Through the Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

could,’ Kitty sighed. If she left everything ready, put it in the oven if necessary, and did the washing, the shopping and most of the housework at the weekend, Dad should be able to manage on his own, though she wished she didn’t feel quite so glad she hadn’t managed to convince Miss Ellis of the need to stay at home. ‘It’s me company he’ll miss more than anything else,’ she muttered half to herself.
    ‘If he complains,’ Miss Ellis said unsympathetically, ‘tell him you could be sent anywhere in the country. He’d miss your company even more if he didn’t see you at all.’
    ‘Oh, you wouldn’t do that, surely?’ cried Kitty, alarmed.
    ‘I could, but I won’t. There’s enough vacancies in Liverpool to avoid such extreme measures.’ She pulled open the drawer of a little wooden box which appeared to be full of white cards and began to leaf through them. For the very first time, she smiled and said sweetly, ‘Now, let’s see what those vacancies are.’
    Half an hour later, Kitty emerged from the Labour Exchange, dazed.
    ‘I’ve got a job!’
    She said the words aloud in order to convince herself, then repeated them, because even she found it hard to believe the words were true.
    ‘I’ve got a job!’
    Next Monday morning at six o’clock sharp, she was to report to Staff Nurse Bellamy at Seafield House in Seaforth which was now a Royal Naval Hospital, where she would be employed as an auxiliary nurse, working morning or afternoon shifts for alternate months. She could have started before, tomorrow if she’d wanted, but thought it wise to leave it till Monday so Dad would have time to get used to the idea of being left by himself.
    A nurse! She visualised herself in a white uniform tending to sick and injured sailors. She really would be doing her bit towards the war effort from now on.
    ‘Apparently, you can catch a bus to the hospital from the tram terminal in Rimrose Road,’ Miss Ellis said when she came off the telephone after fixing everything up. ‘It leaves at twenty to six. A uniform is supplied, but don’t forget to wear a pair of flat shoes.’ There was no need for an interview, the hospital was desperate, though she’d described Kitty in quite glowing terms over the phone.
    ‘Oh, she looks terribly capable to me – and she’s cared for her invalid father for many years,’ Kitty heard her say.
    Miss Ellis had turned out to be reasonably pleasant in the end, and shook Kitty’s hand when she left. ‘Good luck with the job, Kitty,’ she said a touch patronisingly.
    ‘Good luck to you,’ said Kitty.
    She didn’t go straight home, but wandered around the shops in Stanley Road, partly to put off telling her dad he was about to be abandoned, partly because she would soon be earning two pounds seventeen and sixpence a week, which meant she’d have money to spend on herself for the first time since she left Garlands.
    According to Miss Ellis, it was rather more than an auxiliary nurse would normally expect to receive; the rate was higher because Kitty was being employed by the Admiralty. ‘You’ll be the equivalent of what they call a Sick Bay Attendant in the Navy, though you won’t have quite so much responsibility.’ On the other hand, the hours were horrendous. Qualified nurses were in short supply and three shifts had been merged into two; six till four on mornings, two till ten on afternoons, six days a week. ‘That two hours’ overlap is the only time the hospital has its full quota of staff,’ Miss Ellis said.
    There seemed to be plenty of clothes available in the shops. By the time she’d seen a coat she’d like to buy, two frocks, a nice blue cable-knit jumper, a pair of shoes and a broderie anglaise petticoat and knicker set, Kitty had spent an imaginary six months’ wages, though she’d ask Brenda Mahon to run up a few things for her. Brenda was a dressmaker and only charged her friends a pittance for making clothes.
    She went into the Co-op to look at