Phyllis Crane sat on the edge of her bed. She removed her new plum court shoes. She had bought them especially for this most special of days. Today had been one of the most memorable of Phyllis's rich and varied life. Phyllis had never been a bride, she had never even been a bridesmaid, until today.
Phyllis looked around the room she had shared for 2 years with the bride she had tended all day, the room looked bereft, empty without her-could she actually use the term, yes she could, Barbara had given her permission- without her best friend.
Phyllis changed her pinching court shoes for a much more comfortable pair of lace up granny shoes and went to join the fun of the fair.
Nurse Crane intended to just watch her fellow guests enjoy the pretty Poplar carousel. Valerie Dyer however, had other ideas. After quite a struggle she persuaded the more mature nurse to mount one of the ornate horses. A few rotations later Phyllis thought she had placated her friend, but it wasn't so. Valerie dragged Phyllis into a more dignified position, seated in a sleigh as the fairground ride began to turn once more.
Fred was doing his best Billy Bigelow impression, helping people on and off the ride. Valerie had finally had enough and Fred assisted her dismount from the carousel. Phyllis rebuffed Fred's offer of a hand, but when she tried to negotiate the 2 large steps to the ground, realized she was quite dizzy and stumbled into the path of a young woman dressed in blue.
"Sorry!" cried Phyllis, "I am dreadfully sorry."
" It's alright Phyllis, I think we are all a bit giddy today."
The familiar Welsh lilt comforted Nurse Crane, at least she hadn't careered into a stranger. Delia Busby held onto her assailants hands very lightly, letting Phyllis regain her balance. Gratefully Phyllis looked into the young woman's face, it was then she noticed that there were tears in those big blue eyes. Unfortunately this had become an all too familiar sight in the last few months. However, this was not the forlorn face that had given Phyllis such cause for concern of late. This Delia Busby was wearing a smile that would melt the newly falling snow.
"Are you two,alright?" The voice was sharp, but concerned, " Those contraptions always make one feel awfully disoriented, I find."
" I am fine Patsy and I believe so is Delia." Phyllis and Delia dropped hands after the most gentle of squeezes. " May I say Nurse Mount, that you are a most welcome late arrival to this wedding."
"I hadn't the faintest idea it was today, I am not suitably attired for the occasion, but I hope I will be forgiven?"
Phyllis studied the tall, striking figure in blue jeans,plimsolls and what to Phyllis looked like a man's raincoat.
" You'll do Patsy, you'll do?"
Once the carousel had completed its last orbit and Horlicks and wedding cake had been gratefully received, Phyllis Crane was ready to turn in. On entering her room she became aware it was a lot less empty, than when she last left it. A blue suitcase stood against Barbara's old bed. She wondered how she had not realized earlier, Valerie now occupied Patsy's old bed and Barbara no longer had need for hers.
Phyllis removed the red carnation from her wedding suit and placed it on her Spanish dictionary, she would press it properly tomorrow. Once in bed, Phyllis weary from the excitement of the day was soon asleep. Though not for long, she was woken abruptly by a loud crash and a curse then an apology. Nurse Mount unfamiliar with negotiating her new room in the dark had fallen over her suitcase.
" Nurse Mount, I will make an exception on this occasion, due to the nature of the day. Nurse Gilbert and myself had an understanding, allowing of course for on call duties, lights out was set for 10 o'clock.
In the days that followed Patsy kept strictly to the deadline. It wasn't Patsy's compliance around going to bed that worried Phyllis, it was her habit of not staying there all night that concerned the older roommate.
The redhead had swiftly mastered the room layout in the dark and the position of the creaky floorboard and knew just how to leave the door just on the latch, so it opened quietly. For all her stealth, Patsy had been unsuccessful in concealing her night time excursions from her light sleeping roommate. Nurse Crane had worked too many years on call to be a sound sleeper.
Phyllis couldn't shake off a sense of foreboding each evening. She fretted that Trixie or Valerie would discover Patsy's night time manoeuvres. Or even more catastrophically Sister Julienne or Sister Winifred or more likely a restless Sister Monica Joan almost as prone to night time wandering as Patsy
Sister Julienne sat at her desk at the start of her mornings work. The knock on her door signalled an unscheduled visit from Nurse Crane. The nurse took a seat and took a deep breath and began her plea.
" Sister Julienne, as you will be well aware I am not one to ask for favours or seek privileges. However I do feel it necessary to alert you to a circumstance that I can no longer completely tolerate." Sister Julienne sat calmly in front of the midwife and begged her to continue.
