Two Lives

5

‘Your Ovaltine, dear.’

Miss Foye places a tray containing a mug on the bedside table. The night-time tray is always the same one – made of tin, round and with a lip, blue flowers on a green ground. She asked about the flowers once and Miss Foye said she thought they were hydrangeas, a nice bunch of hydrangeas.

‘Be a good girl now, don’t let it get cold.’

‘What’s it all about, Miss Foye?’

In the dormitory the other women are obediently sipping their Ovaltine. Miss Foye always waits until all of them have finished, then collects the mugs on the tray and turns the light out. There are seven women in the dormitory: ‘Miss Foye’s best girls’ she calls them because they are able to sleep together without disturbing one another. Each night the last one to receive her Ovaltine receives the tray as well. Fairness is important in the house.

‘You know, dear, what it’s all about. I saw you listening to him.’

‘I didn’t understand.’

‘Drink up, love. Please now. Miss Foye is tired.’

‘I don’t want to leave the house.’

‘It’s not for us to say a thing like that. They know better.’

‘Who knows?’

‘The medicals, dear.’

‘They don’t know better where you’d want to be.’

‘Drink your drink, dear. Please now.’

Miss Foye moves away. She collects the empty mugs from the other bedside tables, one between each bed. She bids the women good-night, and each replies. She calls them Miss Foye’s best girls.

‘I remember the day I came to the house,’ the woman who is giving her trouble tonight remarks. ‘A Thursday afternoon.’

‘Good girl now. Finish up. Of course you do.’

‘ “You’ll be happier here, ” you said.’

‘You would say that in those days. Don’t cry, dear. Miss Foye is tired.’

But the woman does cry. She finishes her drink and hands back the mug, and when Miss Foye has turned the light out she sobs beneath the bedclothes so that the others cannot hear her.