An Orphan’s Dream

Constable Jones put on his helmet and smiled at her. ‘We know that, Matron. My Sarah always says she knows you and Lady Rosalie will always do what you can for the kids round here. It’s the reason I brought Danny here. I’m not sure what will happen to the others, because some of them will need psychiatric treatment, but Danny has a good chance of getting over this so we thought this the best place for him.’

‘I’m glad you did,’ she said and nodded. ‘I’ll go and see how he’s doing shortly – and thank you for bringing him to us.’

‘No, Matron, it’s us that thank God for you.’

‘Well, it’s kind of you to say so – and don’t worry about young Danny. We will look after him.’ She smiled at him. ‘Give my good wishes to your wife. Tell Sarah we miss her at the Rosie but she is to look after herself and enjoy preparing for her baby.’

‘Thank you, Matron. I’ll be off duty shortly and I shan’t forget your kind words.’

He was thoughtful as he went down the stairs. Danny’s history was a familiar one; abuse at home from a drunken parent sent the kids running from comparatively safe homes to the dangers of the street and those that didn’t perish often ended up as child prostitutes or thieves stealing for an abusive master, unless they were fortunate enough to be picked up by the law. The kids had no idea that the misery they endured at home could get a hell of a lot worse on the streets. Danny hadn’t wanted to go into an orphanage, but his experience in that warehouse had changed his mind. He could only hope the lad settled down now he’d got a chance of a better life. Some of them ran away again the first chance they got, but he had a feeling Danny might knuckle down and make something of his life. He was certainly in the right place to make it happen if he tried.

‘Well, you seem well enough to me apart from those bruises,’ Nurse Margaret said after she’d examined Danny. ‘I’m going to give you a nice warm bath and then we’ll put you in the isolation ward for a few days to make certain you haven’t got anything infectious – and we’ll give you something to eat.’

‘Constable Jones give me a bacon butty and it weren’t ’alf good,’ Danny said, ‘but I wouldn’t mind somethin’ ter drink, miss.’

‘I’m sure Nurse Anne will give you whatever you like; some orange squash and a piece of cake, perhaps?’

Danny nodded. ‘Yeah, thanks. I ain’t ’ad proper cake fer a while, not since me mum died.’

‘Was your mum good to you, Danny?’ Margaret smiled at him kindly.

‘Yes, miss,’ he said. ‘We were all right until she died and then me dad took to the drink – you won’t make me go back to him, will you?’

‘No, Danny, I’m sure you will be allowed to stay here until a safe home is found for you. If your father asked for custody the magistrates would refuse because of what he did to you – but I don’t think he’ll ask, do you?’

‘Nah, probably wouldn’t want me if’n he knew where I was. Glad ter get rid, if yer knew the truth.’

Margaret laughed and shook her head. ‘I’m going to give you that bath now.’ She gave him an encouraging look as he hung back. ‘The water is lovely and warm, Danny. Now, do you want me to wash your back, or do you want to do it yourself?’

‘I can wash meself but I ain’t sure what ter do wiv the water – ain’t ’ad a bath in a tub like this afore,’ Danny said as she led the way into the shining clean bathroom and he saw the gleaming white bath with its steaming water.

‘You just pull the plug to let it go, but don’t worry, I’ll be here to help. I’ll leave you for a minute or two; I’m going to bring you some clean clothes and then we’ll take you to the isolation ward until the doctor takes a look at you. You’ll be by yourself for a while.’

‘All right, nurse,’ Danny said. ‘I itch all over. I reckon I got fleas – and Mum would go mad if she knew.’

‘Your clothes are filthy and torn, so we’ll throw them away and you’ll have new ones and once we’ve washed your hair with our special shampoo you’ll be rid of any creatures. Don’t worry, Danny, we have lots of children who have worse things than you. Just give yourself a good wash and you’ll feel a lot better.’ Nurse Margaret smiled at him as she prepared to leave.

