by Pam Howes
Bobby put his arms around her and gave her a hug. ‘Bella, it’s not something that can be sorted out in a hurry. There’s a madman intent on capturing the whole of Europe, no matter what. He has to be stopped. And we will all have to pull together on this. Come on, don’t cry.’ He wiped her eyes with a spotless white handkerchief he pulled from his jacket pocket. ‘Let’s try and enjoy our singing lesson while we still can.’
‘But I can’t let our little Betty go,’ Mary cried. Harry had arrived home from work earlier and she’d let him finish his tea before she’d shown him the evacuation letter. ‘No one will understand her like we do. If they shout at her for wetting the bed or because she’s struggling to do up her shoes or wipe her nose, she’ll never cope. We, as her mam and dad, know she’s not like her sisters, Harry. She’s always been a bit slow, but we can manage her because we know that. But a stranger won’t and they’ll think she’s being naughty or something.’
She sobbed heartbrokenly and Harry got up from his chair and took her in his arms. He sighed into her hair and held her tight. ‘Mary, love, I’m sure if you explain when you register their names, they’ll be able to reassure you that Betty will be well taken care of. And if they put our Molly and Bets together then Molly can look after her.’
Mary looked up and wiped her eyes. ‘What do you mean – if? There’s no if about it. They have to be together. I’m not letting them go unless they can guarantee that and if they can’t then I’m going with them.’
Harry nodded. ‘I’m sure they will, but you will have to tell the people at the office that Betty needs to be with her big sister. Now come on, sit down and I’ll make you a nice cup of tea.’
‘I’ll just go up and see if she’s okay,’ Mary said. ‘She was really hot when I got her into bed. She’s sickening for something, I’m sure.’ She hurried out of the room.
‘Harry, Harry, come here quick,’ she shouted from upstairs. ‘I can’t wake our Betty up. You’ll have to run and fetch the doctor.’
Harry shot up the stairs two at a time. Mary was sitting on the bed cradling little Betty in her arms.
‘She’s burning up and she’s breathing funny,’ Mary sobbed.
‘I’ll go and get the doctor,’ Harry said. ‘I’ll knock on for Molly and get her to come home. Is Bella at her singing lesson?’
‘Yes, she is,’ Mary wailed. ‘She won’t be long now.’
Harry ran down the stairs and pulled on his cap and jacket, then hurried up the street, calling at Molly’s friend’s house and telling her to go home right away. He dashed as fast as he could to the old house on Picton Road where Doctor Hope lived and held his surgery. His wife answered the door as Harry gasped that his little daughter was poorly and not waking up.
‘Doctor Hope is out on a call, but I’ll send him straight round to your house as soon as he gets back,’ Mrs Hope told Harry and wrote down his address.
‘Thank you,’ Harry said and dashed back the way he’d come. Bella was strolling up Grosvenor Road with Bobby as he rounded the corner and he called out to her. ‘Our Betty is proper poorly and I’ve just been for the doctor,’ he told her. ‘He’s coming as soon as he can.’
‘You’d better go with your dad,’ Bobby said. ‘I’ll call round tomorrow to see how your sister is. Take care of yourself.’
Bella waved goodbye and linked her arm through her dad’s as they hurried towards Victory Street and home.
Molly was in the kitchen filling a bowl with cold water for her mam to sponge Betty down to help cool her a bit. ‘Mam said there are some cloths under the sink but I can’t find them,’ Molly said. ‘Do you know where they are?’ she asked Bella.
Bella rooted in the cupboard and pulled out some pieces of white muslin, then took the bowl from Molly. ‘She’ll mean these. I’ll take it all up. You stay down here with Dad in case Betty’s got something that’s catching.’
‘Bit late for that seeing as we two shared the bed with her as usual last night,’ Molly said, folding her arms.
Bella glared at her sister, who wasn’t usually so flippant, and dashed away, calling, ‘Make Dad a brew and listen out for the doctor knocking on.’
Upstairs Mam was holding Betty, who was limp in her arms. The look of despair in her mam’s eyes shocked Bella. She put the bowl on the floor beside the bed.
