Gallipoli Street (45 page)

This soldier looked very young indeed, probably only just eighteen. His freckles were stark against the paleness of his skin and looking at his leg she could understand why. They worked together, managing to save it, and the boy clung to the doctor's hand afterwards. The morphine was making him drowsy but he got the words out clearly.

‘Thank you. You've…just given me a normal life.'

She pondered those words later as she cut bandages and sterilised instruments. How normal a life could any of them hope to live after this? Sighing, she took a rare break, and sat down to re-read Missy's letter over a cup of tea.

PS Terry's given me a stage name: Missy Mayfair. What do you t
hink?

Theresa held up the picture and smiled. Missy looked happy and Theresa figured her grandmother's pearls had been put to better use than the ring, although without the ring they never would have found their independence in the first place. She supposed both items had brought happiness in the end for Missy. For her part she couldn't say she was happy exactly. How could anyone be, surrounded by so much suffering and living in such unbearable conditions? Queensland had been bad enough but these last weeks up in the jungle were a whole new level of uncomfortable, the air clinging to her like a thick, saturated blanket, but the work drove her onwards.

Walking over to the door she watched the rain clear, and the thick foliage sparkled under the sunlight in a million shades of green, sending the birds into chorus as they chattered excitedly to each other in the treetops. She had found something here that she didn't expect. She had found herself. It was as if she was always destined to work in a crisis situation, tending to the wounded and remaining level headed. She was good at it, so good in fact that Dr Kindred had told her he thought she would make an excellent doctor; she had taken that little seed on board. It grew as each day passed and she had recently decided that when the war was over she would do just that, helping to pay for her education by selling the most valuable item her grandmother had left her: the gold watch.

She knew she would also have to work nights to make up the difference but that was fine, she'd always worked hard, and meanwhile she was under the excellent tutelage of Dr Kindred, who didn't mind talking her through procedures on occasion. They made a good team: the two of them, the other nurse Daphne and ‘Two-Bob', the orderlies, native twin brothers who for some reason both referred to themselves as Bob and quickly earned the collective nickname from their Australian patients. Together they were making some kind of makeshift home of their little hospital, dedicating most of their waking hours to the wounded.

Explosions echoed through the valley and Theresa was roused from her thoughts, ending her break and moving back over to the operating theatre. It reminded her of one truth that was unavoidable here: they were never short of patients.

‘It's from Katie,' Simon said, turning over the letter in his hand as the other mail was given out.

‘Read it out loud, Slime. I could use some cheering up.' Pete leant back in gleeful anticipation, wondering if she'd done the deed and ‘fessed up' at last.

They both laughed at that.

‘That would be like pasting yourself in glue! Mozzies would stick to you permanently!' Simon grinned over at Pete before continuing.

Simon stopped reading aloud and Pete watched with interest as he began to blush. He finished the page and turned it over quickly, fumbling, and Pete sent out a silent congratulations to Katie for her courage.

‘Why did you stop?' he asked innocently.

‘Hmm? Oh it's nothing…it's just she…oh bugger me!' His mouth dropped open as he read the last few lines. Pete laughed as Simon's eyes reached his.

‘You knew?'

‘Everyone bloody knows, you dill. So what do you say? Have I got a brother-in-law?'

‘But why me? A girl like that…she could have anybody.' Simon stared at the photo she'd sent along with the letter.

‘She doesn't want just anybody. She wants you.'

‘But why?'

‘She's had a thing for you her whole life. Surely you noticed?'

Simon looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. ‘She has?'

Pete laughed again and Sully slid over.

‘What's the lark?'

‘Slimey's just received a proposal,' Pete grinned, ‘although he hasn't said yes or no as yet.'

‘If it's you I vote no,' Sully declared, reading over his shoulder. ‘
I feel like a moth drawn to the flame…
come on give us a squiz. Is this her? Holy smokes, she's a good sort too. But a few sandwiches short of the picnic, I'm guessing?'

‘Watch out, that's my sister you're talking about.' Pete grabbed the picture.

‘Ya sister? Well, we won't hold that against her. So what's y'answer, Slime?'

He looked at them both and his face split into an enormous smile. ‘God yes!'

Sully clapped him on the back and Pete leant over and gave him back the picture.

‘A moth eh?'

Simon turned even pinker and mumbled something about there being no bloody privacy, but he was still smiling.

It was the happiest Pete had felt in a long while but he didn't have time to savour it as he looked at his watch and realised they needed to get moving again, calling out the order. Simon got to his feet slowly, looking somewhat dazed, and Pete thought he might have imagined it but he could have sworn he saw Simon kiss the photo before putting it carefully in his pocket.

They were cut off. Pete didn't know how it had happened but they were scattered and in shreds, reeling from the viciousness of the attack, and he was stranded with a handful of others in a narrow gully that was thick with mud and mosquitoes.

‘Have you seen Slime?' he whispered to Sully as they lay awkwardly against the slope, aware that the Japanese were moving in front. Sully shook his head and Pete scanned as best he could in the moonlight. It was damp and they gripped the forest floor, biding their time, waiting for something to happen. It did. Gunfire rang out and Pete decided to use the noise as cover, moving back into the trees and hoping they weren't about to bump into more Japs at the rear. Finally they found a cave and hid inside, Pete signalling that he would take first watch. Not that it mattered.

The night glinted in silver and black, every drop of water sending the smallest of movements to grate upon their nerves, each nodding leaf a potential lapse in stealth from the silent enemy they had so come to fear. A cacophony began: the jungle spoke in millions of mysterious languages as the insects and animals explored their nocturnal world, oblivious. But the men didn't talk. They barely dared breathe let alone sleep as they waited for the sun to finally rise so they could make sense of their situation. When it did they were no better off. The foliage was incredibly thick and Pete realised they would have to go at it blind, relying on their hearing for detection of the enemy.

When they walked into gunfire it seemed the old joke was true. The Japs really were invisible.

His heart was leaping in his chest as he heaved great draughts of air into his straining lungs. Flattened against the tree, he illogically feared they could hear its drumming above the roar of combat. Pete closed his eyes, the words of a lifetime of prayer failing him, and he found only one word echoed over and over in a desperate plea.

Please. Please. Please.

Images of Sully falling next to him moments before, with sightless eyes and blood-soaked chest, flashed in his mind as the gunfire began to pause and splutter in shorter bursts. The thick jungle gradually fell silent and Pete knew he had to move before they came through to finish off the dying. He stepped over the bloodied leg of Dominic Carson, bending down to check if he was alive, only to stare into a face almost unrecognisable in death. Emptied of expression, Dom was truly gone from this world and left only a pale imitation of himself behind. Pete forced the guilt away; this boy had died under his command.

It's
war.

He grabbed Dom's wallet and wristwatch and moved on, his heart beating an unbearable rhythm of fear, paining within his ribs until he finally reached the creek. He wondered how many others had made it out and whether or not they were already on the other side as he cautiously crept across. The water was shockingly cold against his overheated skin.

‘Pete!'

Startled, he turned to see Simon on the other side waving him over, watching his back. He scrambled then, landing beside him in the thick undergrowth as they stared at each other with a mixture of relief and surprise, but it was short lived. Gunfire exploded from the other side and they ran, their exhausted legs hurling them forward through the blinding green, their boots tearing at the muddy slopes.

He had no idea how long it was until he finally fell, and realised that the gunfire was far behind. And he had no idea how far back it was that Simon must have been shot and he'd run on oblivious, leaving him alone, lost in the middle of an impossible battlefield at the mercy of whoever stumbled across him first.