The Pearl of Penang by Clare Flynn (best books to read for students txt) 📗

lots of other women from here. We all looked out for each other. Some of us volunteered at a hospital. Caring for injured troops.’

‘The children? How’s Jasmine?’

‘She’s nearly fourteen. Quite the young lady. She’s been marvellous. Such a support to me. And Hugh has turned five.’

‘Where are they?’ Mary’s voice was flat.

‘Here in George Town. At home, with Aunty Mimi. Jasmine wants to see you.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. Please, Evie. I don’t want anyone to see me this way.’ Mary shook her head violently.

Evie shivered. This wraith in front of her didn’t seem like her old friend. ‘I’m going back to live in England. I think you should come back with us.’

‘Come back? It wouldn’t feel like that to me. I left there when I was a small child. The place means nothing to me.’

‘But it would be a fresh start. A new beginning after the war. Put it all behind you.’

‘Why do I want a new beginning? I’d rather stay here with what’s left of the old world. With everything I love. All the little things. Things of beauty after so much hate. After all the brutality.’

Mary’s eyes looked into space, appearing to be seeing something beyond the gloom of this shuttered room. ‘How could I leave everything I love about this island? The moths at night-time on Penang Hill. The golden orioles and the kingfishers. The sound of the breeze in the casuarina trees. Heavy rain hammering on the rooftops. How could I give up all that? What for? My memories of England are vague but they’re all cold and gloomy. And I’ve seen the newsreels. No, thank you. This is my home and always will be.’

She gave a little shake of her head. ‘I’d never fit in in England, Evie. I’d be odd and angry and out of place. And how can I possibly leave here when everyone I’ve loved died in Malaya. Mum and Dad, Frank, and before him Ralph. Surely you can understand that, Evie? This country is my country and always will be.’

‘But everything will change. I’ve heard the war has bankrupted Britain and it no longer has the resources to hang onto the Empire.’

Mary shrugged. ‘I welcome that change. We British betrayed Malaya. Let them down. We have no right anymore to try to determine the country’s destiny. The British empire is dead. It’s just a matter of letting go in an orderly manner. Maybe it will take years but I want to be a part of a new Malaya. As soon as I’m fit, I’ll be going back to teaching.’

She wove her bone-thin fingers between each other, and Evie saw that her fingernails were discoloured and ridged. Whatever Mary had been through during the Japanese occupation had left its mark, physically as well as emotionally. Evie lent forward and placed her hand over her friend’s.

Mary looked up at her. ‘I’ll never tell you what happened to me in that camp. I’ll never speak of it to anyone. But there’s one thing I do want to tell you. It will probably surprise you.’

Evie waited.

‘I owe my life to one person. She kept me alive when I was ready to give up. She forced me to go on. And in the end, she sacrificed her own life for me and for another woman – barely more than a girl really. We both lived because Veronica Leighton protected us and ultimately sacrificed her life for us.’

‘Veronica?’ Evie was shocked. ‘How? What did she do?’

Mary’s eyes were dull, void of expression. ‘In the camp Mum got dengue fever and was weak from starvation. Mum only lasted as long as she did because Veronica stole some medicine. The Japs kept all the medications from the Red Cross parcels. We had nothing. Veronica was clever. I don’t know how she did it, but she got medication for Mum. But in the end it wasn’t enough. Mum was too weak. When she died I had to dig her grave. Veronica and some of the other women helped me make a wooden crate as a coffin and helped me carry it across the camp to where the grave was.’

‘Oh, Mary that’s horrible. To have dig your mother’s grave. I’m so sorry.’

‘That was the least of it. Everything that happened to us in that camp will go to the grave with me. But every day for the rest of my life I will be grateful to Veronica Leighton for what she did for me. She may have been a bitch for most of her life but when faced with what we faced, she chose to do the bravest thing I have ever known. When they caught her they executed her. We had to watch. That’s all I’m going to say. Please don’t ask me anything more.’

An icy chill spread through Evie’s veins. No matter how much she had loathed Veronica Leighton, that she had been murdered in cold blood by the Japanese was too brutal to contemplate.

After a few moments silence, Evie asked, ‘Do you have any idea what happened to Veronica’s husband? Arthur.’

Mary shrugged. ‘No idea. He’s probably dead too. He wasn’t in Singapore. I do know that.’

‘That night we left Penang, he told me he had trained to stay behind. To hide in the jungle and try to perform sabotage. Behind their lines.’

‘Well, he’s almost certainly dead.’

Unable to control her emotions, Evie began to sob.

Mary looked up in surprise. ‘My God! You have feelings for him, Evie? For Arthur Leighton. I’m terribly sorry. I was tactless. I wouldn’t have been so blunt if I’d realised.’

Taking her handkerchief from her handbag, Evie wiped her eyes. ‘Don’t apologise. I only asked you in the hope that you might know something. I’ve been making extensive enquiries, but no one seems to have a clue what happened to him. I can’t find any official records in Singapore or KL. That’s why I’ve decided to go back to England. I’m hoping the Foreign Office might be able to give me some