Nurse Jess (11 page)

Typical of Matron, at the last minute she relented a little.

“
This young man,
”
she said,
“
is doing fine, Nurse Jess.
”

At tea Jessa and Margaret came together again.

“
Margaret, something catastrophic—we have to undergo an exam.
”

Margaret nodded calmly.
“
I expected that
...
Oh, Jessa, I
’
ve got back those snaps I took.
”

“
But, Margaret,
listen.
You can
’
t have expected one.
”

“
Look, Jessa, this shot is up on Lopi. Didn
’
t Ba come out well?
”

“
But we
’
re graduated. We
’
re really if not actually sisters. We can
’
t be examined like raw little trainees.
”

“
This is the jetty. It
’
s taken from the beach. There
’
s Ba again.
”

“
Margaret!
”

Margaret looked up.
“
Darling, when you consider it calmly an exam is only reasonable. Why are you worrying? I have heard it
’
s not a formal examination, and even if it is you know your work.
”

“
Matron Martha has instructed me to con my notes,
”
said Jessa miserably,
“
and I haven
’
t taken any—or really very few.
”

“
This is Benjamin at the wheel of the wagon, Ba beside him,
”
said Margaret.
“
This is the picnic party under the umbrella tree, Ba drinking out of the pop bottle.
”
She regarded the scene happily. Then she appeased Jessa, though a little disinterestedly, with,
“
You can borrow my notes, of course.
”

That evening Jessa saw Professor Gink again. It was the first time for a fortnight. She saw his shadow before she saw him, but she knew at once whose shadow it was. No one else had those long, long legs.

And then she noticed there was another shadow with his. Much shorter, though taller than her own would have
...
about up to his top button Jessa
’
s came only to his third.

She wondered if he had been to visit the Perfesser. Young. Master X
’
s nursery was along this corridor.

She would have retreated her own steps in sheer nervousness, but the two shadows had half turned as though they had heard her approach, and it would have made retreat seem foolish, so she went on.

When she rounded the corner she saw that the second shadow was Margaret
’
s. She was talking animatedly to the Professor. She held in her hand the Crescent Island snaps.

This really was excellent. This was just what she had planned so long. Possibly Margaret was discussing native infant welfare with him. Two such dedicated people like they were would have a lot of pertinent things to discuss.

It was the beginning of the betterment of that good cause, and Jessa knew she should feel very satisfied about it. And she was, too, only... well, only... Oh, it was simply the impending surprise examination that made her feel oddly down in spirits like this.

When your spirits are down your head should go up, she remembered her father once telling her. Her red head came up now. Proudly.

“
Good evening, Nurse Margaret,
”
she said politely.
“
Good evening—sir.
”

And Professor Gink said,
“
Good evening.
”
Not even Nurse. Certainly not Nurse Jess.

Still with her red head up Jessa went past them down the long corridor.

That night, and whenever she could snatch a moment the next few days and nights, Jessa borrowed Margaret
’
s notes and conned.

Matron Martha had not said when they would be examined, but knowing Matron Martha, Jessa knew it would be quite in keeping with her to spring it on them without warning.

And Matron Martha did.

Jessa was feeding Brains Trust one morning when Matron Martha appeared by her side, no handle-turning, no steps, no approach, but suddenly, quietly there.

Brains Trust took some feeding. Already he was displaying all the privileged whims of the genius scholar. Food simply did not exist for him. He ignored it blandly. Or he would have if Jessa had not gritted her teeth and forced her will on this small sample of future high I.Q.

Calypso Pete had dined already. No trouble with Calypso; he would never ignore food.

Deb. Number One was still to come. She was pernickety, but not supremely above common appetite as Brains Trust was.

Matron Martha watched her a moment, then said,
“
As soon as you
’
ve finished there you will proceed to the office.
”

“
I
’
ve Deb. Number One—I mean the Peters baby to do.
”

“
Nurse Elaine can attend the Peters baby—and Nurse Jess, I am not
asking
what is your next task, I am
telling
you what to do.
”

“
Yes, Matron Martha.
”

“
You will proceed to the office to undergo your progress examination.
”

“
My pro
—
Yes, yes, thank you, Matron Martha.
”

Matron lingered a while, inspecting here, probing there. At last she went out of the nursery or rather she withdrew. Jessa heaved a sigh.

She looked at Brains Trust appealingly.
“
I
’
ve always implored you to hurry before,
”
she told him,
“
but now you can cogitate if you like.
”

With typical baby perverseness, Brains Trust suddenly became maddeningly interested in nourishment and finished his bottle with a promptness he had never displayed before. Jessa said,
“
Meanie, you just would.
”

She couldn
’
t find her fountain pen. She was still searching for it when Margaret ran along the c
o
rridor to the nursery.

“
Jessa, you
’
re holding things up
... he
’
s waiting
—”

“
I can
’
t find my pen.
”

“
You can borrow mine, though you won
’
t need it, the exam
’
s oral.
”

“
Oral!
”

“
Yes... hurry...!
”

“
Have you finished your ordeal?
”

“
Ten minutes ago. Oh, Jessa, don
’
t stand there,
go.
”

Jessa turned and scuttled down to the office, her mind turning over and over as she conquered the steps in two
’
s occasionally reckless three
’
s and four
’
s.

“
He,
”
Margaret had said. So the examiner was not Matron Martha... or Doctor Elizabeth ... he was probably some important member of the Belinda Board.

She tapped on the door, straightened her cap, turned the handle, entered.

A seat was waiting at the desk for her. On the other side of it sat—Professor Gink.

