The Orchid House (35 page)

Perhaps, Harry thought, he had to get used to the fact that anything normal would seem abnormal to him until he settled into freedom. And perhaps he also had to accept that no one, other than those who had been there with him, would ever understand what he had been through.

‘Sir, your tea, with milk and sugar.’ The boy placed the tray on the small table next to him.

Harry restrained himself from diving for the sugar bowl and tipping the lot into his mouth. It was the first time he had seen sugar in three-and-a-half years.

Sebastian joined him half an hour later, as the sun began to set over the river. He ordered a gin and tonic for himself and one for Harry, although, after taking a whiff of it, Harry abstained. Alcohol was something else he hadn’t tasted since he left England. And, in his current state, it would knock him out completely.

‘By the way, before I forget, I believe this is yours.’ Sebastian placed a small leather-bound diary on the table. ‘When they removed what was left of your clothes at the hospital in Bangkok, the nurse found it in your long johns.’ Sebastian raised an eyebrow. ‘She handed it to me for safe-keeping.’

It was the diary Harry had kept assiduously from the moment his ship had left the English coast. If the Nips had found it in Changi, he could have been shot. So he had secreted it on his person by sewing a makeshift pocket inside his underwear. Writing down his thoughts and feelings every night had been one of the ways he’d managed to survive.

‘Thank you, Sebastian, I’m grateful, although I doubt I’ll be turning the pages for a trip down memory lane in the near future.’

‘No. So, dear boy, there’s a boat sailing in three weeks’ time that will take you rather comfortably to Felixstowe and home. You’d better send a telegram to your family letting them know you’ll be on it. I’m sure they would all love to be there to greet you when it docks,’ smiled Sebastian.

‘That sounds ripping, and thank you for organising it, but would you mind if we talked of future plans another time? It’s my first proper night of freedom and I simply want to enjoy the moment.’

‘Of course, of course, old chap! No rush and all that. I just rather thought you’d like to be on your way as soon as you can,’ explained Sebastian.

‘We’ll talk of it tomorrow,’ Harry answered. ‘Now, tell me all about this beautiful city.’

‘Rather surprised you’re not more interested in what’s been going on in Blighty,’ commented Sebastian over dinner later on, as he tucked in to a large Australian steak. Harry looked down at his similar steak, watched the blood trickle out of it, and knew he couldn’t stomach it. Embarrassed, he changed his order to a bowl of soupy rice.

‘I am interested, Sebastian, of course,’ said Harry. ‘But I feel I’ve only been out, so to speak, for the past few hours. And talk of the war is a little beyond me tonight.’

Sebastian looked at him through his thick lenses and nodded sympathetically. ‘Early days, old chap, early days. Tomorrow I have my tailor coming to visit you, to kit you out with an entire set of civvies. They’re a dab hand with the old needle and thread out here. Anything you want, dear boy, he’ll make it for you.’

‘That’s awfully kind of you. Although I’m hardly aware of what’s in vogue at present.’

‘Wouldn’t think it’s altered that much. Doubt the chaps back home are wearing skirts, as they do out here,’ chuckled Sebastian.

‘I suppose, until I’m demobbed, I should technically be wearing my uniform,’ Harry said flatly. ‘But all I had left of it in Changi was a pair of shorts patched with tent canvas and one sock.’

‘Well, need I say you don’t have to worry about that. The authorities have enough to do getting the thousands of POWs back home. And if I were you, I’d view this as a bit of a holiday. Sounds as though you deserve it, dear boy. And when you’re up to it, I can show you a few sights, eh what? The girls here are … how shall I put it? A little more relaxed than the fillies at home.’ Sebastian’s eyebrows appeared over the top of his glasses. ‘You must still be exhausted from your ordeal. Was it … bloody?’

‘Beyond imagining,’ Harry replied bluntly. ‘And I was one of the lucky ones. I was an officer and was treated a little better than the men. Plus, I could play the piano, which the Nips rather admired. They used to have me go to their quarters and play for them.’ Harry sighed. ‘If anything, the piano saved my life.’

Sebastian’s face lit up. ‘Of course! I’d forgotten your talent in the midst of everything else that’s been going on. I must have a word with Giselle. She’s rather intent on setting up a little bar here for all the ex-pats, and she’s looking for band members. Perhaps, in the next few days, she could get a crowd together and you could play for us all.’

