The Other Side of Paradise (13 page)

‘My God! Where?’

‘At Badang and Sabak beaches, near the Siam border. Eight miles north-west of Kota Bahru.’

‘I know the region. Sandy, no swamps – they chose a good place.’

‘So it seems. According to the official report, they came ashore from troop ships in armour-plated barges. There was confused fighting and some of the Japs retreated. A spot of bother, as one British officer described it. Mopping-up operations are, apparently, in hand.’

‘Mopping-up operations?’

‘A nice soothing phrase used by our military to imply that a situation is well under control.’

‘Is it?’

‘I don’t think so for a moment. Apparently a considerable number of Japs managed to force their way inland. Our chaps are trying to cover up the bad news. Talking about regrouping and massing a counter-offensive. And there’s worse. The Japanese air force have also been bombing and strafing our aerodromes in the north of the peninsula, including the one at Kota Bahru. They’ve destroyed more than half our planes in the process. And they bombed Penang, by the way.’

‘Penang? My mother lives there. Do you have any details?’

‘Not yet, I’m afraid. As I said, they’re trying to keep a lid on everything. I take it you’ve seen the message from the commanders-in-chief posted up all over town?’

‘Yes, I read it.’

‘
We are ready; we have plenty of warning and our preparations have been made and tested
,’ Lawrence Trent quoted drily. ‘
Japan will find that she has made a grievous mistake
. I think that was the general gist of it.’

‘Most people seem to believe it.’

‘And they’ll go on believing it and trusting the commanders. I wish I could but I’m just a sceptical old hack, especially after what’s just happened at Pearl Harbor and to Hong Kong.’

‘The Governor sounded very confident.’

‘He’s a decent and honourable man but he’s got both feet in the past. He was a schoolmaster once, you know, and he still plays by school rules, especially the cricket ones. Not the sort of tough leader you need in a war of this kind against people like the Japs. Anyway, I’m off upcountry first thing tomorrow, so I shall be seeing for myself what’s going on. When I get back to Singapore, I’ll let you know what I’ve found out.’

Her father said, ‘Even if the Japs have got on to the peninsula, Lawrence, it’s still inconceivable that they could make very much headway. There are surely more than enough of our troops up there to drive them out and I know the Malayan jungle – most of it’s virtually impassable.’

‘Not to the Japs. They’ll know how to make full use of it. To infiltrate. Their objective will be first capture the north of the peninsula, and then progress steadily south to the Johore Straits and Singapore.’

‘You’re forgetting that we now have the
Prince of Wales
and the
Repulse
anchored in the Straits.’

‘What
you’re
forgetting, Tom, is that those ships have no proper air cover. The aircraft carrier that was supposed to accompany them from England is still back there undergoing repairs. The Japs must know that perfectly well. Meanwhile, there will certainly be more bombing raids on Singapore.’

‘We can take it.’

‘Like the Londoners in the Blitz? But this isn’t London. And this isn’t England and the English standing united. This is a Far Eastern country with a big Asian population who think quite differently from us. They don’t much care whether there’ll always be an England. Of course, with the Americans in the war we’ll win in the end. The Japs gave the sleeping tiger’s tail a great big tug at Pearl Harbor and they’ll regret it. But it’s all going to take time and there’s not enough of that left to save Malaya.’ Lawrence Trent looked at her. ‘I’m sorry to talk like this, Susan. I don’t mean to frighten you.’

‘I’m not frightened,’ she said. ‘I don’t believe the Japs could ever take Singapore.’

‘I believe they will. Which is why you and your mother should leave as soon as possible. Your grandmother, too.’

Her father said, ‘I’ve been telling them that. My mother refuses to leave Penang, my wife wants to wait for a passage to England. And my daughter is too busy driving ambulances.’

‘I’m afraid she’ll be busier than ever.’

‘How long do you think we’ve got left, Lawrence?’

‘Two or three months – if we’re very lucky.’

The air raid siren went again that night and they sat in the shelter being attacked, not by Japs, but by mosquitoes, before it turned out to be a false alarm and the all-clear was sounded. Rather than go back to bed, Susan sat for a while on the verandah steps in the heat of the night, watching the fireflies and listening to the croaking of bullfrogs. Sweep came out of the darkness to sit quietly beside her.

