Nurse Jess (20 page)

Spring was touching hands with summer. The air was soft and caressing. Shrubs were losing their buds for little tongues of green growth.

Jessa looked down on the pink cotton dress she had just finished making gayer with a white, rose-embroidered collar.

It was a pretty young pink and it made her think of babies, and consequently of Barry Boy. She hadn
’
t bathed him yet
...
that was a pleasure in store
...
but she knew when she did that he would emerge from his water bath just as pink and white and fresh as this dress.

All at once she wanted to put on the dress and wheel him out in the Belinda perambulator. She knew the only objection Matron Martha would find—Matron liking her nurses to take after-duty interest in their babies as well as during-duty—would be possible fatigue following a roster of Nights.

This called for a little white lie, and Jessa told it glibly.

“
I
’
m very fresh, Matron Martha, you see, I rested as soon as I came off.
”

... So she had, Jessa salved her conscience, she had sat on the bed.

“
Very well, then, Nurse Jess. I need not tell you to be careful with him. Although he
’
s normal weight now he is still a very small infant.
”

“
Yes, Matron Martha, thank you, Matron Martha.
”

Before Matron could change her mind, Jessa ran off.

Nurse Gwen was on duty and took a very dim view of Jessa purloining Master X. Not that Nurse Gwen was particularly fond of the foundling, but the sight of Jessa in a fresh pink and white frock about to push a fresh pink and white baby into the fresh summer air for some reason annoyed her.

She looked at the pink frock.

“
Personally, I never renovate. I think it just screams last year.
”

“
I
t
is last year.
”

“
That
’
s what I said. And Nurse
“

“
Yes, Nurse?
”
(Professor Gink liked his nurses to be called by name, Jessa knew, but if Nurse Gwen didn
’
t, then Nurse Jess wouldn
’
t.)

She waited.

“
Pink,
”
considered Nurse Gwen weightily, and glanced meaningly at Jessa
’
s hair.
“
Do you think you
should
?
”

“
I have,
”
said Jessa cheerfully, and picked up her baby.
“
Come on, young man, you and. I for the bright lights—or rather the corner gardens, to be precise.
”

Nurse Gwen tried to think out something else, but failed.

“
His bottle,
”
she called finally and disapprovingly,
“
is at four.
”

Jessa called back,
“
We
’
ll be home by five to, spit my death,
”
and though she had rounded the corner by this and could not see Nurse Gwen she felt her shudder of elegant distaste.

The Belinda pram proved large and cumbersome. Sister Helen warned her that it lagged uphill, tore downhill, had a tendency to make towards the gutter and stopped with a shudder guaranteed to curdle the milk formula within any young baby.

“
I think his bottle is digested by now,
”
said Jessa.
“
Next feed is at four.
”

She was determined not to be discouraged, though certainly that bumbling baby carriage would have discouraged anyone.

“
When you are mine, Barry Boy,
”
she promised,
“
you
’
ll have a lightweight canvas in burgundy and white and a row of rainbow dangles hitched across the foot at which to kick your toes.
”

She was glad that no one was out to see her rather wobbly journey to the front gate. Once on the kerb, she thought, it will be plain sailing, but when she reached the footpath that led to the corner gardens she found it was not.

Not only did the pram veer gutter-wards, it bounced, bumped, shuddered, shook, it was abominably heavy to push. She looked fearfully ahead to where the slight rise she was ascending at present descended. What goes up must come down, she trembled, and wondered whether she could hold the pram steady or whether the pram would take her along as well as Barry Boy.

She was just considering retreat, and wondering at the same time, keeping in mind the gutter-wards veer of the wheels, how she was to turn, when a car pulled in at the kerb.

The Professor sitting in the driving seat took her completely by surprise. Somehow she had never visualized him driving a car, and certainly not a luxury model like this.

He was amused...no, that was an understatement. He was so convulsed with laughter that he had to take off his owl glasses and wipe his eyes.

Jessa was annoyed. She had thought she made a cheerful picture in her fresh pink frock pushing a fresh pink baby, but she had not believed it was
that
cheerful.

She waited for him to control his mirth.

