Free Through the Storm by Maureen Lee Page B

nothing, she felt more than a little dismayed at the idea she was expected to do cleaning. She’d thought she’d be tending to sick and injured sailors by now, though in what way, she wasn’t quite sure.
    They struggled up two flights of stairs. Water sloshed over the top of Kitty’s bucket, soaking her leg, so she changed the bucket to her other hand and nearly dropped her cap in. She glanced surreptitiously at her companion to see if she’d noticed, but Harriet was slightly ahead and unaware of the fact the new auxiliary couldn’t even carry a bucket of water without spilling it. When they reached the first floor, Harriet stopped outside a door.
    ‘This is the auxiliaries’ rest room. Change your clothes and I’ll start on the floors.’
    ‘You’re not going far, are you?’
    ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be right here.’
    The rest room was scarcely bigger than a cupboard, a miserable place with a small table underneath the tiny barred window and wooden chairs pushed against the walls. There were several bags on the chairs and a pile of coats hung behind the door.
    Kitty quickly got changed, wishing there was a mirror so she could see what she looked like in the green and white striped dress and apron. Although she pulled her cap down as far as it would go, it sprang off her wild curly hair immediately she let go. She hung up her coat, rolled her clothes into a ball and left them with her bag on a chair, then went out to find Harriet, who was cleaning the floor outside and hooted when she appeared.
    ‘That cap looks like a pimple on an elephant’s arse! You’ll never get it to stay on without a hairclip. Have you got one with you?’
    Kitty shook her head numbly. She’d scarcely been there a quarter of an hour and so far had done everything wrong. She squirmed with embarrassment, imagining Staff’s reaction if she’d turned up in the wrong uniform. Merely thinking about it seemed to sap every bit of confidence she might have had.
    ‘I’ll lend you one of mine, but I’d like it back, please. Hairclips are like gold dust these days.’ Harriet removed one of the clips from her cap. ‘We serfs must stick together, eh? On no account must we let the bastards get us down.’
    Kitty wasn’t entirely sure if she liked Harriet Mansell, although she was undoubtedly friendly and very helpful. She’d never known a woman swear before, apart from mild words like ‘bloody’ and ‘bugger’ which almost everyone used. She even came out with the occasional ‘damn’ herself, but it seemed odd to hear proper swearwords coming from a respectable middle-aged woman, particularly one who spoke so well, not posh, like Miss Ellis, but in a nice cultured, well-modulated voice. In fact, she wondered what someone so clearly well-educated was doing cleaning hospital floors.
    Harriet was regarding her critically. ‘I think you’ll do. At least the cap won’t fall off. Now, we really must get on with some work. We’re already miles behind.’
    Just then, a young girl in an auxiliary’s uniform came skidding around the corner, carrying a coat over her arm. She opened the door of the rest room and chucked the coat inside.
    ‘Harriet, you’ve brought me a bucket! You’re a dead good sort,’ she panted. ‘I felt sure Staff would nab me before I could get upstairs.’
    ‘Don’t worry, I covered for you. I said I’d already seen you around.’
    The newcomer seized a mop, dipped it in a bucket and began to clean the tiled floor where Harriet had left off. She was a plain girl, almost ugly, with an unnaturally narrow face and odd eyes – one seemed to be set at a slightly different angle from the other. There was a yellowing bruise on her right cheek.
    ‘Me dad came home pissed as a lord last night,’ she explained. ‘I knew there was no way he’d get our Hazel and Benny off to work. I virtually had to drag the pair of them out of bed, else they’d have still been there by midday.’ She suddenly became aware of