Page 118 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun

‘Wrap my leg, Nesta, hurry and help me get out of here. He’s coming, John is coming. I just know it.’

‘Lie still, I’ll be quick, then I’ll help you outside.’

With care, Nesta applies red palm oil sparingly onto the infected area of Norah’s leg. Gently bending her knee, placing her foot on the ground, she wraps the clean bandage around the leg, tucking in the end to keep it in place. As soon as Nesta has finished, she helps Norah to her feet, supporting her around the waist as they limp outside. Norah gasps with the effort, Nesta being so much shorter than her.

‘Oh, Norah,’ says Nesta. ‘You’re so weak. Please hold on tight to me and we’ll find somewhere to sit.’

Clinging to the tiny nurse, Norah makes her way into the sun. Nesta lowers her against the wall and then sits beside her.

‘I’ll wait with you if that’s OK,’ she says and Norah takes her hand.

‘I’ll need you, my friend. One way or another,’ Norah says. If John is here, she will celebrate with Nesta, but if he isn’t, she will need her comfort and consolation. ‘He’s coming, I just know he is,’ Norah repeats over and over, as she reaches out to grasp Nesta’s hand. ‘But what if he doesn’t come? I mean, he was so ill, and it’s been three and a half years … and …’

‘Norah, listen.’ Nesta squeezes her hand and both women turn their heads towards the gates of the camp. A very unfamiliar sound has rendered them silent.

‘They’re speaking English.’ They can hear the rumble of male voices snaking towards them. ‘They’re here,’ whispers Norah, and then, louder, ‘John! John!’

Nesta and Norah watch bedraggled and emaciated men stumble into the camp to be surrounded by the surviving English women, the nuns and everyone else looking on from a distance. There are cries of relief and exhaustion as husbands and wives are reunited. Howls of despair as man after man is told his wife and, in many instances, children have not survived. Frightened children hide behind their mothers, wary of the unkempt men claiming to be their fathers.

Ena runs towards the hut to find Norah sitting outside with Nesta. The sisters wait in silence, hands tightly clasped.

The flow of men into the camp thins out. Nesta pulls Norah close. Ena is fighting back her tears. She’s not ready for this, not ready to find words of comfort should they be informed that John has died. Nesta closes her eyes, overcome, willing the tears that threaten to stay away. She feels, more than hears, Norah whisper.

‘It’s John …’

Nesta opens her eyes and looks at the stranger stumbling towards them.

‘Ae you sure?’ Ena says. He is so thin and looks so much older than John.

Norah holds out her arms as she struggles to find her voice.

‘John, John,’ she mouths.

In that moment, in that place and time, their squalor seems to fall away. The jungle heat, buzzing mosquitoes, emaciation and disease, all of it, just for an instant, is absent, as one woman watches the man she loves lock eyes with her. The lopsided smile she fell in love with so many years ago slowly spreads across his face as his hands reach out to her.

‘Oh, my God, it’s him, itisJohn,’ Ena whispers.

Nesta stands and takes a few steps away. This is a family reunion, but not her family. She watches as John’s eyes light up on seeing Norah. He comes to his full height, and the fatigue that has etched so many lines in his face recedes.

John tries to run, but his body, just like Norah’s, can’t sustain his joy. He stumbles, trips and falls a few feet from the sisters. And then he’s struggling to his feet, summoning all the strength he can muster, to place one foot in front of the other.

‘Oh, my God, John,’ Norah weeps. ‘What have they done to you?’

Nesta doesn’t bother telling her he looks just like his emaciated wife.

‘Don’t hurry, my darling,’ she whispers. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

With one final lurch, John collapses on the ground in front of Norah. They embrace and hold on, never wanting to let go. Apart, they were broken, incomplete, but together they are whole again, or nearly: there is still one person missing from their family.

John sees Ena sitting beside his wife and now he hugs her too. They are all sobbing.

Squeezing between the two women, John wraps his arms around his wife and his sister-in-law, each of whom rests a tear-stained face on his shoulder. Nesta is weeping too, and while John has no idea who she is, he has a feeling she is a friend to the two women.

‘Aunty Ena! Aunty Ena!’ June calls out.

Shock hits John like a thunderbolt. ‘Sally! Is it Sally?’ he cries.

‘Oh no, no, my darling. This is June,’ Norah says.