“
Sister Helen called me to the window,
”
he said between fresh spasms (so someone
had
seen the departure!).
“
Are you pushing the pram or is the pram pulling you?
”

“
I
’
m taking the baby for a walk.
”

“
Oh, no, you
’
re not, you
’
re taking him for a ride, a car ride.
”

He had got out and opened the passenger
’
s door.
“
This is the Duchess. I call her that because she
’
s so grand. Get in, please.
”

Jessa reminded him coldly,
“
The baby?
”

He answered patiently,
“
You
and
the baby, of course.
”

“
But the pram
—”

“
We
’
ll leave it right here on the footpath. No one will steal it, of that we can be assured.
”

“
But
“

“
Look, Nurse, this is a prohibited parking area. In one moment I am going to qualify for a blue form asking me to Please Explain, and then fining me ten and six. Will you kindly step in
at once
”

Jessa gathered up her baby and stepped in obediently. The Professor wheeled the pram to where it should not trip any pedestrians, and got back into the car.

“
Any preferences?
”
he asked.

“
What do you mean
—sir?
”

“
You
’
re not on duty even if you are giving a patient an outing, so you can forget that formality, and by preference I meant any particular place you want to go.
”

“
I was going down to the corner gardens. I
’
ve been instructed to return—him
”
—she paused a significant moment
—“
back by four.
”

He knew she was avoiding calling the baby by a name.
“
Him?
”
he asked.

Jessa flushed and did not answer that.
“
Nurse Gwen says his bottle is due then.
”

“
His?
”
persisted the Professor.

Again Jessa did not reply.

“
We
’ll run
out to South Head,
”
decided the Professor.
“
There
’
s time to look at the sea, have a cuppa, and be back by four sharp.
”

Jessa felt a little dubious. Her baby was still a very tiny
baby.
“
Do you think
—”
she demurred.

Professor Gink let out the clutch.
“
This,
”
he reminded,
“
is not my first child, Nurse Jess.
”

No, remembered Jessa, you had a quiver-full, didn
’
t you, and all of them prems.

They weaved their way through the city. Once past the snarl of traffic at King
’
s Cross it was pleasant going.

They rose above that space of beauty and light and blue transparency that is Sydney Harbour until they came to Watson
’
s Bay. They did not have tea at once. The Professor drove down to the pier and they sat in the car looking beyond the foreshore that was as yellow as a ripe cornfield to the lapping water, the baby asleep on Jessa
’
s lap.

The harbour wavelets reflected the sky and the clouds and the flapping wings of seagulls. The low murmur of the tide dragging lazily over a patch of shingle made a peaceful sound.

Jessa glanced down at her baby and then covertly at Professor Gink.

His was never a handsome face, rather it was a little ugly, but it was a face to live with, she thought with an ache in her heart, day in, day out, a face for wear.

She had not thought he noticed her scrutiny, but the next moment he disconcerted her with a direct,
“
What
’
s the verdict, Nurse Jess?
”

“
I—I—what do you mean, Professor Gink?
”

“
Were you estimating me or merely wondering if I knew I had a black smudge on my nose?
”

“
You haven
’
t a smudge.
”

“
So you were estimating me. What is the sum total?
”

To escape replying Jessa settled the baby more comfortably.
“
He
’
s an affable soul,
”
she said conversationally.

She did succeed in evading his question, but at the same time she drew focus to another subject—little Master X.

“
So you call him Barry now,
”
remarked Professor Gink uncompromisingly.

“
Well, not exactly—I mean
—”

“
But I
’
ve heard you, I
’
ve heard you several times. Why, Nurse Jess?
”

She still could not answer as she could not answer once before:
“
Because that name is yours and because I
’
ve always associated him with
you,
”
so she said instead,
“
Do you mind?
”

He did not hesitate with his reply.
“
Yes, I do, I mind a great deal. I don
’
t think it at all suitable.
”

“
Oh,
”
said Jess. After a moment she said,
“
I
’
m sorry, sir.
”
This time he did not remind her she was not on duty, and Jessa felt as well as his censure because she had made free with his name the solid separation of their respective ranks.

To make the situation more uncomfortable Barry opened his eyes at that moment and howled.

She decided to un-wind him, but there was no wind to fetch up; she patted him here; stroked him there; fumbled and bumbled inexpertly; and all the time she was acutely, uncomfortably aware of the Professor
’
s unblinking stare.

“
He must be hungry,
”
she blurted unhappily at last,
“
but he shouldn
’
t be, because Nurse Gwen said he didn
’
t have his next meal till four.
”

“
Have you considered,
”
drawled the Professor,
“
that he might be damp?
”

He
was
damp, and taking out the necessary articles from the dilly bag that had come along with him, Jessa changed him, all thumbs, all awkwardness, surely at no time in her nursing career less adept.

When she had finished, Barry still crying truculently, though in a slightly lower voice, t
h
e Professor said hatefully,
“
I would not pass that.
”

Furious with her bad display, Jessa retorted,
“
I thought this was a tea party, not an examination.
”