‘I bring you something,
missee
.’

She turned her head. ‘No, thank you, Soojal.’

‘News not good,
missee
.’

‘No, not very.’

‘Japanese very bad people,
missee
. Better you not stay here.’

He’d been listening, of course. The servants always knew everything.

‘I don’t want to leave, Soojal.’

‘I know,
missee
. But better you go.’

The
Prince of Wales
and the
Repulse
were both sunk by Japanese bombers two days later as they patrolled the Malayan coast. A long convoy of ambulances drove to the docks to collect injured survivors being brought down to Singapore by ship. The orderly with Susan was a talkative little Welshman called Delfryn and, on the way, he gave her his unasked-for opinion of the disaster, his sing-song voice lifted above the noise of the engine and the whine of the gears.

‘There’ll be no hope for us now, miss. The Nip navy can do what they like, see. We’ve no decent ships left to stop them.’

It was pouring with rain and water was trickling through the ambulance air vents and running down her back.

‘That’s nonsense. We’ve still got other ships and we’ve got planes too.’

‘Might as well be rowing boats. And all we’ve got for planes is a lot of old crates. The Japs have got those Zeros, haven’t they? Much better than any of ours, so I hear. We don’t stand a chance against them. Look how they sunk those two big ships – no trouble at all. Went down in a few minutes. And all those men drowned.’

‘A lot of them were rescued.’

‘Terrible burns, though – that’s what I was told. And all kinds of nasty injuries.’

The destroyer
Electra
was already moored at the docks, the gangplanks down to bring the wounded ashore. Susan stayed in the front cabin, keeping her eyes averted, the blind over the communicating door lowered. She could hear the bumps and bangs and the cursing that always went on when the stretchers were loaded. And she could hear the moans and cries of the injured men and smell the horrible stink of oil and another much more sickening smell which she realized, revolted, must be of burned human flesh. She poured several drops of
Je Reviens
on to her handkerchief and held it to her nose, breathing in deeply. After what seemed a very long time the orderly opened the door behind her and poked his head through.

‘All aboard, miss. We can go now. Better get a move on but for God’s sake don’t bump this lot about.’

Treat them like eggs, that nasty driving examiner had said. She did her best but nervousness made her do some jerky gear changes and every time this happened, there were pitiful cries and moans from beyond the door. At the hospital she waited, shaking, while the stretchers were being manoeuvred out of the back. The Welshman stuck his head round the door.

‘Can you come and keep an eye on this one for a moment, miss, he’s in a real state.’

‘Can’t someone else do it?’

‘They’re all busy. Come on, miss, he needs someone to hold his hand, that’s all.’

She got up slowly and went through the doorway into the back of the ambulance. The orderly had gone, so had the three other stretcher cases. The fourth man was on a lower bunk. His face was swathed in bandages and he was scrabbling at them and sobbing hysterically. His arms were bandaged too and what little skin remained visible was black. The smell of burned flesh made her retch.

She managed to speak. ‘It’s all right. You’re at the hospital. They’ll take care of you. It’s all right.’

His hands stopped their frantic scrabbling and he turned his head towards her. She saw that his hair, visible above the bandages, was thick and fair and curly. Nice hair. Somehow that made it all the more terrible.

‘Who’s there? I can’t see you. Who’s that?’

He sounded very young – perhaps her own age. Not much more.

‘I’m the ambulance driver.’

He clawed again at his face. ‘My eyes … my eyes … Have I gone blind? I can’t see anything.’

‘It’s just the bandages,’ she said and heard her voice shake. ‘That’s why you can’t see.’

To her horror, one of his hands shot out and fastened tightly round her wrist.

‘I’m blind, aren’t I? Tell me the truth, for God’s sake …
tell me
.’

She should have told him lies – any lies to comfort him. Held his hand, like the orderly had asked. That was what she was supposed to do. Instead, she panicked and tried to pull her arm free. He clung to her even tighter – tight as a vice – and in the struggle she’d dragged him off the stretcher before he finally lost his grip. He started to shriek and flail around.

