Page 109 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun

As she steps inside, a woman appears from the kitchen.

‘Can I help you?’ she asks.

Norah begins to babble. ‘It’s my sister, she’s so sick, you see. She needs food, and they don’t give us enough, but I have to help her. She’s my sister, the best sister you could hope for … and …’ Norah drifts off when she sees the puzzled expression on the woman’s face.

‘Your sister is sick, I understand, but how can I help? I am not a doctor. I’m a—’

‘No, no! I’m not asking you to see her.’

‘Then what do you want from me?’

‘Food. You all get extra food, so much of it. We’ve seen it being delivered. I want just a little. For my sister. I beg you.’

‘What is your name? I am Tante Peuk.’ Tante is smiling and Norah is immediately hopeful.

‘I’m Norah, Norah Chambers, and my sister is Ena.’

‘A pleasure to meet you, Norah.’

‘I apologise again for my rudeness, but I’m desperate. If I could get some food for her, she might have a chance.’

‘How long have you been a prisoner of the Japanese?’

‘Since February 1942.’

‘Oh. I’m so sorry, that’s so long. Yes, I have extra food – have you got something to pay for it?’

‘What? Pay? I … I don’t have any money. I wouldn’t be here if I had money. I have the clothes I’m standing in, that’s all. Are you really not going to give me life-saving food for my sister because I can’t pay you?’

Tante Peuk looks down at Norah’s left hand. ‘What about that?’

Norah raises her hand to catch sight of her wedding ring. She sighs; it’s the only thing she has to remind her of John. It hangs halfway down her skinny finger, threatening to fall off.

‘My wedding ring?’

‘Do you want food for your sister or not?’

Norah plays with the ring before sliding it off. Kissing it, she hands it to Tante Peuk.

Over the next week, Norah feeds Ena with small quantities of vegetables and dried fish along with her rice ration. When her fever finally breaks, Ena’s strength slowly returns. Audrey has asked repeatedly where she got the food from, but Norah can’t bring herself to tell her she sold her wedding ring. Watching her sister improve, Norah has no regrets for having parted with it. She knows John will understand and applaud her for doing the right thing – the only thing. A ring can be replaced, a sister can’t.

In the first month of 1945, seventy-seven women die. More foliage around the cemetery has to be cleared to make room for the growing number of coffins. A human chain of twenty of the strongest women ferry the dead from the camp to their graves.

‘How long is this going to go on?’ Norah says. She and Audrey are perched in front of the firepit most days, burning names and dates of death into small, misshapen crosses before forcing them into the hard earth.

‘Please God, not much longer,’ Audrey says. ‘I know these crosses are to honour the dead, but it’s a terribly sad and awful job.’

‘The nurses have the worst job, though,’ Norah observes. ‘Those that aren’t sick are taking care of everyone else.’

‘And they’ve just lost Sister Ray. The first nurse to die.’

‘It’s horrible, isn’t it? After standing in the sun that day; I’m sure that didn’t help her fight off whatever she died of in the end.’

‘Her uniform’s ready.’ Nesta had prepared Ray’s outfit herself, giving it a good airing, dousing dirty smudges with a little water and scrubbing.

With no time to grieve, the nurses begin to dress Ray in her uniform.

‘It’s the first time we’re wearing ours since we were captured,’ says Betty. The uniform hangs off their emaciated frames. ‘I’m just glad we’ve managed to hang on to them.’