‘She opened her eyes a few minutes ago,’ Mam said. ‘I checked her throat because she said it hurts. It’s all grey, the back of her tongue and her tonsils, the glands in her neck are swollen and she’s breathing funny too.’
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ Bella said. ‘What do you think it could be?’
‘I don’t even want to think about it, chuck,’ Mam whispered. ‘But I’ve seen a throat like that before and it frightens the life out of me—’ She stopped as a loud banging on the front door sounded. Then footsteps pounded the stairs and the doctor came into the room. He put his bag down on the bed and examined Betty, who was now as limp as a rag doll in Mam’s arms.
‘How long has she been like this, Mary?’ he asked, his face serious.
‘Since she got in from school, but she’s been a bit quiet for the last couple of days, not quite right, you know.’
The doctor nodded. ‘I need to admit her to hospital right away. We’ll take her to Olive Mount. I know you work there and it’s close by. I’ll go back to the surgery and get an ambulance on its way. Pack her a small bag and I’ll meet you there.’ He dashed out of the room and ran down the stairs.
Harry was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Before he’d even had a chance to open his mouth the doctor shook his head. ‘I’m almost certain it’s diphtheria. I’m off to send an ambulance to you. I’ve told Mary I will meet you at Olive Mount Hospital shortly.’
Harry closed the door behind the doctor and ran upstairs. Bella was packing a few bits in a bag and Mary was still holding on to Betty. ‘Let’s get her on the sofa in the sitting room, love,’ Harry said, taking his tiny girl from Mary. ‘Save them having to come up here.’
‘Did he say what’s wrong with her?’ Mary asked; her face was white with worry.
‘He’s not sure, but we’ll know soon enough,’ Harry replied, not catching her eye.
‘Well I know,’ Mary said. ‘I saw my little sister lose her life to it. And just listen to her trying to draw breath, Harry. She’s gurgling; it’s that hard for her.’ She stopped as a clanging of bells sounded outside on the street.
‘Ambulance is here,’ Molly called up the stairs.
‘Let the attendants in, love,’ Harry called back. He dashed downstairs with Betty in his arms and handed her over to one of the two men; then they laid her on the stretcher they had brought in between them. They had a small tank of oxygen with them and they quickly popped a mask over Betty’s face, tucked her in and carried the stretcher out to the waiting vehicle. Mary and Harry followed and climbed on board. Bella and Molly stood in the street, staring into the back of the ambulance, both crying.
‘Just look after one another, we’ll be back later,’ Mary said to her worried girls as the attendant went to close the doors. ‘Well your dad will, I’ll stay with Betty as long as they’ll let me.’
Bella put her arm around Molly’s shoulders as they watched the ambulance speed away down the street ‘Come on, Mol, let’s go back inside.’ She’d seen doors opening further down the street as neighbours came outside to see who was being taken into hospital. Bella didn’t feel in the mood for talking to anyone right now. A feeling of dread for Betty settled in her stomach as she led Molly into the silent house and locked the front door.
7
Betty was rushed into theatre, where a surgeon performed a tracheostomy operation on her. A tube was inserted into the hole made in her windpipe at the front of her neck to allow oxygen to get into her lungs. Mary and Harry were allowed to wait in a small room off a nearby corridor until the operation was completed. On admission diphtheria had been diagnosed immediately and Betty admitted to isolation. Mary knew she wouldn
’t be allowed in to see her daughter, but had insisted that they wait until they heard further news. One of her friends from the domestic team came to the room to see them. Ethel Hardy was on a late shift.
‘It’s so good to see a familiar face, Ethel,’ Mary greeted her pal, who had brought a tray through to them and sat down. Ethel poured three mugs of tea with extra sugar for shock and handed them round.
‘I’m so sorry to hear about Betty, chuck,’ Ethel said. ‘What a worry for you both.’
Mary nodded. ‘She couldn’t breathe, poor little mite, she was making choking noises. It frightened the life out of me.’ She took a sip of tea and Harry did the same.