‘I’m blind, I’m blind … oh God, oh God, oh God.’

The orderly returned, bringing Ray Harvey with him. The Australian took one look at her, backed up against the door, the man flailing and shrieking on the floor at her feet.

‘Get the hell out of here, Susan.’

She went and sat in the cab and leaned her forehead on the wheel.

After a while the orderly climbed in beside her, patted her arm.

‘You’ll get used to it, miss,’ he said. ‘Don’t fret.’

They went backwards and forwards to the docks many more times that day. At the end of it she went home, stripped off the uniform that stank of oil and burned flesh and sweat and lay down on her bed, exhausted. Her wrist was still red and sore where the burned sailor had clung to it.

Seven

GRANDMOTHER PENANG CAME
down to Singapore by train, accompanied by her equally aged
amah
, Zhu, and much against her will. After the heavy air raids by the Japanese air force, all white European women and children had been evacuated from Penang Island on military orders. She arrived at the railway station wearing her white solar topee, her black widow’s weeds and a furious expression. The train had been crowded with hundreds of other evacuees. Englishwomen in crumpled cotton frocks, flushed scarlet with heat, clutched tearful children and howling babies and struggled with suitcases and bags and boxes.

Susan, who had been sent with Ghani to meet her grandmother, received a sharp peck on the cheek and an equally sharp reproof.

‘Far too much lipstick for a young girl … and it’s not as though you need it. And I don’t approve of painting fingernails and certainly not toenails. Only trollops paint their feet. Zhu, don’t bump Hector about like that. You know how he hates it.’

Hector, Grandmother’s parrot, acquired from the jungle many years ago by Grandfather, was making indignant squawks from under the cloth covering his cage. The Chinese
amah
, tiny and bent, could barely lift it off the ground. Ghani was dispatched to deal with the luggage – a massive cabin trunk hooped with steel bands and plastered with faded steamship labels bearing witness to many voyages across the oceans, and several suitcases and heavy crates containing Grandmother’s collection of Georgian silver.

‘They wanted us to leave with next to nothing – barely the clothes we stood up in. Ridiculous! The whole affair is a shameful disgrace. We’ve abandoned the natives without a word. Run away like cowards to save our own skins. I never imagined the day would come when I’d see the British in Malaya do that. Thank God your grandfather isn’t alive.’

The luggage couldn’t possibly fit into the Buick and had to follow behind in three rickshaws. On the journey to Cavenagh Road, her grandmother expressed her views on the shortcomings of the Royal Navy, the army, the Royal Air Force and the Government.

‘Useless, the lot of them. First they let the Japs sink those two battleships, then they let them land on the beaches, and then they start retreating.
Retreating!
What’s the good of that? The Japs came and bombed us and flew their aeroplanes up and down the streets, just as they pleased. Corpses lying everywhere, fires blazing, gangs looting and no police stopping them. No control, no organization, no leadership. Scandalous! Where’s your mother, by the way? Lying down with one of her headaches, I expect.’

Her mother was doing exactly that and would probably stay in her room for hours, or even days, to avoid Grandmother who had never had any patience with her migraines, or with her dislike of Malaya.

Soojal was on the steps, bowing and smiling, as they arrived, and Grandmother issued peremptory instructions about her luggage and about Hector. She swept up the staircase, Zhu tottering in her wake, the household
amahs
scurrying behind.

Her mother stayed firmly in her room, but when her father came back from his office tea was served under the jacaranda tree. The conversation was constantly interrupted by Hector, whose cage had been put nearby. Sometimes the parrot squawked in English, other times in Malay or Chinese, or Tamil.

‘He picks it up from the servants,’ Grandmother said, like a fond mother with a precocious child. ‘He’s remarkably clever.’

He was also a vicious old bird with a razor-sharp beak capable of cracking knuckles as well as nuts, as Susan had discovered on visits to the bungalow in Penang.

Her father put down his teacup. ‘I’m afraid he’ll have to stay behind, Mother.’

‘Stay behind? What
are
you talking about, Thomas?’

‘When you leave Singapore. There’s no alternative now – you must realize that. I’m arranging for the next available passages out for you, Helen and Susan. To Australia, preferably.’