time. ‘We thought it must have been summat big like,’ one of the girls said to Kate. ‘You can’t talk in the factory, but someone come and took her away like and we never saw her again.’

  ‘I feel ever so sorry for her,’ one of the others said, and there was a murmur of agreement, and another went on, ‘Ah, it’s ever so sad. Sally was always talking about Phil.’

  ‘Yeah, and they really did love each other,’ another girl told Kate. ‘I worked at the Plaza with Sally before we came here and you only had to see them together … You could almost feel it. I don’t know what she will do or how she will recover from this. I knew Phil as well and he was always happy. He was smashing.’

  ‘I know he was,’ Kate said. ‘It will take Sally some time to get over the loss of him.’

  ‘Yeah, if she ever does.’

  ‘Oh, she must eventually,’ Kate said. ‘Because that is what Phil would want.’

  Sally was up and dressed in Kate’s clothes and Dolly had gone back to her own flat when Kate arrived home. When Kate told her how ill Ruby was, she insisted on going up to see her that afternoon. Kate went with her, but let Sally go in to see Ruby alone while she sat on the bench in the corridor. She saw the shock on her sister’s face when she approached her later. ‘It’s like she’s already gone,’ she said. ‘In fact, I said goodbye to her.’

  ‘Ah, Sally.’

  ‘Don’t be too sympathetic, or I will start blubbing again,’ Sally warned.

  ‘No harm in that.’

  ‘Yes there is if you do too much of it,’ Sally said, and she struggled for control as she went on: ‘I have to learn to live a life without Phillip in it, and at the moment that realization is very painful; so painful it’s as if a shard of glass is piercing my very soul.’

  Kate was overcome by the sadness of it herself. She wrapped her arms around her sister and they wept together. Eventually, Sally pulled herself out of Kate’s arms and said shakily, ‘I warned you what would happen if you did that.’

  ‘Maybe you needed that release,’ Kate said.

  ‘Maybe I did,’ Sally said. ‘But all the tears in the world will not change the fact that my beloved Phil is dead.’ And Kate marvelled at her young sister’s courage when she went on: ‘I think Ruby will not regain consciousness and I hope she doesn’t. Life for her without Phil would be too hard.’

  ‘And what about you?’

  Sally lifted her chin in the air in a gesture of almost defiance as she said, ‘I will do what Phil would expect me to do, and that is to go on and do anything I can to help win this war, so that his death will not be in vain. And now,’ she added, ‘we had better go home. We can do no good here.’ But as they made their way to the tram, Sally said, ‘We need to see Reverend Simpson, the vicar of St Mark’s, as well, so we may as well do it now.’

  Kate guessed that Sally was giving herself no time to think and asked, ‘Is it far?’

  ‘No distance at all from the house,’ Sally said. ‘In fact, you nearly pass it on the way to the house because it’s on the corner of Bleak Hill and Hesketh Crescent. If we take the tram as far as the Stockland pub instead of getting off nearer the flat, it’s only a step away.’

  ‘The vicar will know who Ruby is, I suppose.’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ Sally said. ‘Ruby used to go regularly, and Phil too before he joined up, so he’ll want to know what has happened to them.’

  ‘Well then, we can call at the house as well and collect some stuff for you at the same time,’ Kate said.

  ‘And I need to see Phoebe next door as well,’ Sally said. ‘She will be wondering and she was right fond of Ruby.’ And then she looked at Kate and asked, ‘I suppose it is all right if I move in with you for a bit?’

  ‘Of course it is,’ Kate said. ‘But let’s get a move on because we have a lot to do today.’

  Reverend Simpson was upset at the news Sally gave him. His lugubrious grey eyes darkened still further and his slack mouth drooped further downwards as he commiserated with her. And when she cried at the sympathy in his voice, he didn’t seem to feel any awkwardness or embarrassment and knew all the right things to say. Kate was impressed, conceding that he couldn’t help his long face and mournful expression. In fact, in his job, to look like that could even be considered an added advantage. The man certainly seemed genuine and concerned, and said he would go straight away to see Ruby in the hospital. ‘And,’ he added to Sally, ‘remember, my door is always open should you have need of anything or even if you just want to talk.’

  ‘He looks like the prophet of gloom and doom,’ Kate said as they walked away. ‘But I think his heart is in the right place.’

  ‘Oh, I think it is,’ Sally said. ‘Phil used to say …’ She stopped and swallowed deeply before going on in a firmer voice: ‘Phil always spoke highly of him and, even though he was only a little boy when his father died, his mother had always said how good he had been then, and Phil could remember how much he helped them until he left school and went to work.’

  ‘I like to hear of clergymen practising what they preach,’ Kate said. ‘But I had a thought when we were in there.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, if Ruby dies, you shouldn’t really go to the funeral.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I never understood why we couldn’t,’ Kate said. ‘But it’s forbidden in the Catholic Church.’

