Page 99 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun

‘When the siren sounds, everyone is to enter the nearest hut and stay there. He plans on having every window boarded up immediately and anyone caught outside or seen at a window will be punished.’

‘We’d better spread the word,’ Dr McDowell says.

The next day, nurses Ray and Valerie make the mistake of opening their door to peek outside. Their timing couldn’t have been worse. One of the soldiers sees them and bursts into the hut, where he is confronted by the entire household, all huddled together.

‘Can I help you?’ Nesta asks him.

‘I saw two outside.’ Beckoning with his hand, he says, ‘You must come.’

The nurses don’t move.

‘I don’t know what you are talking about, Officer. Can you identify who you think you saw?’

‘I saw two – come or you all punished.’

The soldier puts his hand on his pistol, breathing heavily, a brutal look on his face.

The two nurses step forwards; Ray and Valerie will not let their friends be punished because of their mistake.

Nesta steps up beside them, bowing deeply.

‘We are sorry for breaking the rules; wewill not do it again.’

Nesta does not see the hand slashing out at her until it connects with her face, sending her flying back into the arms of the nurses behind her.

Shoving the two culprits out of the door, the officer marches them away.

Several hours later, Ray and Valerie return to the hut.

‘We got taken to Seki,’ Ray says.

‘Did he hurt you?’ Nesta asks.

‘Not yet, but tomorrow we have to stand in the sun. Like Norah. No hat,’ Valerie tells them.

The next morning, the nurses give Ray and Valerie their rations of water, which they try to refuse.

‘You need as much fluid as you can get down; you both know what dehydration does to a body,’ Jean tells them.

‘But we’ll pee ourselves if we drink all this,’ Ray says with a chuckle.

‘I would rather you peed yourself than your kidneys failed,’ Jean says.

The nurses all march to the centre space, where no shade touches the dry earth. Seki, accompanied by Ah Fat, strides out to the two nurses who stand with their heads bowed.

‘I’m going to talk to him,’ Jean whispers to Nesta.

‘Do you think that’s a good idea?’

‘Ray has been with me since we first came to Malaya, and I know something about her that no one else does. She has a heart condition, we discovered it when she got malaria not long after we arrived.’

‘OK, see what you can do but don’t risk joining them. Ray wouldn’t want that.’

Jean, head bowed, walks slowly towards Seki and Ah Fat. They watch her approach with curiosity.

‘What you want?’ Ah Fat asks.

‘With deepest respect, can I please ask the captain to not punish Nurse Ray this way. She has a heart problem and standing in the heat would be very dangerous for her.’