Burden of Memory by Vicki Delany Read Free Book Online Page B

of the shop on her way out.
    “A lovely town you have here,” Moira said, not meaning it.
    “Why thank you, dear. We like it,” Betty replied as Burt reappeared with the precious cigarettes. “But not quite as exciting as Montreal, I expect.”
    “Actually, I’m from Toronto.”
    “Toronto! What luck. My brother Eddie emigrated to Toronto, must be twenty or more years ago. Perhaps you know him, Eddie Burton?”
    “No. I’m afraid not.”
    “Oh well, too bad. But Toronto’s a big place, I gather.”
    “Indeed. Well, we must be off. Thank you for the humbugs, and the cigarettes.”
    The couple stood at the door, waving enthusiastically until Moira and Jean had crested the hill and disappeared from sight.
    Moira let out a huge sigh. “A bit overwhelming, I would say. What do you want with cigarettes, anyway? You don’t smoke.”
    “Better than money,” Jean replied with a sly smile. “Much, much better than money.”
    Shortly after their arrival, Moira invested in part-ownership of the most precious of all commodities—a bicycle. Throughout the summer and autumn of 1940 she toured the length and breadth of the peaceful Surrey countryside.
    Moira’s original roommate, Marie, a shy woman from Montreal, had taken seriously ill not long after their arrival, and was shipped home, drowning in tears.
    Jean was re-assigned to Marie’s bed. She moved in happily, complaining about her previous roommate as she arrived. “If I had to spend the last few months of this war with her I would simply die,” she declared, dumping her suitcase on the cot.
    “I thought she seems rather nice.”
    “Perhaps. Until you have to room with her. An absolute horror, she never shuts up from morning to night. Even when I’m trying to sleep.”
    “Do you think the war will be over soon?”
    “Of course. Nothing’s happening. They’ll all shake hands and say how sorry they are and that’ll be the end of it. Maybe when I get home, Freddie will appreciate me a bit more.”
    “Who’s Freddie?”
    “I had the most frightful crush on him, all the time we were in school. But he never paid me any attention. When I was home on leave last time, he came around to my house and declared his undying love for me.”
    “Really?”
    “Can you believe it? He finally realized what he might lose. Okay if I put some of my things here?” Without waiting for an answer, Jean swept Moira’s few possessions into a corner of their shared dresser and laid out hairbrushes, bottles of cologne, and pots of makeup.
    “What did you say? To Freddy?”
    “That he’d have to wait for me, of course. I have a duty to perform.”
    Moira lunged for her family portrait, about to be knocked off the edge of the dresser. It was a nice photo of the siblings. Terribly formal. It had been taken at home in the autumn of 1939, the last time they were all together. Megan and Maeve and Moira sitting primly in the front, hands crossed on their laps, Ralph splendid in his uniform, standing tall and proud behind the row of chairs. Moira’s mother had insisted that she put on a pretty dress rather than wear the severe Nursing Sister’s uniform for the portrait. At first Moira refused. She was as proud of her uniform as Ralph was of his, but Mother had dissolved into tears, fled to her room and refused to come down, and Grandmother had suggested to Moira, in her quiet, gentle but firm way, that she grant her mother this one request.
    “And what did he say to that?” Moira asked.
    “He’s real keen for America to join the war. He says he’ll enlist the first day, but he won’t fight for a foreign country. Probably be too late, though. Everything’ll be over.” Jean sighed luxuriously.
    Moira doubted that Freddy was pining away for Jean, but it would do no harm to humor the girl. After all they would be living together for the foreseeable future. “How romantic.”
    Not much more of this war. Moira remembered the conversation as she tried to force herself to fall