Page 94 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
April glanced over at Dr. Evans and wondered if she had rocks in her head. She was still suspended on tenterhooks waiting to see if she was going to be dismissed entirely and sent home, but Dr. Evans had convinced her to come and help him in the village. Part of her wanted to hide away and wallow in her misery, and she certainly didn’t want to trust another doctor, but the moment he’d mentioned children needing help, she hadn’t been able to say no.
‘There’s not many nurses who would have said yes to coming with me,’ he said, breaking the silence as they trekked across the dirt.
‘I think you’re wrong. One mention of kids and you’d have nurses flocking to help.’
He laughed. ‘Will you turn around and leave me if I confess that you’re not the first nurse I’ve asked?’
April laughed with him, liking his honesty. ‘If I’m the first to say yes, then it’s still something, right?’
She adjusted the bag on her shoulder, and they walked quickly, the sun beating down so hot that her neck was already slick with sweat and her forehead too.
‘It’s just up there, not far now,’ he said.
‘Dr. Evans, how did you start helping them? Did someone ask you?’
‘Harry,’ he said with a grin. ‘And no, no one asked me. I just noticed how basic some of the living conditions were and made a few trips around the village on my first day off.’
‘So while the rest of us were enjoying extra sleep or socializing, you were volunteering.’ She shook her head. ‘Great way to make the rest of us feel bad!’
They reached the house then, and she stood back as Harry knocked on the door, taking the time to study him, taking in his easy smile and open expression as the door was answered. In his white coat at the hospital, he seemed no different from the other doctors, but like this, it was obvious that he was a different kind of man.
‘This is my nurse,’ he said, gesturing toward her. ‘April.’ She quickly stepped forward and smiled, trying to be as natural and friendly as he was.
‘Come in, please, come in.’
April went to follow, but she paused when Harry’s hand fell over her arm. ‘I hope you don’t mind me using first names; I think it’s easier for them.’
‘Not at all.’
As soon as they entered, she could smell the telltale aroma of sickness, and she wished she’d brought a mask. But Harry didn’t even flinch, following the mother through the house and into a crude bedroom with mats on the floor. There were three children, two of them lying, another sitting against the wall.
‘Tell me, what’s wrong?’ Harry asked, and April bent to check them, reaching out and then waiting for their mother to nod before touching them. Their skin was clammy, and she could tell from the way they were holding their stomachs that they were in pain.
‘You need to make sure you all wash your hands well,’ he said, holding up his hands and showing the mother. ‘This spreads by touching. And keep them cool—cold cloths on their foreheads and a lot of water to drink.’
April did her best to make them comfortable. She took out some food from her bag as well and left it for the mother as Harry felt their stomachs. And when they were finally ready to go, she was surprised to see a short line of villagers at the door, waiting in the hot sun for them.
‘They’re here for us?’ she asked, unable to believe what she was seeing.
‘We feed you,’ the woman said. ‘And you help them.’
April swapped glances with Harry, but it was clear that neither of them would leave until they’d helped those waiting.
‘One at a time,’ Harry said, waving toward the door. ‘But no food. You don’t have enough to share, and we are very full.’ He patted at his stomach as if to make his point, and April hoped no one heard hers rumble. But of course he was right; she didn’t want them to share what little they had either.
The first villager to walk through the door was a boy cradling his arm, and April prayed that Harry had something in his bag to set a break with. Although from seeing him work, she was starting to realize that even if he didn’t, he’d probably find a way to improvise.
‘Come with me,’ Dr. Evans said, beckoning to April.
She shook her head. ‘I can’t. I was told to meet Matron Johnson here this morning.’
He frowned. ‘To discuss being cleared to work again?’
‘I think I’m more likely to be sent home than ever be allowed to work here again,’ she replied. ‘Honestly, even some of the nurses are being hostile toward me now. I don’t know what he’s been saying, but it’s awful. Maybe they think I was having an affair with him or something. I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s ghastly.’
‘Come on—let’s go and see her, then. I’m not having you face that old battle-ax alone.’
April laughed as he gestured toward the office door she was waiting outside of. ‘Dr. Evans, I ...’
