Free The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas Page A

that isn’t the way to do it,’ Sister Parker sighed. ‘Try it again, only please avoid kicking the patient in the face this time. And no profanity!’
    Millie heard a snort from the other side of the bed. When she looked up, Dora was busily tucking in the sheet, her head down. But her shoulders were shaking. Millie desperately tried to hold in her own laughter, but when she looked down and saw Mrs Jones staring up at her, her glassy smile still in place, she broke down.
    ‘Are you quite all right, Benedict?’ Sister Parker asked.
    ‘Sorry, Sister . . . choking fit . . . be all right in a minute.’
    ‘Really, Nurse, I hardly think it’s appropriate to cough all over the patient, do you?’ Sister Parker frowned. ‘Go to the sluice and fetch a glass of water. Go with her, Doyle.’
    ‘Yes, Sister.’
    They didn’t dare look at each other until they were safely in the sluice. Then they both burst into fits of laughter.
    ‘Oh, my God.’ Millie leant against the door, holding on to her aching stomach. ‘I think I’ve given myself an internal haemorrhage.’
    ‘That’s nothing to what you’ve done to poor Mrs Jones,’ Dora replied.
    ‘It’ll take more than a clean sheet to put her right, that’s for sure!’
    They doubled up, helpless with laughter, hands over their mouths so no one would hear their muffled shrieks. They were still giggling five minutes later when Katie O’Hara knocked on the door.
    ‘Sister Tutor wants to know if you’ve choked to death?’ she called out.
    At least the disaster helped break the ice. As they filed off to the dining room for their tea break, Millie made sure she gave Lucy Lane the slip and joined Dora instead. A few of the pros from her previous PTS set had come down for their tea, and Millie felt a twinge of envy as she listened to them swapping excited stories about their first day on the wards.
    ‘Don’t you wish you were with that lot?’ Dora asked, helping herself to a slice of bread and jam.
    Millie nodded. ‘I feel such a fool, having to repeat PTS. I haven’t even dared tell my family yet.’ She could guess what her grandmother would say about it. ‘It isn’t fair. I could have passed if only it hadn’t been for . . .’
    ‘What?’ Dora asked.
    ‘I can’t tell you. It’s too awful.’ Millie shook her head, trying to suppress the memory. ‘It was the worst moment of my life.’
    ‘Oh, go on. You can’t leave me in suspense!’
    Millie hesitated. If she didn’t tell Dora herself, she was bound to hear it from someone else. Like so many of her mishaps, it had already passed into hospital legend.
    ‘During the final practical test, I had to demonstrate a soap enema solution,’ she said.
    ‘And?’
    ‘And I did it very well. I got it all right until the last minute, and then—’
    ‘Go on.’
    She closed her eyes, shuddering at the memory. ‘It wasn’t my fault. The wretched syringe just sort of exploded in my hands. It went off all over the place. The poor examiner was covered.’
    ‘You didn’t!’ Dora put her hand over her mouth.
    ‘I did.’ Millie nodded. ‘It wouldn’t have been so bad if the examiner hadn’t been Sister Hyde.’
    ‘Who’s she?’
    ‘She runs the Female Chronic ward here. A real dragon, everyone is simply terrified of her. And with good reason, too. If it had been down to her, I would have been straight out of Nightingale’s after that exam. But luckily Matron gave me another chance. I don’t think Sister Hyde was very pleased about it.’
    Dora laughed. ‘You’re a card, d’you know that?’
    Millie smiled back. She was used to people laughing at her. And she didn’t mind Dora doing it if it meant they could be friends.
    As they walked back to the practical room, Dora said suddenly, ‘I don’t mind, you know. If you want me to swap with her?’
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Your friend Lane. I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it?’ She didn’t look at Millie as she spoke. ‘You two have got such a lot in