‘Perhaps,’ Harry muttered, non-committally. ‘I wonder what happened to Bill?’

Sebastian frowned at the sudden change of thought. ‘Who on earth’s Bill?’ he enquired.

‘He was my sergeant in the battalion. He came from Wharton Park and was with me throughout my captivity. He saved my life during the fall of Singapore and always came to visit me in Changi hospital when I was ill with dengue fever. I’d like to know that he’s safe home. I’ll send a telegram home to ask.’ Harry was fading. ‘Sorry, Sebastian, but I’m bushed, and I must get some sleep.’

‘Of course,’ Sebastian said. ‘You take yourself off to your room, dear boy, get a good night’s shut-eye, and my tailor will be with you at ten.’

Harry stood up, his legs feeling dreadfully shaky. ‘I really am most terribly grateful for everything you’ve done, Sebastian. You must let me know what I owe you for all your trouble. I’ll have the money wired through to you from England.’

‘Just call it my contribution to the war effort.’ Sebastian brushed talk of finances away with a dismissive hand. ‘Think nothing of it, glad to be of help.’

Harry bade him goodnight, then walked slowly back to his room. He was relishing the thought of resting his aching bones in cool, clean white sheets, under the breeze from the ceiling fan. As he climbed into bed, all that concerned him before he drifted off was the whereabouts of his friend, Bill.

34

In the following week, Harry had plenty of rest and began to build up his strength, as his beleaguered stomach started coping with the kind of nourishing food he had only been able to dream about in Changi.

At night he was still plagued by nightmares. He would wake, drenched in sweat, and reach for the light, which often didn’t work, due to the continued blackouts in Bangkok. His heart racing, he would struggle to light a candle, see the sanctuary of his room and convince himself that it was truly over.

In the mornings he would make his way down to breakfast on the veranda, then take a newspaper into the shade of the large palms in the garden. The river hummed with life, the wooden boats with their diesel engines providing a background noise which lulled him. He watched the activities of other guests from behind his newspaper; some had been POWs on the Burma railway, but he did not indulge in conversation.

Sebastian often called in from his office nearby and they would lunch together before Harry took himself off for his afternoon nap. He did not venture outside the hotel. The serenity of this spot, and the gentle, courteous Thai staff, who floated gracefully about their business, made him feel safe. He clung to the confines of the Oriental Hotel; it was his safe haven.

Sebastian asked him every day if he wanted to send a telegram to Wharton Park letting them know when he would return, but Harry was reticent. The thought of the journey home – coupled with the responsibilities he would face on arrival – was too much to cope with. Here, within the tranquillity of the hotel, Harry was healing.

One searingly hot afternoon, on his way across the lobby after lunch, Harry saw Giselle directing her Thai workers as they carried an old upright piano precariously along the corridor and into a room.

After his nap, Harry ambled back downstairs and took a look inside. Bamboo fans had been recently fixed on to the ceiling, and tables and chairs arranged around the room. There was a wooden service area still under construction in one corner, and the piano and a drum kit in another. Harry walked over and pulled up the lid. He brought over a chair, sat down and put his fingers to the keys.

Although he had played in Changi, the Nips had, ironically, only wanted popular American tunes. His fingers felt rusty as he played the opening bars of Chopin’s ‘Grande Polonaise’
.
He persevered, willing his hands to move across the keys as they used to. Eventually, they seemed to remember, and the familiar notes flowed in a torrent of unexpressed pain. For the first time since his war had begun, Harry found peace in his music.

When he finished, he sat sweating with exertion and emotion, and heard clapping from the doorway. A young Thai maid was standing shyly by the door, floor-sweeper in hand, a look of wonderment on her face.

Harry smiled at her, thinking how beautiful she was, even in her drab maid’s uniform.

‘I sorry, sir, to disturb you. I hear music when I sweep terrace and I come in to listen.’

‘Of course.’ Harry looked more closely, taking in her tiny child-like body, perfectly proportioned, and then, her lovely face. ‘You like music?’

‘Very much,’ she nodded. ‘Before war, I train too.’

‘You were at music school?’

The girl shook her head. ‘No. Only lesson, once a week. But I love, I love Chopin very much,’ she said with passion.

‘You want to play?’ Harry offered as he stood up.