‘Well she’s in the best place,’ Ethel said. ‘And at least with working here you can look at her through the windows when she goes into the isolation suite. It’s more than most parents get to do.’
Harry nodded. ‘Aye, she’s right, Mary, it’s better than nowt.’
Ethel finished her tea and got to her feet. ‘I’d best get back and finish me cleaning. Good luck; and I’ll see you soon.’
‘Yes, thank you, Ethel. And thanks for the tea. It’s much appreciated.’
‘They’re taking a long time in that theatre,’ Harry said as Ethel left the room. He looked at the clock on the wall.
Mary chewed her lip anxiously. ‘I thought that too, but I didn’t like to say—’ she broke off as a serious-faced white-coated doctor came into the room and closed the door behind him.
‘I’m so very sorry, Mr and Mrs Rogers, we did all we could,’ he began as the colour drained from Harry’s face and Mary let out a loud and pitiful scream. ‘But I’m afraid we couldn’t save your daughter. Although the procedure was a success, Betty died of heart failure. This was possibly due to an undetected heart condition, and that in itself will have made her too weak to fight off the diphtheria. Do you have other children at home?’
‘We do,’ Harry answered, taking his distraught wife into his arms. ‘Two older girls.’
‘And did they share a room with Betty? Diphtheria is very contagious and anything Betty was in contact with will need to be destroyed. Once again, I’m really sorry for your loss. We’ll arrange for someone to take you home now.’
‘Can’t we see Betty?’ Mary sobbed. ‘To say goodbye, like.’
‘Not right now,’ the doctor replied. ‘But we will make arrangements with you to see her very soon.’
‘But I want to see her now,’ Mary cried. ‘My little girl. What will I do without her?’
Tears running down his cheeks, Harry held his wife tight. ‘Maybe it’s to do with the risk of catching it, chuck. We need to get back to the girls so we can stop them touching anything at home that our Bets was in contact with. We can’t take any chances, love. Come on, let’s get back. Thank you, Doctor.’
The young doctor nodded his head, his eyes bright with unshed tears. He wished them both well and led them to the reception area, where someone was waiting to take them back to Victory Street.
Out in the communal backyard Harry poured paraffin over the bedding Mary had stripped off the girls’ bed a couple of nights ago when they’d come back from the hospital after Betty’s death.
Everything feared to be contaminated had been pushed into the metal dustbin right away and Mary had disinfected the mattress, after she’d removed the layers of rubber sheets underneath that kept it clean. The sheets had been in use in case Betty had an accident and meant the mattress had stayed protected and wouldn’t need to be burned.
They couldn’t afford a new one, so it was perhaps as well. The whole room had been practically fumigated and the bedding that wasn’t being burned was in the kitchen steeping in strong bleach and boiling water in the tin bath that usually hung on the wall outside the back door. It was usually only brought inside once a week, on a Sunday night, for bath time in front of the back sitting room fire.
Keeping so busy was helping Mary to cope with her loss. Molly had stayed off school at the doctor’s recommendation to make sure she wasn’t incubating the disease, and Bella had stayed off work as a precaution too. Harry had taken a few days off as well, until after the funeral, so the whole family could be together to support each other.
Mary was walking around in a daze and Harry didn’t know how she would ever come to terms with her loss. Betty had been a surprise baby but a very much loved one and they’d all doted on her. The house felt empty without their funny little one.
He choked on tears as he threw a lit match into the bin. The bedding caught fire immediately and he rammed the lid on. Smoke billowed out of the holes punched in the top. Mary had refused to part with Betty’s much-loved teddy bear even though they’d been told to burn all toys that may have respiratory droplets on them. Instead the bear was soaking in a bucket of bleach and cold water by the back door. He was almost white now, like a polar bear, instead of the golden brown he’d once been.
Harry was worried about the cost of the funeral. They’d had no penny policy plan for a funeral on Betty like they had for Molly and Bella. When Betty arrived they’d struggled to feed another mouth and anything extra had to wait. Mary hadn’t long been back at work once Betty started school and they just hadn’t got around to getting a policy in place for her.