Danny wondered if he should tell this nice lady about the ache in his midriff. Some of the other bruises hurt more, but the ache was unpleasant and he’d had it for a while now – since a few hours after his father had kicked him, but it was gradually getting worse.

Yet they seemed to think there was nothing wrong and he didn’t want to make a fuss in case they sent him off somewhere else. The other kids had gone to the big hospital and might end up anywhere, perhaps overseas for all Danny knew. He’d heard Mum complaining more than once about children being sent to Australia or Canada and he didn’t want to go to either place. It didn’t seem too bad here, and after his recent experience he wanted to stay where it was safe and warm for a bit, so he would keep quiet about the discomfort he was feeling and hope it would go away …

CHAPTER 8

‘How are you feeling, my love?’ Constable Steve Jones asked his wife as she turned to look at him. She was wearing a pretty floral apron over her maternity dress and to him she glowed, her beauty increasing with every day that passed. ‘Matron sent you her love and said to take care of yourself.’

‘You look tired – was it a rough night?’ Sarah asked her husband. She went to put her arms around him and hold him, loving the strength and solidness of him and his smell. ‘I love you, Constable Jones.’

‘I love you, Mrs Jones.’ Steve smiled and bent to kiss the top of her head. ‘Something smells good.’

‘Bacon, egg, and bubble and squeak,’ Sarah said. ‘I know that’s your favourite – and a fried tomato, of course.’

‘You spoil me …’

‘I intend to,’ Sarah assured him. ‘You need something warming inside, Steve, after a long night on the beat.’

‘It was particularly rough tonight,’ he replied, frowning as he remembered. ‘We took some boys to hospital and there are now some rogues in the cells who should never be allowed out!’

‘Oh Steve!’ Sarah looked distressed. She didn’t need to be told what he meant in so many words. Having worked at the Rosie for years, she knew all about abused and damaged children. ‘I’m glad you caught those evil men.’

‘We had a tip-off from a docker,’ Steve said with a slight frown, ‘And I wonder if he’s in danger. The rogues we took in were only a small part of the abuse and I don’t think for one moment we’ve stopped it. We’ve cut off a few tentacles but of course they’ll just grow more.’

‘You do all you can,’ Sarah soothed. ‘That club you and your friends run does a lot of good, Steve – look at Jamie and his friends. He is doing so well in the police cadets and he can defend himself against the bullies these days.’ The previous year, Steve had helped a young lad who had been bullied to stand firm against the perpetrators and to make friends, too.

He nodded, smothering his sigh. ‘Yes, we do what we can, same as Matron does what she can – and your mum. She took Ned in and Charlie lives with her now he has his apprenticeship. Gwen is a blooming marvel if you ask me.’

‘Mum is rather wonderful,’ Sarah said fondly. ‘Do you know, I think she’s courting a man from the friendship club she attends? She hasn’t said anything yet but there’s a look in her eyes – she’s having fun!’

‘Well, good for her,’ Steve said and grinned as his wife set the plate of hot food in front of him. ‘She deserves all the happiness she can get, love.’

‘She certainly does,’ Sarah agreed. ‘I just want her to be happy. She loved my dad but they weren’t always happy towards the end. He wasn’t well but he hid it from her and she thought he was skiving off work when he was in too much pain to do anything much.’

‘He should’ve told her,’ Steve agreed. ‘Whatever it is, it should never be a secret between husband and wife – not if they want their love to stay bright.’

Sarah nodded, agreeing with him. ‘I hope this friendship turns out well for her. She hasn’t told me much yet – but that might be because she thinks I will criticise her for caring about someone else too soon after Dad’s death.’

‘You wouldn’t mind?’ Steve looked at her, a forkful of bubble and squeak halfway to his mouth. Sarah shook her head. ‘No, of course you wouldn’t – but perhaps she just isn’t sure yet.’

His wife smiled. ‘I think you’re right. You know Mum well. She likes you so much, Steve. She would probably talk to you.’

‘I’ll pop round this evening on my way to work,’ he promised and tucked into his meal with gusto. It was hard work being a bobby on the beat in London’s East End and this would set him up a treat.