‘No, Madame would not like. Besides, I am …’ she searched for the right English word and smiled as she found it, ‘amateur. I think you are professional.’

‘Hardly,’ muttered Harry. ‘But I too enjoy playing.’

‘You play for new bar, yes?’ The girl smiled again, showing Harry a perfect set of pearl white teeth, underneath full pink lips.

‘Maybe if Giselle asks me,’ shrugged Harry, ‘but it won’t be Chopin. You are a maid here?’ he asked, rather superfluously, loathe to end the conversation.

The girl nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘I’d say it was unusual to find a maid who speaks good English and plays the piano,’ he commented.

The girl shrugged. ‘Many things change for many during war.’

‘Yes,’ Harry agreed with feeling, ‘yes, they do. But you are educated. Why are you working here?’

Her eyes filled with sadness. ‘My father in Free Thai movement, get taken away by Japanese Army. And disappear a year ago.’

‘I see.’

‘Before, he is editor of newspaper here,’ she continued. ‘We have good life. I am educated at British school here in Bangkok. But my mother, she have three young children and cannot leave them alone to earn money. So I work to feed my family.’ She spoke in a matter-of-fact manner, not asking for his sympathy, merely explaining her circumstances.

‘And Madame Giselle, she was once a journalist too, I believe?’ recalled Harry.

‘Yes,’ the girl agreed. ‘She was French war correspondent. She help me by giving me job, because she know and respect my father.’

Harry nodded. ‘I understand. Perhaps, when the chaos of the war is over, you can use your education once more.’

‘But you, sir, have many worse than me,’ she answered. ‘Madame say you are prisoner in Changi. I hear it very bad place to be.’

The sympathy in her eyes brought tears to his own. This was a girl who understood the cruelty war could inflict. They both stood for a moment, staring at each other, as an inexplicable feeling passed between them.

She broke the silence. ‘I must go now.’

‘Yes.’

As if in prayer, she drew her fingers together beneath the tip of her nose and bowed her head towards them, a traditional Thai gesture Harry had come to recognise.

‘
Kop khun ka
, sir. I enjoy your playing very much.’ She began to walk out.

‘My name is Harry,’ he called.

‘Haree,’ she repeated, and he loved the way she said it.

‘And what is yours?’ he asked.

‘My name, it is Lidia.’

‘Lidia.’ Harry mouthed the name, as she had his.

‘Goodbye, Harry, I see you soon.’

‘Goodbye, Lidia.’

After this meeting, Harry watched Lidia every day, enjoying her graceful movements as she went about her tasks. He sat in his favourite spot on the terrace, with Somerset Maugham’s
The Gentleman in the Parlour –
written in this very hotel some years back – on his lap. Instead of reading, though, he studied Lidia, fascinated by her for reasons he could not explain. Everything about her was delicate, fragile and so terribly feminine
.
Against Lidia, Olivia would seem like a carthorse, even though she herself was considered slim.

He chuckled to himself that he had found his own, real-life Cinderella. Of course, Lidia had no idea he was a prince – or as near as dammit. She smiled up at him occasionally, but never approached him. He did not feel it fitting to approach her.

Harry had no idea how old she was. From careful observation he could tell that, under her uniform, she had the shape of a woman; but she could have been anything from fourteen to twenty-four. He worried he was becoming obsessed with her, working out when she swept the veranda and the terrace, and making sure he was there so he could watch her. The more he saw her, the more beautiful she became. He spent hours lying on his bed in his room, pondering how he could restart their conversation and get to know her better.

One morning, as he passed through the lobby, he saw Lidia sitting behind the reception desk. She was no longer in her maid’s uniform, but instead a Western-style blouse and skirt.

Encouraged by a smile from her, he walked over and said, ‘Hello there. Have you been promoted?’

‘Yes.’ Her huge amber eyes sparkled with pleasure. ‘I am now helping Madame with paperwork and reception. Also, I have new position as guest relations.’

‘Good for you!’ said Harry, feeling the kind of pleasure one would associate with something good happening to oneself. ‘I’m glad Madame has recognised your abilities and put them to good use.’

‘It is because I speak English and Thai, and Madame speak French. We are good team.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘I get pay rise too, so my family very happy. And new bar open tomorrow night. I hope it is okay with you, but I tell Madame we have guest who play piano very well. I think she speak to you about it later.’