Page 59 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘You know, the locals would be disgusted with the way we use both hands for eating,’ Grace said, receiving stares from April and Eva. Even the nurses ahead of her turned around to listen.
‘And why is that, wise sister?’ April asked.
‘Because they eat with one hand and wipe their’—she lowered her voice—‘backsideswith the other. We might have to start doing the same thing if they keep rationing our toilet paper so vigilantly!’
They all burst out laughing and shuffled forward a few steps.
‘Seriously, how did you know that?’ April asked.
‘Oh, one of the nurses told me she’d been invited with a few others to go to a local house for dinner.’
‘Well, aren’t you full of information today. Are you sure Teddy didn’t tell you that in his letter?’
Her cheeks ignited. ‘No, he didn’t, actually. He didn’t say much at all.’
‘I’m only teasing,’ April said. ‘I’m pleased he wrote to you, but you don’t have to share it with me.’
They kept chatting and eventually made their way to the front, holding out their plates for food and filling their metal cups with something resembling tea. Only it didn’t matter what they drank or how many lemon drops they used—it still tasted like chlorine.
‘I think being over here suits you,’ April said, surprising her as they sat down. ‘The rest of us moan about the heat and suffer through the conditions, but you seem to thrive on it.’
Grace laughed. ‘I wouldn’t say I’m thriving, but I do like it. I like nursing more than I thought I would too. It’s kind of incredible.’
‘If you call living in a tent under a burning ball of sun and surrounded by buzzing flies incredible.’
‘I don’t think Arthur will know his leg has been amputated,’ Eva suddenly said, her food falling back off her spoon and into her bowl as she talked. ‘I had this other patient—the doctors called him a basket because he didn’t have any arms or legs after his surgery—and he didn’t even know. He asked one of the other nurses out on a date, and he was laughing and joking around, and someone had to tell him. I suppose Arthur’s lucky only to have lost one, but he might not think so.’
‘April, you were there; why did Dr. Grey have to amputate his leg? Was there no way he could have saved it? It seems so many men are losing limbs.’
April grimaced. ‘It was horrible. They thought his heart was going to give out; he’d lost so much blood, and they had to deal with a general surgery to repair damaged organs on top of everything else,’ she said. ‘It went on for a long time, and when Dr. Grey finally moved on to his legs, he said it was too late. It was his opinion that the tissue was so damaged, and it would only become infected if he tried to save his right leg, so the decision was made to—’
‘Wasn’t it worth trying, though? Unless there was no other option, why would he take his leg off? I’d rather have the chance to save my leg if I had a choice, even if I had terrible odds!’
April’s face flushed a deep red. ‘What are you saying? That Dr. Grey didn’t know what he was doing, or that he didn’t have the best interests of the patient in mind? I’ll have you know that he was going to amputate both legs but decided to just do the one at the last minute.’
Grace could see she’d hit a nerve. She knew that her sister liked the doctor, but she hadn’t expected her to take her questions so personally when all she was trying to do was show Eva that there hadn’t been another option. ‘I’m not saying anything of the sort. I just wanted to understand what had happened. I thought it might help Eva or, you know, the poor man when he finds out what happened.’
‘Well, Dr. Grey saved his life—that’s all he needs to know.’
Grace put her spoon down and leaned over the table to touch Eva’s arm. She could feel April glaring at her, but she wasn’t going to argue with her sister, not now. She hadn’t meant to upset her, and she wasn’t used to her being so sensitive. ‘It doesn’t have to be you,’ she said gently. ‘You don’t have to tell him. He’s not your problem, Eva. Let the doctor tell him or another nurse. Heck,I’lltell him if it stops you from worrying. This isn’t your burden.’
‘No, it has to be me,’ Eva said, shaking her head. ‘I’ll tell him.’
Grace carefully took Eva’s spoon from her hand and lowered it into the bowl, lifting it and waiting for Eva to open her mouth so she could feed her.
‘What you need,’ she said, ‘is to eat your breakfast. Then we’ll go do our shift. And then tomorrow we’re going to have a great day out, and you’re going to forget about everything for a few hours, okay?’
Eva closed her mouth and swallowed the spoonful. ‘Okay.’
‘He’s not Charlie, Eva. I know you care for him, but ...’
‘I know,’ Eva whispered. ‘I know he’s not Charlie, but I still need to be there.’
Grace had no idea when she’d become the grown-up, but somehow she’d become the one looking after Eva and dealing with whatever was thrown at them. And it wasn’t like she’d forgotten that less than a year earlier, she’d felt as if she’d met the strongest, most capable young woman in Eva that she’d ever encountered. Not to mention that April had always been the one to look out for everyone, but now she seemed so busy with her extra surgical duties that Grace was starting to worry about how much she’d taken on. It was so different from when they were in Pearl Harbor, their roles all reversed almost.
But so much had happened since then. Enough for a lifetime, and yet only months had passed. She sighed and swatted a bug on her arm before going back to eating her bowlful of mush.
Tomorrow. She needed to get Eva through today, and tomorrow she’d find a way to put a smile on all their faces. Or at least she hoped so.
