Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [51]
The letter she had received had told her the date on which she was to report to the nurses’ home for her probationary training; that she would find her uniform waiting for her in her room; that she was to change into it and then wait in the probationary nurses’ sitting room for further instructions; that she must not under any circumstances whatsoever leave the hospital wearing her uniform.
Had she done the right thing? Did she really have what it took to become a nurse? Ought she to have stayed where she was at Lewis’s? What if the other girls didn’t like her? What if … Grace’s eager footsteps halted, but it was too late for second thoughts and doubts now. The nurses’ home was right in front of her and the nurses’ home sister, thin, grey-haired and sharp-eyed, was watching her. Behind her stood two other sisters with lists in their hands.
Nervously Grace approached them.
‘Name?’ one of them barked.
‘Er … Grace … Grace Campion.’
The sister was frowning for so long over her list that Grace began to wonder if it was all a mistake and she wasn’t going to be allowed to train after all, but then to her relief she nodded her head and handed Grace a key with a number on it.
Now what was she supposed to do? Uncertainly she looked at the sister, but she didn’t look back, turning instead to the girl who was now standing behind Grace. Another girl who had had her name ticked off by the other sister was making her way into the home, so Grace followed her.
Several girls were already inside and Grace joined them as they walked along corridors and up and down flights of stairs looking for their rooms.
The smell of carbolic lingering on the air was somehow in keeping with the green-painted walls, and shiny clean linoleum.
Grace found her room up two flights of stairs and halfway along a corridor. Her arm aching from the weight of her suitcase, she unlocked the door and went inside. Her room was small and very basic. The paint on the walls was peeling, especially around the small sink in the corner. A small dark brown wardrobe stood against one wall, along with a dressing table-cum-desk and a chair.
The iron-framed bed was covered with a green bedspread that looked thin and worn. The room felt cold and Grace shivered, suddenly overwhelmed with homesickness and a longing for her own pretty attic bedroom.
Her uniform was lying on the bed, the dresses short-sleeved, with a separate uncomfortable-looking set of collars and cuffs. The dresses were patched and darned and had obviously been passed on many times before they had come to her. Next to them was a long navy woollen cloak with a dark purple lining and purple straps that crossed at the front and fastened at the back. Grace looked for her cap, her heart sinking when she saw the two oblongs of white cloth the size of a nappy starched as stiff as a board. How on earth was she supposed to transform those into a nurse’s cap?
Mindful of the list of rules she had been sent with her acceptance letter, Grace had already removed the pale pink nail polish she normally wore before leaving home, along with her pretty silver chain and locket. Student nurses were not allowed to wear any makeup or jewellery. No pictures or posters were to be hung on the walls, and slippers were not to be kept on the floor.
Quickly Grace unpacked her case and put everything away, then changed into her uniform, her fingers clumsy with nervousness.
She checked her appearance in the mirror, worrying that the hem of the dress might not be the regulation twelve inches above the floor. The fabric of her uniform dress felt uncomfortable and scratchy, and she wasn’t sure which pockets she was supposed to put everything into. Her thick black stockings looked drab and her shoes felt heavy and clumsy. Grace checked her letter again. Once she had changed into her uniform she was to make her way down to the student nurses’ sitting room for a ‘welcome tea’.
Feeling awkward and uncertain, Grace hesitated just inside the open door to the student nurses’ sitting room,