Love Me Tender. Anne Bennett

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      She stopped at the door to wave to Barry and the other men and hurried after Sister Hopkins. ‘Is there a café locally?’ Kathy asked the nurse, when they were out of earshot of the ward.

      ‘I believe you need a place to stay too,’ Sister Hopkins said. ‘I did hear you say that, didn’t I?’

      ‘Oh, aye, do you know of one?’ Kathy asked eagerly.

      ‘Mrs O’Malley, the town is heaving with soldiers. I think it would be very difficult to find a place tonight.’

      ‘Oh, I see.’

      ‘And if you don’t mind me saying so, you look all in.’

      ‘I am rather tired. It’s the emotion and everything.’

      ‘I suggest, then, that you come home with me tonight.’

      ‘Oh, I couldn’t…’

      ‘You can hardly sleep on a park bench, my dear,’ Sister Hopkins said with a smile, and Kathy realised that behind the frosty exterior was a very kind woman. ‘I’m sure my sofa will be quite comfortable,’ she went on. ‘And though there are many cafés around, the nurse’s canteen is cheaper and I can take you in as a guest. I’m off duty at six, if you could just wait a while.’

      ‘Oh, aye, oh, thank you,’ Kathy cried.

      The nurse went on: ‘There’s a reception area where you could sit. I’ll show you. Oh, and by the way, when we are away from the hospital, my name is Peggy.’

      Oh, thought Kathy, how kind people were, and if only she could get over this feeling of sadness at the death of her beloved brother…She’d sort of faced it before she’d left home, but when he was said to be missing she’d felt there was always a chance that he’d be found. Now that chance was gone. She knew she’d never see Pat again, and that hurt. The way Barry had described the hell-hole of Dunkirk, it was amazing that anyone had got out of it alive, but Barry had, and she must latch on to that and hope that with God’s help, Sean, Michael and Con were all safe too.

      She was surprised how much better she felt with a meal inside her, and while she ate she found herself telling Sister Hopkins about all her family. ‘They’ll be worried,’ she said. ‘Mammy and Daddy especially, and my little girl Lizzie.’

      ‘Can you phone?’

      Kathy looked at the nurse in amazement. ‘We haven’t a phone,’ she said.

      Sister Hopkins realised she’d made an error. ‘Of course not,’ she said. ‘Has anyone else, a shop perhaps?’

      ‘Pickering’s have, I believe,’ Kathy said.

      ‘Are they far away?’

      ‘No, not far, and they’d pass on a message.’

      ‘Well then, there’s a phone in the hospital,’ Sister Hopkins said. ‘You can tell them you’re safe at least, and will be home tomorrow.’

      ‘I…I don’t know how to use a phone. I’ve never had to,’ Kathy confessed.

      ‘That’s all right. I’ll show you,’ said the nurse.

      A short time later, Kathy found herself talking to Mrs Pickering, who owned the shop just up from the O’Malleys’. She shouted a bit, unable to believe that sound could travel from one instrument to another so effectively unless she bawled her head off, and though Mrs Pickering might have been rendered deaf in one ear for a time, she reassured Kathy and promised to pass the news on to her parents. Then Kathy went home with Peggy Hopkins and spent a very comfortable night on her sofa.

      It was over breakfast that Kathy faced up to the fact that she hadn’t told Barry about the deaths of his brothers. There hadn’t been time the previous day, and anyway she’d hesitated to load him down with more sadness. She hoped he was feeling stronger this morning, for she’d have to talk to him.

      When Kathy walked into the ward, the men greeted her as if they’d known her forever. ‘You did them a power of good yesterday, Mrs O’Malley,’ a young nurse told Kathy as she passed. ‘They all spruced themselves up this morning when they heard you were coming back. Some who hadn’t had a shave for a week were asking for razors this morning.’

      Kathy laughed and said, ‘If they’d do that for someone my shape, they’d be standing on their heads for some of the young lasses in the town.’

      ‘They would that, and it’s a sight I wouldn’t like to miss.’

      But the young nurse was right. Barry was propped up, looking far more cheerful, with his hair brushed and the stubble gone from his cheeks and chin. Kathy was delighted to see him looking so well and was pleased he seemed to be coming to terms with Pat’s death and accepting it for the tragic accident it was. She dredged up little incidents about the family, things she couldn’t remember writing in her letters, and funny things the weans had said, trying desperately to amuse him.

      But Barry was no fool. He knew Kathy was holding something back and he only waited till she stopped to draw breath before saying, ‘What is it?’

      Kathy was taken aback. ‘What’s what? Nothing. What do you mean?’ she stammered, confused.

      Barry studied her, more sure than ever that she was hiding something. ‘How’s Ma?’ he said.

      ‘Great, so she is, great,’ Kathy said. ‘I go up a couple of times a week and she comes down sometimes…’ Her voice trailed away as she remembered the last time she’d seen Molly O’Malley, and at once Barry knew there was something wrong at home.

      ‘What is it, Kathy?’ he said. ‘I know something is bothering you, and if you don’t tell me, I’ll only worry when you’ve gone.’

      He put out his good hand but Kathy pulled away and said, almost angrily, ‘Nothing I tell you. Your ma’s fine.’

      ‘My brothers then? Something’s damn well wrong,’ Barry burst out.

      Kathy couldn’t prevent the shadow from passing over her face and Barry just asked, ‘Who?’

      Kathy’s voice was barely above a whisper as she answered, ‘Phil and Donal.’

      ‘The two of them, dear Christ,’ Barry moaned, and after a slight pause asked, ‘Are they both…dead?’

      Kathy just nodded, and Barry shut his eyes against the pain of it. Suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed Kathy’s. ‘Kath, I want you out of that place.’

      ‘What place?’

      ‘Birmingham.’

      ‘Don’t be daft, Barry.’

      ‘I’m not being daft. Pregnant women can be evacuated, with their children.’

      ‘I can’t just run away, Barry. What about your ma – she’s got to rely on me a lot now – and Bridie and Mammy and Daddy coming to terms with the loss of Pat? And what if Michael, Sean or Con are gone too, that will break Mammy’s heart altogether, not to mention Maggie СКАЧАТЬ