“Shell shock,” she said.
CHAPTER 8
ARE WE DOWNHEARTED?
No other passengers left the train at Ipswich, and Alfie looked around, surprised by the station, which didn’t seem like a station at all; there was no seating area, for one thing, no ticket counters, and no shoeshine boys waiting for customers. The train had simply stopped and let Marian and Alfie off.
“Of course, this isn’t the real stop,” said Marian, noticing the bewildered expression on the boy’s face. “But most of the trains don’t pull into the real stations anymore so there’s less risk of bombing. They stop near or nearabouts, and one has to walk the rest of the way. It’s actually quite convenient for us, though, because the hospital isn’t far from here.”
“But how does anyone know where to board?” asked Alfie.
“They just know,” replied Marian with a shrug. “Word spreads. And if you don’t know, then you just keep going to the next stop, wherever that might be.”
A narrow lane bordered by hedges guided them toward a crossroads, and from there three separate paths led in different directions with no signposts to indicate which way they should go next.
“They’ve all been taken down,” explained Marian. “There’s scarcely a signpost left in England, or haven’t you noticed? We don’t want any infiltrators to find their way about, you see. There are spies everywhere, or so we’re told. I’m not convinced, but who listens to me? Lucky I have a good sense of direction. I might have been a bloodhound in another life.”
She chose the path to their immediate right and kept up a good pace, chattering away about this and that as Alfie ran to keep up with her. She was right, though: it wasn’t far to the hospital, and within a few minutes the broken stones sprouting with grass and weeds beneath their feet gave way to a more conventional road, and in front of them, finally, stood the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital.
Alfie felt apprehensive as he stared at the imposing walls that ran around the grounds, the long driveway that led to the main hospital, and the enormous pale-yellow-brick building itself, which looked more like a castle than anything else.
“Are you quite all right?” asked Marian.
“Yes.”
“You’re sure you want to be here? There’ll be another train heading back to London quite soon, you know. You could just go back to where we got off and start waving your arms around like a lunatic when you see one coming into sight. It would certainly stop for you. Well, probably anyway.”
“I’m sure.”
“Shall we go up together, then?” she asked. “There’s no point standing here and staring at it like it’s a picture postcard.”
“I think I might wait here for a little bit,” replied Alfie, holding back, feeling that it might be best if they parted company now.
“Nonsense! I can’t leave you here all alone. Aren’t you going to tell me who you’re visiting anyway? Perhaps we can find a nurse or someone to help you out.”
“I’d prefer to go up on my own,” said Alfie. “Thank you, though.”
Marian glanced at her watch. “Well, if you’re absolutely certain,” she said. “It’s up to you, of course. But you’ll have to find your own way back to the station later. You remember the way we came? All right then.”
She extended her hand once again, and this time Alfie shook it without having to be told. “Very good,” she said, nodding firmly before turning her back on him and marching up the drive.
He watched her for a while before stepping closer to one of the gate posts so that anyone looking out of the hospital beyond would not be able to see him. He didn’t want to be spotted in case he was turned away, despite the fact that he wasn’t entirely sure what his next move should be. He hadn’t really planned things any further than getting to the hospital, and after that … well, it was impossible to know. But there was really only one thing for it: he had to go inside.
* * *
Alfie began to make his way up the driveway, feeling rather conspicuous; a small boy arriving alone in short trousers, a woolly jumper, and a cap, after all, was obviously neither a doctor, a patient, nor a student arriving for the lecture.
The path itself was very well kept and separated two wide fields on either side with a straight line that led to the hospital entrance. The lawns were carefully tended, although there were no flowers anywhere in sight. Instead the grass had that strange striped look that lawns in country houses often have, where it appears as if one strip of grass is leaning one way while the other is leaning in the opposite direction.
When he reached the top of the drive, he stopped in front of a grand portico that led to a pair of open oak doors, hiding behind a pillar as he considered his next move. Two young women came out in uniforms completely different than Margie’s—they didn’t look quite so formal and their blouses were much looser at the neck—and stood in the fresh air, smoking cigarettes, oblivious to his presence behind them.
“And where was Dr. Ridgewell when all this was happening?” asked the first girl.
“Where do you think he was?” replied the second. “Sitting in his office, head down. Keeping out of the way.”
“And he didn’t even come out to speak to her?”
“He had no choice in the end. She said that she wouldn’t leave until he did, that they could call the police for all she cared. When he came out at last, you should have seen the expression on his face! Furious, he was! ‘What are you causing such a fuss for?’ he asked her.”
“And what did she say?”
“‘For the best reason in the world. For love.’”
Alfie gasped and put a hand to his mouth in surprise. This was the same expression that Mr. Janáček always used when he explained why he had moved from Prague to London.
“Poor woman,” said the first nurse, exhaling deeply and shaking her head. “She’s devoted to him, isn’t she?”
“Well, of course she is. He’s her husband. You’d do anything for your Frank, wouldn’t you?”
“Probably, yes. But look, I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but there are times when I’m grateful he was injured early on. It kept him away from the worst of it. It gets him down, of course, not being able to do his bit anymore, but I say to him, ‘Frank,’ I say, ‘you want to see what these poor boys are like out here at the East Suffolk? You want to count your blessings, Frank.’ I don’t hold back, Elsie. He needs telling sometimes.”
“How’s his walking now?”
“Not good.”
“And his spirits?”
“Even worse.”
Alfie slipped round to the other side of the pillars so they wouldn’t notice him, and then, while their backs were still turned, he ran into the lobby, where a set of glass doors awaited him, through which he could make out movement in a corridor beyond. Three more nurses were walking in and out of rooms on either side of the hall while a fourth was deep in conversation with a much older doctor who had a white beard and looked a little like Santa Claus. While their attention was diverted, Alfie opened the doors, ran through, and slipped into the first room on his left.