WFW 25/03/2020 No clichés
by Lucy Harrison
‘Come in,’
Emily pushed the door open.
The late afternoon sun shone weakly through the window behind the plain
office desk. She could make out a grey
middle aged woman with a large muslin cap.
A stiff white collar held her
chin up – there was no resting in this uniform.
‘Name?’ she asked, hardly looking up from the pile of papers
in front of her.
‘Emily Carew, Ma’am’
‘Matron. Age?’
‘Twenty, Matron,
Matron nodded, and added Emily’s name and age to a list.
‘Experience?’
‘Very little, Matron. I lived in Russia in 05, during the uprising. I helped Mamulya care for some of the injured
people. But I am willing to learn.’
‘You are Russian?’
‘No, Matron, English.
I was born in India and schooled in Paris, then when Papa died..’
‘I don’t need your life story. I want to know that you are willing to work
hard, and won’t faint at the sight of blood’
Emily paused. Was
that a question? Was ‘yes’ or ‘no’ the
right answer?’
‘You will report to Lark ward tomorrow morning at six. Sister Bradshaw will meet you, give you your uniform
and tell you your duties. Goodbye, Nurse
Crewe’
Carew, thought Emily.
Carew. Will nobody get it right?
_________________________________________________________________________________
For those that don’t know, I’m writing, (somewhat intermittently)
a story based on Emily Carew. Emily is a
side character in ‘A Little Princess’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The ‘little princess’, Sara Crewe, is sent
from India to school in London by her rich father. Father dies, and the fortune is thought to be
lost. She becomes a servant in the
school she was at. Meanwhile, her father’s
friend Carrisford, has recovered the fortune and is trying to find her. He
sends his lawyer, Carmichael, (I wish Burnett had moved through the alphabet a
little in her names) to search for the missing girl, but he doesn’t know her
first name. Carmichael tracks down an
Emily Carew in a school in France, whose father has died. He thinks that this may be a misspelling of
Crewe. However, when he gets to the
school, he finds that she has been adopted by a Russian couple. So he then tracks her down and finds she is
the wrong person. So I’ve
been trying to piece together what her story would have been around the turn of
the twentieth century.
Lucy Harrison
This was great, Lucy. You caught the atmosthper of the matron perfectly. Someone you certainly don't want to mess with. I want to read more....
ReplyDeleteAt some point I need to collect all the little bits together and string them into one narrative and see if they make sense
ReplyDelete