‘Three cases of measles?’ Sister Rose arched her delicate eyebrows when Margaret told her the news the next morning. ‘That is really unfortunate. Matron must be worried, because we could easily have a lot more of the children going down with it.’ Measles was a highly infectious disease that anyone could catch; it spread quickly between children and could be dangerous if the child was already ill from another underlying condition.

‘She’s imposed a strict quarantine on all wards,’ Margaret said. ‘She asked me to tell the kitchen girls to make sure to knock and leave the trolleys outside the door. Kathy came in and got sent off with a flea in her ear! All visitors are banned from the wards until the outbreak is over – and Nurse Anne’s mother telephoned to say she won’t be in this evening, because she’s taken it.’

‘Now that is serious; it means we’ll be short staffed again. Poor Anne, she will feel it having to stay at home when she knows we need her.’ Sister Rose sighed; it never rained but it poured. ‘And you say some of the adults have it as well?’

‘It seems that a gall bladder surgery case brought it into the infirmary,’ Margaret told her. ‘She was brought in as an emergency and operated on that same night but although her surgery went well, she was running a fever. Matron called Dr Clark out the other evening, because she was worried about her. He suspected some sort of prior sickness and advised Matron to move the patient – she’s called Edie Simpson – into isolation. She wasn’t showing any other symptoms then, but lo and behold, the spots have now come out.’

‘Poor lady,’ Rose said sympathetically. ‘It’s bad enough to have an operation on a gall bladder but then to have the measles on top! No wonder she wasn’t making progress.’

‘Yes, she was quite poorly but Matron was relieved when the cause showed itself. She’d wondered if the infection was internal – which might have meant there was not much chance for Edie then, but the measles will go and apparently the sponging and soothing drinks are now helping to take down that fever.’

Rose nodded. Measles could be an extremely nasty illness, causing many unpleasant consequences such as deafness or fits in vulnerable patients but could also be quite mild.

‘Well, it’s a good thing all the sufferers are now in isolation and we must all be very careful about hand-washing and clean aprons, Nurse Margaret.’

‘Yes, Sister.’

‘Now, tell me, have we had any new cases brought in to our ward?’

‘Yes, Sister.’ Nurse Margaret handed her the report Sister Matthews had written before she went off duty. ‘There is a young boy – well, he says he’s thirteen soon but although he’s very skinny he looks quite big and strong for his age. Nurse Sarah’s husband brought him in last night – he’d been snatched from the streets and beaten but he wasn’t abused like some of the other lads.’

Rose frowned as the nurse recounted what Constable Jones had told her about the boys being abducted and abused and felt slightly sick. Disgust wouldn’t cover what she felt about men who could do that sort of thing – well, in her opinion, they weren’t men, they were evil monsters.

‘Poor child,’ she said now, feeling the sting of tears but blinking them back. ‘I hope they throw the culprits in the deepest darkest cell and throw away the key!’

‘That’s what my mum always says about that sort,’ Nurse Margaret agreed and then blushed. ‘Sorry, Sister …’

Rose ignored her blushes. ‘Danny’s injuries – they are just bruises from the beatings?’

‘Yes, so Sister Matthews said. He is down for a visit from Dr Clark today but he seems quite perky. I was told he ate his breakfast this morning and wants to get up.’

Rose nodded. Nurse Margaret had been on duty since six that morning while Rose’s shift on duty hadn’t started until half-past ten. She didn’t like this late start, because it always felt as if she had to run to catch up.

‘I’ll go and see him now – hear what he has to say for himself.’

Danny Bryant was sitting up in bed reading an old comic and seemed absorbed when she approached him, but the moment she got close he glanced up and, briefly, she saw fear flicker in his eyes. It faded the moment he saw her smile and he grinned cheekily.

‘Mornin’, Sister,’ he chirped. ‘Yer a bit late in, ain’t yer?’