" I am fully aware that Nurse Franklin is acting Sister, after yourself she is the longest serving nurse at Nonnatus House. You will also be aware that I have been qualified longer than her or any of the other nurses employed here." Sister Julienne stiffened slightly in her chair.
" I do not seek reward for my length of service to my chosen profession, I never have. I do though feel the time has now come, that there should be some sort of acknowledgement to my seniority both professionally and personally."
Sister Julienne intrigued by her colleagues comments enquired, " In what form would you like this acknowledgement to take?"
" I would be most appreciative if you could see fit to allocate me, my own room."
This had not been what the nurse-in-charge had been expecting. Phyllis was fully aware that the only single room designated for the secular midwives was occupied by Nurse Busby. The sister had felt it appropriate to allocate the young student her own room when she came to live at Nonnatus, not fully recovered from her horrific accident. Phyllis protested that Nurse Busby was now fully recovered from her injury and that her position as a trainee midwife, no longer entitled her to the privilege of a single room.
Sister Julienne was somewhat surprised at the ferocity of Nurse Crane's arguments. Although she sympathized with the midwives position, she really could not justify asking another resident to vacate their room, just because another wanted it. Phyllis knew once she left the office that day, the matter would be closed forever. She had one final strategy.
" Sister, we are not so very far apart in years. Could I be so bold as to enquire, how you would reconcile yourself with the idea of sharing a room with Sister Winifred?"
Delia Busby linked her girlfriend's arm as they walked down the Nonnatus staircase. Patsy immediately untangled herself from her affectionate companion.
" Oh Pat's don't be like that." The rejected nurse admonished. "Trixie links me all the time, when we are out. So does Val, people think it's more peculiar that you always push me away."
Patsy couldn't bear to see the hurt in her lovers beautiful eyes, she had disappointed her so much lately. Patsy grabbed Delia's wrist and wrapped it around her forearm. A triumphant smile lit up the Welsh girls face and then disappeared almost instantly, when on hearing the office door open and shut, Patsy dropped Delia's arm like a freshly autoclaved forcep.
Nurse Crane stood by the office door, she acknowledged the pair and made for the front door.
" Deals, I think I must be very much mistaken, but did Phyllis just wink at you?"
" I dunno Pats, maybe something in her eye."
The office door reopened and Sister Julienne beckoned the two girls inside. The Sister-in-Charge got straight to the point.
" It has been brought to my attention that in some quarters there seems to be a concern regarding some of the current sleeping arrangements at Nonnatus House."
Delia felt Patsy stiffen, she felt herself colour slightly. The sister continued.
" Nurse Busby you were allocated a private room on your arrival here due to your need for recuperation." Delia nodded
" Due to your position here that was an unusual decision, but at the time a correct one. A senior member of staff, has now requested a single room. I would like to stress that her request does not in anyway reflect on her relationship with yourself, Nurse Mount. It is a preference based entirely on her belief that her seniority demands a certain acknowledgement."
Sister Julienne looked at the girls in front of her, they reminded her of two alabaster figures she was familiar with on a mantelpiece in a well visited flat in Poplar. Pale and perfectly still.
" So Nurse Busby, the decision is yours, I will not hold any influence over you on this matter." Delia nodded, but not quite sure at what." Do you need more time Nurse Busby?"
" I am not sure I follow you at the moment, Sister?"
" What I am asking you Nurse Busby is would you mind accommodating Nurse Crane by vacating your single room and moving in with Nurse Mount here?" She then turned to Patsy, "And would you Nurse Mount be agreeable to sharing a room with Nurse Busby?"
As Patsy followed Phyllis's strict instructions regarding the positioning of her personal effects in her new room owing to her swift departure to a mother in considered the changes she had encountered at Nonnatus House since her return. The rule of Sister Ursula had ended and Sister Julienne had been reinstated back in her rightful place, so Patsy thought. Trixie had returned from South Africa and seemed happier than Patsy had ever seen her with her dashing dentist in tow. Barbara was now Mrs Hereward and the infertile Shelagh Turner had a baby boy. The barmaid from the pub down the docks was a midwife and sleeping in her old bed. But, most miraculous of all, she and Deals finally had a place of their own.
When Phyllis Crane sat on the edge of her new bed that night, she noticed Patsy had followed her unpacking orders to the letter, as she expected. She noticed the vase of fresh flowers on the windowsill and she noticed an edition of Garcia Lorca's Romancero Gitano on her nightstand. Phyllis Crane was not a lover of Spanish poetry but she would treasure this particular volume for the rest of her days with the simple inscription, " To Our Very Dear Friend ." In Spanish of course. Querida Amiga.