  ‘Well,’ said Sally with a toss of her head, ‘you know what the Catholic Church can do, don’t you, because if you think I am not going to Ruby’s funeral because of some daft rule we don’t even know the reason for, then you can think again.’

  ‘I’m not the enemy here,’ Kate said gently. ‘As a matter of fact, I think you are right, and I’ll go with you. If we are cast into Hell’s flames because of it, then at least we will be together.’

  A ghost of a smile played around Sally’s mouth at Kate’s words and a wave of love for her older sister rose up inside her. She grasped hold of her arm as she said, ‘Oh, Kate, I do love you and appreciate your support and everything.’

  Kate was embarrassed beyond measure and she coloured slightly as she said, ‘Course I’ll support you, you daft ha’p’orth. That’s what big sisters do. Now we’ll go and see that neighbou
r of yours and collect some clothes and anything else we can carry that you might need.’

  Phoebe came to the door with an apron tight around her middle and a turban on her head. Kate saw a stout lady about Ruby’s age with startling blue eyes, which darkened with sympathy as Sally told her the news. ‘I guessed it would be bad,’ she said. ‘And you and all, Bab. What shocking news for you. That’s why I got stuck into the cleaning. Nothing like it to stop you thinking. Have you time for a cup of tea?’

  ‘No, thanks all the same,’ Sally said. ‘We only came back to fetch some clothes because I am staying with my sister for a bit.’

  ‘Ah, you do right,’ Phoebe said, removing her apron as she spoke. ‘Better to be with your own at a time like this. And I’ll be away to the hospital to see if I can see old Rube. And you know where I am if you should need owt.’

  ‘Yeah, thanks, Phoebe,’ Sally said. As they moved away she added to Kate, ‘Nosey as anything. Wants to know the ins and outs of everyone’s business, but she would do anything for you. Salt of the earth, Ruby used to say she was.’ Kate heard the slight sob in Sally’s voice as she said Ruby’s name, but she didn’t comment on it. She knew that any sympathy might cause Sally to break down, and as she sensed she was holding herself together with difficulty, they walked back to the flat in silence.

  Ruby died the following day. The hospital made all the arrangements for the funeral and Sally found an insurance policy in Ruby’s shelter bag that would pay for the cost of it. She was glad of this because she couldn’t have allowed Ruby to lie in a pauper’s grave, and yet the cost of even a modest funeral staggered her.

  As it was, Ruby went out in grand style in a shiny mahogany coffin with brass handles. Susie was astounded at the number of people at the funeral. Ruby had lived in the same house all her life, and so Phoebe wasn’t the only neighbour who came to show their respects. Susie and her mother had broken the Roman Catholic rule too and come along to support Sally.

  There were a fair few young people as well, girls who Sally worked with and some young men in uniform who had been friends of Phil’s. Phil would have no service and no grave, but as a couple of them explained to Kate later, they felt the least they could do was attend Ruby’s, for she had been well known to them when they had been boys together. They were sure, they said, that Phil would have expected them to do that.

  Reverend Simpson also took this fact on board and mentioned Phil in the address, saying he was sadly missed as well. He said he had been one of the country’s heroes and a fine young man who had paid the ultimate price in the fight for freedom and justice. ‘He will live on in the hearts and minds of many,’ he said. ‘This funeral is for his mother, a dear lady I knew well who loved her son. So this funeral is also dedicated to Phil’s memory.’

  Even Kate had a lump in her throat when he finished speaking, and from the snuffling and sniffing around her, she knew Sally wasn’t the only one in tears. And then they travelled to nearby Witton Cemetery for the burial. No other relations had been traced, and so it was Sally who was asked to throw the first clod of earth and then Kate and Susie. And, as the dirt thudded on to the coffin, Sally felt as if it had been a brief interlude in her life that was now over, almost as though it had never happened.

  After the funeral, Sally stopped taking the sleeping tablets that the doctor had prescribed for her just after Phil’s death because she thought they were making her feel too lethargic. ‘I seem to be exhausted all the time,’ she complained to Kate. ‘I’m frustrated with myself.’

  ‘Why worry?’ Kate said ‘There is nothing spoiling, and you have been signed off sick from work for a few days. I will have to go back tomorrow but you haven’t to rush.’

  ‘It’s the rent on the house,’ Sally said. ‘I have to make a decision about it soon.’

  ‘Are you going to keep it on?’

  ‘Well, I can’t afford the rent on my own,’ Sally said. ‘And it is far too big for just me anyway, but I was wondering if you and David would like it instead of this flat. It isn’t much more to pay than you do now and it has a bathroom upstairs and three bedrooms, so when David came home I wouldn’t have to move out.’

  Kate thought about it and thought it would be lovely to have her own bathroom and her own front door and little patch of garden back and front; it was a semi-detached and a better and bigger house than the one David’s parents had. Houses were like gold dust to obtain – in fact if she passed this one up, they might not have another chance of one for years.

