A Mother's Gift by Maggie Hope Page A

thought. Especially remembering some of the young women from Winton Colliery trying to bring up three or four children born in as many years with next to no money.
    For the hard times were back yet again, the men working short time or not at all. According to the wireless, it was all due to something that had happened in America, the Wall Street crash they called it and it triggered off depression around the world. Three days’ pay a week went absolutely nowhere, she knew that all right.
    Katie had just started her probationer nurse’s training and had been on the wards of South-East Durham General Hospital for only a few weeks yet she had dared to voice her opinion of the staff’s suspicious attitudes to some of the unfortunate women once. Only the once had she done that for she had had her head bitten off for her trouble.
    ‘What do you know about it?’ Nurse Potter had snapped. Nurse Potter was a third-year nurse who would soon be taking her finals and so someone not to be argued with.
    ‘Well, she has five children already and she is only twenty-two, I—’ Katie had begun, referring to a recent emergency admission but she had shut up as she saw the quelling look on Nurse Potter’s face.
    ‘They deserve what they get,’ the senior nurse had said as they walked down the corridor on their way to the breakfast break. ‘She could have left those bairns without a mother, did you think of that? And any road, it’s against my religion. It’s murder.’
    What Doris Teasdale, the girl in question had got was a night of appalling pain after the registrar had examined her. ‘She won’t die this time,’ he had said. ‘Let her stew for a few hours.’
    ‘Arrogant pig,’ Katie muttered, fortunately not close enough for Dr Raine to hear properly. He had eyed her suspiciously however and after that ignored her presence completely, sailing past her down the ward as she stood, often with mop in hand cleaning the floor or coming and going to the sluice with bedpan in hand.
    Doris Teasdale was one of the patients still in the ward. She lay against her pillow with a face so white it matched the pillow slip as Katie handed out the tea.
    ‘There’s a nice bit of cake, today, Mrs Teasdale,’ Katie said as she brought round the tea trolley. ‘Howay, I’ll help you sit up. I’ve put two sugars in the tea and there’s some nice bread and butter. It’ll do you good to eat it.’
    ‘I’m not hungry, Nurse,’ Doris said, her voice thin and weary.
    ‘Mebbe not but you have to eat it, man, it will get thrown into the pig bin if you don’t. Anyway, think of the bairns,’ said Katie and tucked her own arm under Doris’s so as to haul her up the bed. ‘The visitors will be here in half an hour, there’s a full hour today, won’t that be lovely?’
    ‘I’m not expecting anybody,’ said Doris. ‘Just me mam and she can’t stay long ’cause she has to leave the bairns with the neighbour.’
    Katie almost asked where her man would be but bit the words off unspoken. She’d only seen Mr Teasdale once before and then he had stayed for all of ten minutes of the allotted half-hour. He was probably out getting a skinful, she thought.
    Doris took a sip of tea, however, and started on the bread and butter. She just couldn’t leave good food to get thrown in the pig bin. She’d eat it now, Katie knew, even if she had to force it down.
    ‘Don’t stand there talking to the patients all morning, Nurse Benfield.’
    Katie jumped at Sister’s voice, she hadn’t realised she was in the ward. Sister was standing only a few feet away frowning heavily.
    ‘No Sister.’ Katie hurried back to the trolley and pushed it on to the next patient jerking it a little and catching it on the end of Doris’s bed and making the cups rattle. Behind her she heard Sister’s long-suffering sigh.
    ‘And hurry up with the teas,’ said Sister. ‘Father Christmas will be in shortly.’
    A merry Christmas to you, too, Katie muttered under her