Page 78 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun

Margaret smiles. ‘I think if anyone on God’s green earth could do it, it’s you.’

‘I’ll get started while I wait for you to recover.’

‘No need to wait for me,’ Margaret says. ‘Take that training you received at the Royal Academy of Music, add it to your God-given gift and I can’t wait to hear the results.’

Norah finds Ena and Audrey sorting through their evening meal of rice. The dirt and weevils are plucked out and discarded.

‘I need recruits,’ Norah says.

‘Ineed recruits,’ Ena fires back. ‘You can help with the rice.’

‘Forget about the rice, Ena. I need recruits for the voice orchestra.’

Ena looks up, puzzled. ‘Voice orchestra?’

‘Yes, that’s what I’m calling it. Margaret agrees we should expand. What do you say?’

‘I say, that is a wonderful idea. When do we start?’ Audrey replies.

That evening, Ena asks one of their housemates to mind June while she, Norah and Audrey go out for a couple of hours. They are warmly greeted as they arrive at the Dutch hut. It is not long before the small hut is overflowing with volunteers.

‘Thank you all so much for being here,’ begins Norah. ‘I am truly overwhelmed. If I could, I would take all of you and form a symphony orchestra. I’m afraid all I can possibly manage is a chamber choir at the moment, I do hope you understand.’

The next hour is spent auditioning the women. Norah wants no more than thirty members. When someone suggests they should ask the women from the English women’s huts and the nurses if they want to be part of the group, Norah assures them that once they are established, they will look for others, maybe another ten or so.

When she has her number, she shoos the others from the kitchen. They can listen from next door.

‘Now, I need to sort us into sections. I’m thinking three sets of six women, maybe more in the strings.’

‘Have you thought about what we’re going to perform?’ Rita asks.

‘Has she thought about it? What do you think?’ Ena jokes.

When the laughter dies down, Norah shyly tells them. ‘I was thinking something from Dvorák’sNew World Symphony.’

‘Which piece?’ Rita asks.

Norah pulls something from her pocket. It is just a scrap of paper torn from an old notebook, but, in the most exquisite hand, it is covered with bars, chords and the brace. ‘Largo, anyone? Shall we start with the largo?’

Norah hums the melody, and the women’s eyes begin to shine.

‘Do you really think we can do this? I mean, where do we start?’ Margarethe asks.

‘We start by trusting Norah to teach us, to train our voices to bring out their best harmonies,’ Ena assures them.

‘We need a place to rehearse,’ Rita says.

Someone shouts from the living room, ‘Here, you can rehearse here!’

‘Thank you. Let’s turn this kitchen into the rehearsal room for the inaugural voice orchestra,’ Norah says.

Everyone bursts out laughing, and the audience whoop with delight, as they are getting front-row seats to the creation of a unique performance.

‘We start tomorrow night,’ Norah says and the whooping breaks out once more.

Chapter 16

Camp III