Page 112 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun

And now, one boatload has left for the ship, while Nesta waits on the pier with the other nurses for it to return.

Sister Catherina is kneeling beside a stretcher patient.

‘How can I help?’

‘I think she’s dead. Would you check?’

Nesta quickly examines the woman and sighs.

‘You’re right. I’m so sorry. Did you know her?’

‘I did. I don’t know what to do.’ Sister Catherina is holding the dead woman’s hand.

‘When the launch gets back, we’ll put her on board. I think the only thing we can do is bury her at sea from the ship.’

When the launch returns, Nesta and Sister Catherina place the body on board and Sister Catherina takes her place beside her.

As the deck of the ship fills up with stretcher patients, most of the women find themselves crowded together below deck, enduring the suffocating heat.

As the ship begins its journey, Nesta gathers the able nurses together on deck. ‘I think the women up here need to rotate with those down below and give everyone a break in the fresh air.’

‘Absolutely agree,’ Jean replies. ‘Only problem will be persuading those who have staked a claim up here to do the right thing.’

‘I’m sure everyone will see it’s the only thing – never mind the right thing – to do,’ Nesta insists. ‘First, we’ll assess everyone above and below deck to see who needs the most urgent attention. Let’s get as many children up here as we can.’

‘Nesta?’ Sister Catherina calls, approaching the nurses. ‘I can see how space is a problem, so why don’t we have the burial before we leave the Strait? It will help to make a little more room up here.’

Nesta feels her eyes well up. Looking at the young nun, she feels distraught that this kind and, yes, angelic girl should have to help lower a body over the side of a ship chugging through the ocean.

‘Thank you, Sister. I think there are enough of us to manage the burial.’

The nurses split into two groups: one to assess women and children below deck and the other above. Nesta joins those heading into the bowels and is immediately joined by Norah and Audrey.

‘What can we do to help?’ Norah asks.

‘Thanks, ladies. We want to get the children up here as quickly as possible and any women who are in real distress. My other nurses are persuading those on deck to take a shift below.’

By evening, the rotations are well underway. However, there are yet more deaths and more burials at sea. When the ship drops anchor at the mouth of the Moesi River, everyone is too sunburnt and suffering from heat exhaustion to feel relieved. They all know that while night-time will deliver a cooling breeze, it will be accompanied by platoons of mosquitoes.

‘Looks like we’re going back to Palembang,’ Margaret says. Beside her, June is asleep in Ena’s lap and Ena is gently stroking her forehead. Ena’s feet and legs are swollen from beri-beri.

‘Can I be honest with you, Margaret?’ Ena says, with a grimace as she tries to find a comfortable position without disturbing June.

‘Of course. But I think I can guess what you’re about to say. It’s what we’re all thinking.’

‘I’m losing hope.’ Ena won’t meet her friend’s eyes, appalled to be saying these words out loud. ‘Going back into the jungle again feels like it’s the end for us. How will we ever be found?’

‘I wish I could say something positive about this move, but I can’t, I’m struggling myself,’ Margaret says. ‘All we can do is look after each other, take care of the children and—’

‘Please don’t say pray.’

‘You’re right, my dear. It’s my default phrase. But I’m sure you won’t mind if I pray for all of us.’

‘I’m pra— I’m hoping you will,’ Ena says and both women manage a smile.

As day breaks, the ship lumbers up the Moesi River, before dropping anchor off the Palembang wharf. Japanese soldiers await their arrival. When the women disembark, the soldiers stand to one side, offering no help at all. It is a depressing sight. Soon, the wharf is loaded with stretchers with the sick and dying, with dead bodies awaiting burial, and the exhausted, starving women. Finally, they are ushered over some railway tracks to a grassy area beyond, where they are given some water.

Several hours pass, during which the women doze and rouse, doze and rouse, until a train pulls into the station. The stretcher patients and the dead are placed in the cattle wagons; everyone else is ordered into the carriages. And there they remain overnight, shut in airless compartments, the windows securely closed.