Chapter 29 #2
‘You must be looking forward to a clean-up and a decent meal,’ he said. ‘That was quite an ordeal for you two ladies and I don’t suppose you get much of an opportunity for a night off.’
Tilly couldn’t help but notice that the captain had eyes only for Fliss and she was quite enamoured of him by the expression on her face when she jumped in with a quick acceptance.
‘We’d be delighted, wouldn’t we, Tilly?’ she said.
‘Good, so Lieutenant Rogers will show Sapper Wilson to the canteen where he can get a decent meal and a beer or two with my men. My driver will pick you up at seven, if that’s acceptable?’
‘That would be marvellous,’ Fliss said, beaming.
‘It’s all right for some, being wined and dined with senior officers,’ Bert moaned.
Fliss complained at the lack of clean clothes to change into.
‘At least I’ve got my lipstick, though,’ she said. ‘Good thing I brought more than one with me. I think the red for this evening, don’t you?’ she asked.
‘You’d look good dressed in a sack with no make-up at all,’ Tilly replied. ‘Besides, I think the captain found you attractive enough with a layer of desert sand on your face.’
The jeep arrived on time and they drove along the waterfront to the Cecil Hotel. When they were shown to their table, the captain said that they should drop the formalities and call him Ralph.
‘And may I call you by your first names?’ he asked.
Fliss told him, ‘Of course, I’m Fliss and this is Tilly.’
The captain treated them to a wonderful meal and was very amusing company, telling stories about some of the stranger places he had ended up in during this war. At one point he had accepted a dare to try his hand at being a snake charmer. Fliss asked him if that wasn’t a dangerous thing to do.
‘No more dangerous than taking a platoon through a minefield,’ he replied. ‘Besides, the dare came from my men. I couldn’t lose face now, could I?’
He spoke about his hometown in Hampshire, Petersfield, and how much he missed the green of the Hampshire countryside.
Fliss agreed. ‘I know what you mean. I come from that part of the world too. The Isle of Wight. Have you been there?’
‘I haven’t, but I might well find reason to go there once this war is over,’ Captain Banks said, looking in Fliss’s direction.
By the time the evening was over, Fliss had disclosed to the captain that she was a nurse at the Royal in Ryde and that was where she would return when this war was finally over.
Tilly, Fliss and Bert departed Alexandria the following morning and were well underway, when Bert spotted disturbed areas of sand in front of the ambulance.
He got out and surveyed the area, reporting back that he could see what he feared — more mines.
He went through the same procedure as before and then waved Tilly on.
He started to turn and walk back towards the ambulance, which he had indicated should proceed, when he suddenly stopped, lifted his head and looked at them.
By his expression, Tilly could tell that things were not right.
He moved one foot ever so slightly and suddenly the mine exploded.
Tilly was so startled that she inadvertently pressed down hard on the accelerator.
The ambulance lurched forward and keeled over.
She hit her head with such force on the steering wheel that she immediately passed out.
When she came to, she was lying in the crater that the explosion had left.
After scrambling out of the pit with a very painful shoulder, which she suspected was dislocated, she searched for Fliss.
She noticed Bert’s body minus legs and lower torso, bleeding out in the sand.
His life’s blood soaking into that thirsty land, which had absorbed the blood of many more soldiers.
A wave of nausea cascaded through her and she retched.
She turned away from the sight. On the far side of the ambulance, she saw Fliss, the strap of her watch catching the light.
She’d been thrown clear when Tilly had lost control.
Tilly prayed that she was still alive and knelt down beside her.
‘Don’t you give up on me now. Don’t you dare!’ she shouted, as she tried to bring Fliss round.
Tilly kept talking to her and rubbing her hands. Apart from a cut on her head, she couldn’t see any other signs of injury. Eventually, Fliss began to breath more deeply and opened her eyes.
‘Thank God, Fliss. Thank God you’re all right. I’d never have forgiven myself if you . . .’
Tilly’s eyes filled with tears and the salt liquid made runnels down her cheeks, small rivers through the dry and barren sand that covered her face and hair.
‘Water,’ Fliss managed to say. ‘Can you get some water?’
Tilly tried to wrench open the back door of the ambulance to retrieve a water cannister, but she couldn’t put enough pressure on her bad arm and shoulder.
It was very painful and stopping her from being able to force the door open.
She had to try to put it back herself. She tried to remember the procedure and reached her good arm over to the back of her neck, putting pressure on the injured shoulder.
In one agonising move, she managed to realign it and, after a short period of recovery, was able to retrieve the water for Fliss.
After Fliss had drunk, she asked after Bert.
Tilly shook her head sadly. She was glad Fliss couldn’t see Bert’s broken body from her side of the ambulance.
The two women sat together for a while, sharing the water and wondering what could be done.
They concluded that they couldn’t right the ambulance alone and would have to spend a night alone in the desert unarmed and unprotected.
They ate what rations they had left, covered themselves with blankets and bedded down for the night.