‘Yes, I didn’t start until half-past ten,’ Rose replied, feeling amused by his observation. He was a bright boy and she had no doubt he’d been subjected to long-standing abuse. That instant reaction to someone coming close wasn’t due just to his abduction – and she could see old bruises along with the fresh ones. ‘Do you mind if I sit on the edge of your bed and talk to you, Danny?’

‘Nah, ’course not,’ he said obligingly. ‘What can I do fer yer, Sister Rose?’

‘How do you know I’m Sister Rose?’

‘Because yer looked after me mum on the women’s ward when she was sick.’ Danny looked at her consideringly. ‘You was real kind to her and she got better that time.’

‘What was wrong with her, Danny?’

‘Me dad said she had a weak ’eart,’ Danny said and his eyes brimmed with tears, which he swiped away with the back of his hand. ‘I dunno – but she just got weaker and weaker and then one mornin’ she didn’t wake up. Dad tried to make her but he couldn’t. I saw him cryin’ – I ain’t ever seen him like that, ’ceptin’ that time.’

‘I expect you cried too, didn’t you, Danny?’

‘Yeah – she was me mum. Best mum ever. Dad was all right when she was ’ere.’

‘Did he change after your mother died, Danny?’

‘Yeah, ’e started drinking and that.’ Danny’s gaze fell away. ‘Dad would belt me fer tellin’ tales, but it’s the truth and Mum always said ter tell the truth and shame the devil.’

‘Where is your father now, Danny?’

‘Dunno,’ he replied and frowned. ‘He came home drunk about ten days ago and belted the life out of me. I blacked out and when I woke up, he was snoring on the couch so I made a run fer it while I could. I took a few bits of me grandad’s but they got pinched. I daren’t go back ’ome ’cos he’d kill me.’

‘I don’t think we could let you go back to someone who treats you like that,’ Rose said. ‘I think Matron will let you stay here until we can find a safe place for you – either an orphanage or a foster home.’

‘What’s a foster ’ome?’

‘It’s a safe place where people who like young people take children without parents in and look after them, so it’s like having a new mum and dad, sort of.’

Danny digested that in silence. ‘I suppose it would be all right. I thought I could manage on the streets, find a few jobs ter buy food – but it ain’t safe out there, Sister Rose.’

‘You’ve learned a valuable lesson then, Danny.’

‘Yeah, reckon I ’ave,’ he said and grinned at her. ‘Know what I’d like, Sister?’

‘Why don’t you tell me, Danny?’ Rose invited with an encouraging smile.

‘I reckon the best thing in the world is makin’ good food what folk like to eat,’ he said with a serious look. ‘Mum used to cook like an angel – leastways, that’s what Dad said. He was always happy when she fed him a lovely dinner or a piece of her angel cake; light and soft that was and tasted luverly.’

‘Is that what you’d like to do when you leave school – cook food for others?’

‘Yeah …’ Danny looked thoughtful. ‘Dad said it was only fer sissies when I helped me mum cook cakes, but I liked it and she said I was good at it.’

‘Well, I think it is a lovely idea,’ Rose said. ‘And your dad is wrong – there are a lot of men who cook good food – a man who cooks is called a chef.’

‘Yeah? Yer ain’t kiddin me?’ Danny looked intrigued, his eyes alight with wonder.

‘No, I wouldn’t do that.’ Rose smiled at him. ‘Perhaps if you work hard at school you will become a chef when you’re older.’

‘I’d like that and then I’d bake a special cake fer you, Sister.’

‘I shall hold you to that,’ Rose said and stood up. ‘I have other patients to see, Danny. Doctor will come and visit you soon – and then you may get a visit from Lady Rosalie. She’s a nice lady who will try to find you a suitable home with decent people.’

‘Thanks, Sister.’ Danny went back to reading his comic and Rose began her tour of the ward.

Danny was a brave boy and she hoped a good home could be found for him. She would make sure that Matron and Lady Rosalie knew of his ambition to become a chef, though she doubted he would be lucky enough to be placed with a family of cooks. Danny would be put on a list with others until an available suitable family could take him.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.