The District Nurses Make a Wish by Annie Groves

Author:Annie Groves [Groves, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-09-27T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

November grew colder still as the month progressed and the nurses took full advantage of the big fire blazing in the common room after they finished their rounds. Despite the big windows, the room was always warm. ‘I’m glad they mended those broken panes,’ said Ruby, giving a theatrical shiver. ‘You won’t have seen what it was like, Iris. Earlier in the year there was a big bomb strike just a street away and all this glass shattered. We had to have it boarded up for ages and it was gloomy as could be. Imagine what it’d be like with that now.’

‘Lots of people are making do with sacking or waxed cotton,’ Iris pointed out.

‘It’s even better now that Gladys has adapted the curtains with thicker linings,’ Belinda said. ‘Still less chance of draughts getting through.’

Ruby was rebuttoning her chunkiest cardigan. ‘You helped, didn’t you? That’s what she said.’

Belinda shrugged. ‘She did the bulk of it. Are you getting ready to go out, Ruby?’

The young nurse stood up. ‘That’s right. Me and Kenny are going to the pictures, down Mare Street. Several others are coming – do you fancy it, Belinda? You haven’t been out for ages.’

The tallest nurse raised her eyebrows. ‘What’s on?’

‘A Sherlock Holmes – The Pearl of Death. You like those, don’t you?’

Belinda hesitated and then stood as well. ‘You’re right, I’ve been sitting in and moping. Perhaps I will come after all. I’ll see you in the hallway, shall I?’ She made for the door as Ruby nodded.

‘How about a trip to the pictures, Iris? Would you like to come along too?’

Iris smiled at being invited, but had no desire to trek along like a last-minute addition. Ruby would be with her young man and they deserved time together; she knew from earlier comments that they hadn’t seen one another for a week. Belinda would no doubt know whoever else was going so she herself would be a spare cog, and that would be awkward.

‘Oh, that’s kind of you to ask, but I have to catch up on my mending,’ she said, hoping Ruby wouldn’t mind the white lie.

Ruby laughed. ‘Do it tomorrow,’ she suggested.

‘Oh, but you know how it piles up,’ Iris protested, now forced to continue the fiction.

Ruby gave way. ‘You’re right, it does. If you’re sure? You’d be welcome, really you would. Oh, all right, enjoy your evening, then – I’d better go and find Belinda.’

Iris was finally left on her own, watching the coals burning and remembering how she would gather firewood back in Devon, drying the wet logs in a little lean-to in her tiny yard, before making a neat pile in her scullery. It had been time-consuming but very satisfying, knowing she’d done the work to heat her own small house. On the other hand, it was nice to be somewhere where someone else took care of that side of things. Swings and roundabouts, she told herself. Think about the good things in this still-new place. Keep trying to do that.

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