Page 102 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun
Nesta thinks long and hard. She doesn’t want to offend Mother Laurentia. She thinks of her friends, their hunger, their failing strength, their ever-waning hope of freedom. She has also seen the supplies being traded: eggs, fruit, dried fish, biscuits.
‘Can I take it on one condition?’ she says, finally.
‘Anything.’
‘We’ll only agree if it’s a loan, which we’ll repay in full when we get out of this place.’
‘Agreed.’
And Nesta gratefully pockets the envelope.
‘Hello, ladies,’ Nesta says cheerfully as she enters the hut.
‘What are you looking so happy about?’ Ena asks glumly. ‘There are more weevils than rice in this batch.’
‘I’m happy because I have something for you. Mother Laurentia loaned us some money she received from the Dutch Red Cross. We want to share our food with you and the others from theVyner Brookewho arrived with nothing.’
‘But it was given to you, for the nurses I presume,’ Norah says, hurriedly getting to her feet. With food so close at hand, she doesn’t know how long she’ll be able to politely decline.
‘You have nothing, Norah. Of course we’re going to share what we have with you,’ Jean insists.
Ena joins her sister on her feet. ‘Thank you! I wish there was more I could say, but right now, I’m so worried about June, and the rest of us in the house, that any food at all will make a huge difference,’ she says desperately.
Another batch of mail arrives at the camp, and Betty eagerly opens her second letter. Within seconds, she is crying, running from the hut into the garden. Nesta and Jean go after her.
‘Betty, what’s happened? Is it bad news?’ Nesta asks.
Sobbing, Betty thrusts the letter at Nesta.
‘Are you sure you want me to read it?’
Betty nods.
‘Who’s it from?’ Jean asks Nesta as she begins to read.
‘Oh, my God! It’s from Phyllis.’ Nesta’s hands are shaking.
‘Phyllis P?’ Jean asks, trying to get a look at the letter.
‘They made it! They got home,’ Betty sobs.
Several of the nurses have come outside to check on their friend. Everyone knows that bad news is worse than no news.
‘Girls! Betty’s got a letter from Phyllis P. The others made it home, their ship got through,’ Nesta tells them.
Within seconds, every nurse in the hut is in the garden, hugging and sobbing. The relief that their friends and colleagues who left Singapore the day before their ill-fated journey are safe at home surges through every woman.
‘I’m going to the hospital to tell the others,’ Nesta says, handing the letter back to Betty. ‘Share the letter, it’s exactly what we need.’
The letter is passed around the nurses eagerly, each of them desperate to read the words themselves to fully take in the news. Betty watches Blanche clutching the letter, sobbing quietly. She seeks out Nesta.
‘I promised Blanche that if she didn’t get any mail before I received another letter, I’d get her a cake. Is it wrong of me to ask for a little money to buy a moon cake for her?’
‘A moon cake? Where are you going to get that?’
‘One of the Dutch girls told me she only buys moon cakes from the traders. While everyone else gets vegetables or fruit or rice, she buys cakes.’
Nesta goes to the kitchen drawer where she keeps the money from Mother Laurentia. She hands Betty two notes.
