Flying Angels(21)
She found the communal bathroom at the far end of the hall, and when she got back, the girl in the bed was sitting on the edge of it smoking a cigarette. She looked like she’d had a rough night. She’d worked a double shift the day before, which was common.
“Hi, I’m Alex White,” she said congenially, and the girl sitting on the bed smiled at her.
“I’m Lizzie Hatton. Welcome to Buckingham Palace. That’s what they call it. They gave the nurses the best dormitory.” Lizzie stood up and stretched when she said it. She was wearing pink satin pajamas with candy canes on them. “Sorry about the pajamas. My brother gave them to me for Christmas.”
“My sister wanted to give me a straitjacket when I enlisted,” Alex said and they both laughed.
“My family would have done the same,” Lizzie said and showed Alex where everything was. The room looked as bare as any army barracks, but Lizzie had put a jar of flowers on the desk to cheer the place up. “Where are you from?” Lizzie asked her. She liked the look of her. She looked friendly and nice and happy to be there. All of the nurses had enlisted, so they were pleased with their choice and rarely, if ever, complained. It was a nice change from civilian life, where everyone at the hospital where she had worked groused about everything all the time. Life was harder in the army, but they didn’t mind.
“I’m from New York,” Alex said. “You?”
“Boston,” Lizzie answered. “We lucked out with this post. It’s supposed to be one of the best in the country. And it’s three thousand miles from my parents, which is a definite plus.”
“And mine.” Alex grinned back at her, and sat down on her own bed, which she hadn’t made up yet. She’d never made her own bed in her life until she joined the army. “What ward do you work on?” she asked, curious about her new roommate. She seemed like a very nice young woman.
“General. They move me around a lot. We get a lot of shell shock and trauma cases, along with the physical stuff.” She thought of Alfred as she said it.
“I requested psychiatric, but I don’t know my assignment yet. I’ll be happy with whatever they give me.”
“You’ll love the city. It’s beautiful,” Lizzie said happily. There was something about Alex that suggested she was well brought up and well educated, but you never knew in the army, and met all kinds. They were all equal here.
Alex unpacked while they chatted, and then Lizzie went to shower and put on her uniform to go back on duty. By the time she left the room, she felt like she had a new friend. She liked the new arrival. Alex waved when she left, and Lizzie hurried down the stairs, and then walked the short distance to the hospital, thinking that she’d have to write to Audrey to tell her about her new roommate. Lizzie missed Audrey more than ever, but at least Alex seemed friendly and pleasant, and she had the feeling they’d get along. They had nursing in common and apparently parents who weren’t happy when they enlisted in the army. It was a start.
The sun was shining and she had her workday ahead of her. It was never boring here, and so far she had met a lot of women she enjoyed working with and would never have met otherwise. It confirmed her belief that she had made the right decision enlisting in the army. As Alex watched her from the window, she was thinking the same thing. Becoming an army nurse had been the right answer for her too. Lizzie Hatton looked like she’d make a good friend. They were young, they were in a safe place. It was a plum assignment, compared to other bases. And despite the war, there were good people around them. The doctors were excellent, the nurses were happy to be there, and they were making a difference to the men they took care of, while serving their country. What more could they want? It was more than enough for Lizzie and Alex. And if they couldn’t heal all the broken bodies and minds, they were doing all they could. Lizzie realized that maybe for the first time in her life, she felt fully alive. And for once, just being a nurse seemed like enough. This was her life now, and everything she wanted.
Chapter 6
While Lizzie and Alex explored the delights of San Francisco when they had days off together, Audrey was steadfastly caring for her mother. She loved hearing about their exploits in San Francisco, exotic dinners in Chinatown, walking on the beaches in Marin, although there were gun emplacements there now, and men assigned to watch for planes, after Pearl Harbor. An attack on the West Coast was always a possibility, but hadn’t happened so far. The two young women had borrowed a car and driven as far south as Big Sur, and they reveled in its spectacular natural beauty. They drove north to Lake Tahoe in the mountains, where people skied in winter, and they had dinner in the restaurants of the Italian district in North Beach, in the city.
Audrey felt as though she had gotten to know Alex through Lizzie’s descriptions of her. The nursing they did in the Presidio was demanding and exhausting, but also rewarding when they were able to help save a limb or a life. The men returning from the Pacific were badly damaged. Audrey knew that both of Lizzie’s brothers were there now. Greg had enlisted in the army as a physician and was serving at a hospital in New Caledonia. It was a prefab building with a real structure, not a tent hospital, and he said it was very efficient, with running water and electricity. They treated the wounded from battle zones, and the men suffering from diseases like malaria. Henry was a medic south of the Solomon Islands. Both of them were a constant source of worry for Lizzie, and they all followed the news closely. The Hattons had all three children in the army now. Audrey knew her brother would have been there too, if he were still alive. He was one of the first casualties of the war.