She had not expected him.

Of all people in the world he was almost the last she would have imagined sitting at Matron
’
s desk in an examining capacity. He was a medical V.I.P., a world lecturer, almost a universal figure. She could not believe that he was bothering himself to test a raw trainee like this.

“
Good morning, sir.
”

“
Good morning.
”
Again no Nurse, and certainly no Nurse Jess.

Then he smiled suddenly, that oddly shy, rather boyish smile of his, so surprisingly endearing in a man of his learning, and he said,
“
Relax, please
... as I hope I can. This is rather a new role for me.
”

Jessa asked,
“
Then why are you doing it?
”
and was instantly shocked at her own boldness. She was glad Matron Martha was not here to hear.

“
A w
h
im,
”
said the Professor.
“
All at once I had a desire to know how much you trainees have absorbed in your first few months.
”

He looked down at the desk, then looked up again. Without warning, he asked,
“
What are the main considerations in the care of the premature child?
”

That was easy. She had had the four essentials dinned into her since she had come to Belinda.

“
The main considerations are warmth, feeding, care of skin and minimum amount of movement
,
”
she said.

“
Cot temperature?
”

“
Ninety degrees to ninety-five.
”

“
And the room?
”

“
Seventy-five.
”

He was doodling with his pencil on Matron Martha
’
s unblemished ink blotter.

“
Nurse Margaret,
”
he remarked conversationally,
“
Assured me that your Capricornian climate was much to her liking. It would be just about that temperature, wouldn
’
t it? Tell
’
me did you, too, enjoy your break, Nurse?
”

“
Yes, Professor Gink.
”

“
She informed me, also, of the changes facing your Crescent Island, the tourists expected.
”
He looked rather expectantly at Jessa.

Jessa tried to think of something to say, but couldn
’
t. So she murmured again,
“
Yes, Professor Gink.
”

“
I should like very much to visit your home, Nurse.
”
He was doodling again, doodling quite madly.

This time she
could
think of something. She said cheerfully,
“
Probably you will go to Crescent Island, sir. Conventions are going to be held there; one is an infant society
’
s.
”

He must have been pressing too hard on the point of the pencil. She heard it snap.

“
Tell me about feeding,
”
he said—but before she could do so,
“
Not in that capacity, Nurse, I mean not in a convention capacity, but as a visit. A visit to—to your home.
”

“
Boiled water the first twenty-four hours,
”
recited Jessa,
“
then glucose or whey, then a modified milk diet.
”
She hesitated.
“
Many people believe they can get a more unbiased viewpoint a thousand miles from what
t
hey must discuss, sir, particularly an island, they say, completely disassociated with any of their problems.
”

“
A visit,
”
he repeated stubbornly,
“
to your
home,
Nurse Jess.
”

He wasn
’
t doodling now, he was looking straight at her. There was something urgent in that straight unwavering glance.

Margaret, she decided agitatedly, of course it was Margaret. It must be Margaret. Margaret had been talking with him in the long corridor. Probably she had shown him her snaps. He was Blinking of Crescent Island in terms of
Meg.

She remembered what she herself had thought when her mother had told her about the infant society convention. Professor Gink there ... Margaret there
...
and between the two of them the scent of jessamine, a gold moon, silver stars. What better place for a rendezvous for lovers? Dedicated lovers like Margaret—and Professor Gink.

He must have found another pencil, because he was drawing cubes and triangles a second time.

He put the pencil down and took off his glasses and wiped them. Instantly he became the defenceless little boy again. Something in Jessa
’
s heart turned.

“
It
’
s very nice there,
”
she heard herself babbling wildly.
“
You and—Nurse Margaret would be very interested in the native infant welfare.
”

“
Nurse Margaret
?
”

“
You must go when she goes. She could take you around, sir. She knows as much of Crescent Island already as I do
—
or even Ba.
”

“
Ba. Oh, yes
”
—he was puffing on the glasses now preparatory to polishing them—
“
Mr. Barry Burns
—”

A minute went by. Matron Martha
’
s desk clock ticked it quietly, relentlessly.

Why had he said,
“
Ba. Oh, yes
... Mr. Barry Burns
”
?
“
Bath procedure,
”
he demanded abruptly, and he must have caught a cold somewhere because his voice was a trifle husky.

“
Baby oiled at birth, then oil and lanolin until full time,
”
Jessa said.

He did not comment on her answer.
“
The spectacles,
”
he burst out hoarsely, almost gruffly.
“
I—I assumed when you did not take them that you were too busy to mend them
—
exams, all that.
”

“
I didn
’
t know about my exam,
”
Jess admitted.

“
But you
were
being kept too busy?
”

“
No—I mean yes—I mean—
”

“
What do you mean, Nurse?
”

There was a silence, a wretched silence.

Jessa stammered unhappily,
“
The—the bath procedure or—or your g-glasses?
”

He did not answer, he simply waited.

“
I didn
’
t take them from the mail rack because—well, because it was better not to right from the beginning, wasn
’
t it? I mean sometimes one does something like that and then
”
—awkwardly—
“
and then later On one wishes that one hadn
’
t begun.
”
Her word
s
trailed miserably off.

He had put the glasses
b
ack, and he was not a defenceless little boy any longer.

“
Quite right,
”
he agreed calmly.
“
It is better—right in the beginning.
”

He pulled the top sheet of blotter away, crumpled and deposited it in the waste paper basket.

A clean sheet, Jessa thought vaguely
...

“
That is all, thank you, Nurse.
”

“
Thank you, sir.
”

She got up, hesitated a moment, then went.