A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

Author:Rachel Rhys [Rhys, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Published: 2017-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

19

17 August 1939

THAT NIGHT, IN her alcohol-fuddled sleep, Lily once again dreams of Mags.

Mags is coming towards her in her good brown skirt. The one she wore to church and for visits home. Except now the bottom half of it is black with blood. Her blue eyes gaze out, baffled, from her little heart-shaped face, at only eighteen still half child, her character still only half mapped out.

‘Help me.’ Mags has her hands stretched out imploringly, and they, too, are blood-slippery. ‘Lily, please help me.’

Lily awakes, hot and sticky with champagne and dread, to find it is Audrey, not Mags, who needs her help.

‘She’s burning up,’ says Ida, who is standing next to Audrey’s bunk, applying a damp towel to her forehead.

Lily is surprised by the tenderness with which Ida is discharging this duty, stroking the towel across Audrey’s brow so gently and rhythmically she could almost be getting a young child off to sleep.

‘This isn’t seasickness,’ Ida says.

‘How do you know? It’s not uncommon for people to get a second bout, even this late in the voyage.’

Ida shakes her head.

‘It’s something else. I lost two sisters to the Spanish influenza in 1918. I know the signs.’

Dread prickles at the back of Lily’s neck.

She hauls herself out of her bunk and down the ladder. When she gets closer to Audrey she doesn’t even need to touch her to feel the heat coming off her. Her fair hair is plastered to her head with sweat, and her skin is clammy, like cheese left out in the sun. Audrey opens her eyes and looks at Lily. ‘Mum?’ she says. ‘Close the window. It’s cold.’

The ship’s doctor is summoned, and informs them there is an outbreak of something onboard but he does not yet know what. An elderly passenger in First is affected, and one of the Italian newborns. He gives Ida tablets, with instructions on when to administer them, and tells them Audrey must be kept cool. Annie, who has been moping around the corridor all morning, comes to sit on the empty bunk, gazing at Audrey as if she might cure her through goodwill alone.

Towards lunchtime there is a knock on the door, even though it is anyway ajar, to let in whatever breeze there might be. Edward stands in the doorway, looking pale and sheepish.

‘I’ve come to find you. I hope you’re not trying to avoid me, although I wouldn’t blame you if you were.’

The cabin is hot and close, and Lily is conscious not only of the unpleasant smell of sweat and illness and stale air but also of Ida and Annie, both gazing at Edward.

‘Let’s go for a walk up on deck. I could do with the fresh air.’

Outside, the brightness feels hard and metallic after so long in the dim cabin. She blinks and stares out to sea, straining for some kind of new landmark. After all, it is not long before they are due to arrive in Ceylon. But it is still just the same as it was.

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