And besides, there wasn’t really a rush because who would ever expect their five-year-old to go first, he thought. They would need to talk about it today, because the bill wouldn’t go away, even though the undertaker who called yesterday to take the funeral details had told them not to worry. But he’d want paying at some point and Harry couldn’t help but worry. Funerals were not cheap and although he hated thinking about Betty in those sorts of terms, it had to be done. He didn’t want his little one lying in an anonymous pauper’s grave.
‘Our Bella, can you come and help me turn this mattress over, please,’ Mary called down the stairs. She swiped a hand across her sweaty brow and took a deep breath. Bella joined her in the room and between them they tugged the mattress until it fell into place.
‘Bet you’ll be glad to sleep in your own bed tonight, chuck,’ Mary said. Both girls had been sleeping on borrowed camp beds downstairs until Mary was certain the room was as clean as it could possibly be.
‘I will, Mam,’ Bella replied. ‘But I won’t half miss our little Bets snuggled in between us.’ Bella’s eyes filled and she wiped away her tears. ‘I miss her all the time.’
‘We all do, chuck. I don’t know how I’m ever going to get over this. My little baby, gone, just like that. I wish I knew where she’d picked it up from but no one else in the school has been diagnosed or anyone local that we know of. It’s very worrying because someone must be a carrier, but who? I was concerned that I’d brought it home from the hospital but they’ve said I didn’t. Any patients in isolation in there haven’t been anywhere near me and I haven’t handled anything they’ve been in contact with.’
Bella shook her head. ‘Mam, you’ll make yourself ill if you keep worrying about it. It’s just one of those things and I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.’
‘I’m sure you’re right, love. But one thing I do know now. I’m not sending our Molly away when they start evacuating. I want my girls here with me. I’m not losing anybody else.’
‘Molly will be glad about that, Mam. She said last night she didn’t want to go. She was all upset about it and wants to stay here with us.’
‘Bless her, does she? Well that’s settled then. The vicar is coming later to talk to us. Will you go down to the bakery for me, love, and get a nice cake to cut up? He’ll like that.’
‘Of course, Mam.’
‘Thanks queen. You’ve been such a help. I want to ask you a favour as well before he comes. Our Betty loved it when you sang to her at bedtime. So will you sing her favourite song at the funeral for her?’
Bella swallowed hard. ‘You mean “Over the Rainbow”. Oh, God, Mam. It makes me cry at the best of times, but I’ll do my best, I promise.’
As the vicar was preparing to
leave that evening Bella answered a knock at the door. Bobby, clutching a large bunch of flowers, and his mother Fenella Harrison, who looked a little unsure of herself and her welcome, were standing there. Well at least the house was all ready for visitors.
Mam had worked her socks off and a fire had been lit in the best front parlour, so Bella smiled and greeted them, happy to see Bobby’s concerned face. She’d missed him.
‘Hello, come on in. Mam and Dad are just speaking with the vicar, so follow me, and then I’ll take you into the parlour.’ She led them into the back sitting room, where Molly was reading a book, stretched out on the sofa. ‘Move, Molly. Let the visitors sit down. Go and put the kettle on for more tea.’
Molly jumped up and put her book on the table, smiling at Bobby and his mother, who sat down.
‘My favourite book when I was Molly’s age.’ Mrs Harrison pointed to Molly’s copy of Little Women. ‘My mother bought me that for my ninth birthday and I devoured it. I treasured that book until one day two of my horrible older brothers snatched it from me and made paper aeroplanes with some of the pages. I don’t think I ever really got over it,’ she finished quietly.
Bobby raised an eyebrow in Bella’s direction and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. ‘You never mentioned any of that before, Mum.’
Mrs Harrison looked embarrassed. ‘Oh, it was just seeing the book again, it evoked a memory from long ago. That’s all.’ She dismissed the subject and fell quiet as goodbyes were heard coming from the hallway and the sound of the front door closing.
Bella opened the sitting room door and beckoned her parents into the room. ‘Mam, we’ve got visitors,’ she announced. ‘Molly’s just making a fresh pot of tea.’