Page 68 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun
‘That’s OK, I was just leaving. I’ll catch you later?’
‘No, wait, wait. What do you say, girls?’ Nesta asks the expectant faces.
‘OK, let’s tell her what we’ve found. We don’t know if it is going to be doable yet, so why not?’ Jean says.
‘What’s going on?’ Norah steps back into the house and closes the door behind her.
‘A few weeks ago, Vivian was scavenging behind the hospital …’
‘I didn’t know you could go behind the hospital, I thought the fence line was right up to it,’ Norah says.
‘It is, but I’m so skinny now, I managed to get right round the back. I wanted to see what I could reach through the fence, and I saw something,’ Vivian says.
‘She could just make out some people walking through the trees,’ Nesta adds. ‘Then they stopped for a while, and when they moved away, she could see it was a cemetery. They had just buried someone.’
‘So?’
‘I saw that they’d left some food and fruit on a grave,’ Vivian adds.
‘We think it was an offering to the dead,’ Nesta says, ‘and it just rots away, or animals get at it. So, each day at the same time, one of us sneaks behind the hospital and waits to see if there is another burial. It was my turn today and there’s a burial happening right now.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Norah asks.
‘We’ve made a small gap in the fence and I think I can fit through; we’re going to wait for an hour or so for them all to leave and then I’m going after that food,’ Nesta says triumphantly.
‘Nesta, the reason I came here was to ask if you have anything to spare for June. She’s just fading away.’
‘Then why don’t you come with me? I don’t know how much there’s going to be, but I’m taking it all.’
‘You’re not worried about disrespecting the dead?’
‘No, I’m worried about the children in this camp and what we can do to help them carry on living,’ Nesta says.
‘Then yes, I’d love to come with you.’
‘Afterwards, we’ll distribute anything we can get hold of to those with children. Come on, let’s go and see. It’s not too bad, the waiting, as it’s so shady back there.’
Nesta and Norah casually walk down the middle of the street towards the hospital, swinging a water bucket each. Approaching the door, they check to see if anyone is close by. There isn’t and so they nip along the side of the hospital towards the back of the building. Nesta stops at a small opening, and the women crouch.
‘They’re leaving,’ Nesta whispers.
Norah peers through the thick undergrowth and makes out some movement a short distance away. They watch for a while, trying to catch a glimpse of the grave.
‘I can see a mound of something. I don’t know if it’s food or flowers,’ Norah whispers.
‘I’ll go and take a look, stay here.’
Norah watches as Nesta squeezes through the hole in the fence before crawling through the undergrowth towards the cemetery. She disappears for a few minutes before Norah spots her again. Nesta is walking towards her, her arms full of … something.
‘Here, Norah. Take this quickly, I’m going back for more.’
Nesta passes mangoes, potatoes and onions to Norah before scurrying away. She returns a few minutes later with two bananas, a woven basket of cooked rice and two unrecognisable, but reassuringly large, fruits. Norah takes the food, piling it into their water buckets.
Back at the house, Norah and Nesta are greeted as returning heroes. Norah takes one of the bananas, leaving the nurses to distribute the rest of the food amongst the families with children.
‘June, wake up, honey, Aunty Norah has something for you.’
‘I don’t want anything.’
