Patrick speaks - Part 1
"Daddy, can you tell me a bit about Mummy?" Timothy asked, carefully, almost shy. He wasn't always certain whether bringing up his mother was all right with his father. Sometimes, it would make his dad sad, and after they had had a reasonably gloomy but not overly unhappy first Christmas without Mummy, Timothy didn't want to spoil their mood any further.
But he wanted to know about his mother.
Patrick looked at his son. "Your Mummy? What do you want to know?" he asked.
"I mean, how was she? How did you meet her? What was it that made you like her at first?"
Patrick smiled affectionately. There were dozens of things he could tell his son. Dozens of associations regarding his late wife, hundreds of fond memories. Right now, he saw her in his son's face, part sad, part curious. Even though Timothy didn't say it out loud, his father knew the boy was afraid of losing the memories he had of his mother. Just a few days ago Patrick had had a talk with young Sister Bernadette who had told him she had lost her mother as a child, too. In the aftermath he had thought a lot about his son's situation and how he might better help the boy to cope with his grief.
Patrick shuffled closer to his son on the settee and hugged him tightly. They had spent the Christmas holidays together, along with Granny Parker who had just left. Now they were back just the two of them, and Patrick felt it was probably a good time for sharing fond memories of his wife, Timothy's mother.
"Let's see," he began. "You know, if it wasn't for your uncle Ted, I may not even have met or at least noticed her," he said slowly.
"Uncle Ted?" Timothy asked. "Is he the one who went to the States?"
Patrick nodded. "Yes, that is he. We met early on in the war and worked alongside one another for most of the time. When we were both doctors at Aldershot Military Hospital, and in 1942, we met your mother. She was part of a group of nurses in training and it was Ted who introduced us to each other."
"Good news, Patrick," Ted exclaimed. "We're going on a date tonight."
"Tonight?" Patrick cried. "I was hoping to do some reading. Ted, I am tired, for once I don't feel like going out." He took a final drag from the burnt down cigarette he was holding and dropped it to the floor, onto the small patch where grass used to grow, before it had become the surgeons' favourite spot for their cigarette breaks.
"Oh, come on, Turner, what are you, a lame duck? Nurse Parker has finally agreed to go out with me and she offered to bring a friend, so I need to bring one, too."
Patrick rolled his eyes. "I should have known. It's always about a girl, isn't it?"
"But this isn't just another girl," Ted gushed. "She's classy, pretty, and –
"A girl," Patrick added. "How old, 18, 19? Isn't she the nurse in training you have been gushing about for weeks and weeks now?"
"Dear lord, you should know me better by now!" Ted cried, acting offended. "She's part of the group of the Red Cross nursing training group who arrived here from London past month. She is our age. She trained and qualified as a teacher before, she is a real lady, my friend."
Patrick rolled his eyes again. "And she only agreed to give in to you pestering her on the condition that she take a friend and you take one, too, am I right?" he asked.
Ted let out a huff, and took out two cigarettes from the pack he had been holding in his hands. He casually lit both and handed one to Patrick. "Come on now, 7pm, Sunday best." Then he turned around and entered the surgical ward again.
Patrick shook his head. He and Ted had met almost one year ago, on their first day as army surgeons, newly assigned to Aldershot Military Hospital. They were very different in character, but perhaps this was why they got along so well. While Ted was very outgoing, mischievous and always flirting with the nurses, Patrick was calm, straight-forward and very private. But both respected each others' professional attitude and medical competency, and found themselves a good match also when going to the pub or a dance, even though Patrick often took over the role of Ted's friend who went along to entertain the best friend of the girl Ted was currently seeing.
Patrick took another drag from his cigarette, then dropped it to the floor. He needed to hurry, another group of injured young lads had arrived this morning and he was needed for patching them up.
Later that day, Ted and Patrick waited outside the small pub near the hospital. They were smoking their third cigarette, when two women approached them. One was tall, lean and had brown short wavy hair. The other was a bit smaller, had a curvy figure and a blond ponytail. Both looked quite endearing, Patrick thought.
They entered the pub and Ted immediately ordered a round for them.
Susan, it turned out, was a lovely person, but absolutely not interested in Patrick. He wasn't able to bring up a topic eliciting more than one replying sentence out of her. It was tedious sitting with her and he was glad when Ted suggested they leave and move to a dancing location. Patrick hoped to excuse himself on the way. He did want some reading done. Should Ted see and bother what else to do with the two women he had invited in the first place.
Aldershot, 14 March 1942
I finally gave in to Ted Horringer's insisting he take me out. I only did it to be left alone as he just would not accept a "no". These men, they can be so very pathetic. I have had several doctors asking me out since I arrived here, but none had been as persistent as him. He has been asking me every day for weeks and I hoped if I just gave in once I could show him that I really am not interested.
I really only did it so I could bring Susan. From our first day here, she could not stop talking about Dr Horringer. I thought if I took her he either takes notice of her or she will just stop talking about him. He is quite a cheery lad, and a good-looking one, too. But he is a little too flirtatious to my taste, and I don't want to simply be number 49 in his growing collection.
It seems I did the right thing, though, accepting his invitation. Ted brought along a friend, another doctor whom I may have spotted a few times but I never quite noticed him before. Quite an interesting and attractive lad. He seems to be my age, a few years older, perhaps, but not too many.
Patrick Turner is his name, born and raised in Liverpool. Which one could still tell from his accent, though just a bit. He trained as a GP but is now working as a surgeon. We met at a pub and had a few drinks. I could tell Patrick and Susan were not getting along well at all. Ted would not stop talking to me and I had a hard time listening to him. I really wasn't too interested, I rather wanted him to talk to Susan once. So I suggested we move to the dance hall and I had already planned my little trick, the one that always does it. On the way to the dance hall, I pretended to stumble and said my heel was broken so I wouldn't be able to dance.
This way, Susan ended up dancing with Ted while Patrick was kind enough to stay with me at the table. He said, he wasn't much of a dancer, too. I was surprised at how interesting a person he turned out, and at how comfortable I felt in his presence. While I thought him quite handsome from the first moment, I had assumed him to be a rather brooding type. He is tall, dark hair, dark eyes, and he does have an enticing smile, though it took him a while to show it to me.
He is doing research on new pain relief regimens, to be administered under war conditions. Ted was making fun of him, when he overheard us talking about work, but I find it quite interesting. So many men use the war and their effort as an excuse to run riot or forget about morals and manners, but Patrick makes use of his sparse free time for doing extra research.
After he told me about their work on the surgical ward, I may apply for a transfer there. I know surgical rotation comes last in our training, but I think I have done very well so far and have good reasons to justify my wish.
He is indeed an interesting man, I cannot remember when was the last time I had met someone I found both interesting and handsome at the same time.
"So Mummy acted as if she was not able to dance to be able to talk to you?" Timothy exclaimed.
Patrick chuckled. "Yes, she did. Well, she really did not want to dance with uncle Ted that night, that is why she pretended. She didn't actually do it because of me. But since Ted was busy dancing with her friend, we had plenty of time to talk, and I think that was how we both became friends. And to be honest, I quite liked her, too, so I encouraged her friend to go and dance with Ted rather than with me."
"But you only got married after the war, right?"
Patrick nodded. "Yes, war times are difficult times." His face momentarily became clouded with dark memories. "I hope you never have to learn this yourself, son. But yes, soon after the war was over, we got married."