  ‘D’you know, Sally, that’s a great idea,’ Kate said. ‘I really should ask David what he thinks, though I don’t imagine he’ll object. But trying to get hold of him now is very difficult, and his replies take even longer to reach me, so I’ll write and tell him. Meanwhile, I’ll give notice here and start moving into Ruby’s old house, if you’re sure?’

  ‘Course I’m sure.’

  ‘And you won’t be haunted by bad memories?’

  ‘Memories are not held in bricks and mortar,’ Sally said, ‘though I think Ruby thought differently. But my memories – both good and bad – are locked in my heart. I had a lot of happy times in that house, so, yes, I would like to go back to living there again, especially with you.’

  A fortnight later, after an almost tearful goodbye to Dolly Donovan, who said they had been model tenants whom she would miss very much, they were ready for the off. Everyone lent a hand to move Kate and Sally and their possessions to their new abode, much to Phoebe’s delight. Kate was incredibly grateful to Frank Mason, because with petrol at a premium, finding a lorry or a van was well-nigh impossible unless you were willing to pay the earth for it, but Frank knew a man with a horse and cart. ‘We can move most of the stuff on that,’ he told the two girls. ‘Most of it will have to have a tarpaulin over it so that we can tie it down.’

  ‘What’s he charging for it?’ Kate asked; and had a broad smile on her face when Frank said, ‘He said he’d settle for a couple of bales of hay.’

  And eventually it was all done, the beds put up, the pictures on the walls and the rugs on the floor, the things they didn’t want out in the garden for the horse to pull back to the tip. Sally and Kate sat down with a welcome cup of tea. ‘Well, that’s a good job finished,’ Kate said with a sigh. ‘I think we will be happy here.’

  ‘Yeah, I suppose.’

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Yes, there is,’ Kate insisted. ‘I can always tell. What’s on your mind?’

  ‘All right then,’ Sally said. ‘Ever since Phil died, I’ve been thinking that I should be doing more for the war effort.’

  ‘You’re making shell cases now.’

  ‘I know, and I wouldn’t stop,’ Sally said. ‘This will be sort of in the evenings and that, like being an ARP warden. I mean, I know there aren’t many bombs falling round here yet, but according to the papers and that man on the BBC, France will not be able to hold out much longer, and, meanwhile, Hitler, they say, is massing all sorts of boats, barges and landing craft on the other side of a very small channel. Before any invasion, they reckon there’ll be a heavy bombing campaign to soften us up. The thought of bombs dropping from the sky and then exploding frightens me to death, to be honest.’

  ‘Any sane person would be scared,’ Kate said. ‘I certainly will be.’

  ‘Yeah, but Phil probably was as well,’ Sally said. ‘And a good proportion of those men and boys who were called to be soldiers most likely felt the same a lot of the time, but they still had to conquer that fear and go on. I want to prove that I can do the same.’ And then she looked Kate full in the face and said, ‘I think I will get over Phil’s death quicker if I do this. In a funny way I think I will feel closer to him. Anyway, I feel I have languished long enough and I am going back to work next week.’

  ‘D’you think you’re well enough?’

  ‘Course I am,’ Sally said. ‘All a person does at home is think too hard about things and end up feeling sorry for themselve
s.’

  ‘I agree with that totally,’ Kate said.

  ‘Anyway, how can I think about taking up extra work for the war effort if I am not able to do the job I’m paid to do?’

  Kate was impressed with her sister and the way she had thought the whole thing through and so she said, ‘Sally, every word you said made sense. So much so that I want to help in some way as well. We’ll look into this ARP business just as soon as we can.’

  SEVENTEEN

  Before they were able to find anything out about ARP wardens, Kate had word that David was coming home on a forty-eight-hour pass. Susie had heard that Nick had leave too, but neither girl could be spared from work the first day the men were back, which was on Friday, when Nick and David were arriving about lunchtime.

  As the two girls travelled to work that Friday morning, Susie said, ‘Thank goodness we will have Saturday off at least.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Kate said. ‘Hope the weather holds.’ It was the last week in June and the weather had been glorious for nearly a week. ‘Might cheer me up a bit as well,’ she added. ‘I mean, I know it was a foregone conclusion that France would fall, but to actually sign an alliance with the country that is going to rule over you, as they did last week, seems all wrong to me.’

  ‘And me,’ Susie said. ‘And it does mean that now Britain is completely alone.’

  Kate nodded. ‘Sally wants to do her bit, you know,’ she said. ‘She wants to become an ARP warden.’

  ‘Well, all they have to do at the moment is patrol the streets in the blackout,’ Susie said. ‘And I suppose see if anyone is showing a light.’

  ‘Yeah, but she and I think things will hot up very soon. The Germans will be bombing towns and cities before an invasion – like they did Rotterdam.’

  ‘Yeah, frightening the Dutch government so much they gave up without a fight,’ Susie said grimly.

  ‘That won’t happen here though, will it?’ Kate said. ‘Somehow I just can’t see Churchill giving in so easy.’