Page 11 of Summer in Greece

I could not believe I had spoken to him like that!

His eyes narrowed as he studied me, then he nodded and handed over a list. ‘These are the things you’ll need for training camp, young woman.’

Back home, I considered my actions. I was fulfilling Sissy’s dreams. She wanted me to be bolder, to fight for equality, and stand up for my rights. But what about my dear parents? My heart was breaking for them. Their dread would be devastating, especially my mother’s who believed everything came in threes. From the cliff top, I gazed over the English Channel, watching ships, trying to visualise what it would be like to work on one as a warrior in the war for my country. Mrs Pankhurst would be proud, and once my parents had got over their fears, they would be proud too.

I informed Mother and Father of the application at dinner that evening. Father shouted and banged the table top so hard, the salt cellar toppled. Mother cried and begged me to withdraw my application, but I explained that I would help save the lives of young men like my darling brother. Perhaps, if there had been one more pair of hands, my sister may not have been so terribly tired and overworked. If she had been stronger, she may not have caught the influenza in the first place.

Father stood and banged his fists on the table again. ‘How dare you use your departed brother and sister as a weapon to get your own way! You will never attain the skills and self-discipline to step into their shoes!’

His words felt like a knife had been plunged into my chest.

I looked him straight in the eyes. ‘I know, Father.’

The room fell silent. Ashamed of using my siblings to change my parents’ minds, I felt abandoned.

I retired to my room, where I cried and cried, proving my father right. Sissy never cried; she would throw a tantrum.

After much thought, I decided to take the first step and train. After all, I may never be accepted into the Voluntary Aid Detachment, I explained to Mother.

‘You can’t go, Gertie! I forbid it!’ she said the next morning. ‘I haven’t slept a wink, nor shall I if you persist with this madness.’

‘Mother, you can’t deny me my dream. Besides, I must do it for poor Arthur and Sissy. It was Sissy’s dream too, remember? What Father said hurt me terribly, Mother, but what I said was true, if there’d been one extra pair of hands in the hospital, Arthur might have made it. Or at least I could have done my best – instead of doing nothing.’

It was difficult to hold back tears of frustration, but I had to. ‘Do you know how hard it’s been, growing up in the shadow of two such wonderful people? Now I have a chance to shine, and perhaps help some other mother’s son. Would you deny me that chance? Would you deny that mother of another wounded soldier the chance of getting him back alive? Please, the last thing I want to do is hurt you or Father, but you can’t keep me locked away, like a princess in a tower, forever. I know you love me and want to protect me, but I need to grow, Mother.’

Our eyes locked, wide and hard in an effort to hold back pain.

‘All right,’ Mother said quietly after a long silence. ‘I’ll help you.’

We went up to the attic, her sewing room, where she removed a crystal vase of dried honesty and a lace doily from the treadle-top, then set up the Singer. In the corner stood a wooden chest where Mother kept assorted linens and special materials. Next to that, a canvas-covered dressmaker’s form with a beautifully turned walnut neck and stand.

Together, we sewed the things I needed, finally embroidering my name on everything in neat chainstitch. We hardly spoke, both of us full of emotion. My name anchored, tightly stitching my spirit to those earthly things. So long as my name was there, it felt as though everything would work out.

I recall it was an odd list:

One calico bag – six feet four inches by three feet – to be filled with straw at camp.

A pillow-bag.

Two blankets.

A Macintosh rug, if available.

Two towels, a duster, and two tea cloths.

Besides these things I had to take a set of cutlery, a shoe brush, a bicycle or candle lamp, an enamel basin, cup, saucer, two plates, and a block of soap.

‘Here,’ Mother said. ‘Sissy would want you to have this, Gertie.’ She placed Sissy’s silver fob watch in my palm. My parents had bought it for her when she signed up to train as a nurse.

I read the inscription on the back. For our daughter, with love.

‘Oh, Mother, can’t you see that I have to take this step for Sissy too.’ Then, I was in my mother’s arms and we were both crying. ‘I’ll wear it for Sissy and treasure it always.’

CHAPTER 5

SHELLY

Dover, present day.