Homeland by Clare Francis Read Free Book Online Page B

despite thirty years as a regular soldier he’d been passed over for
active service. ‘Autumn already, and we never had any damned summer.’
    ‘It’s stopped raining, anyway.’
    ‘I almost prefer the rain. At least you know where you are.’ The major squinted at him. ‘Not your usual day, is it, Doctor?’
    ‘No. I came to see one of the Poles.’
    ‘The Poles!’ the major declared with a jut of his neat little toothbrush moustache. ‘Lucky to find any still here. Matron was all for sending them packing this morning. A bunch
of them sneaked off after hours last night and kicked up the devil of a row trying to get back in. Blotto, of course.’
    Bennett raised his eyebrows non-committally.
    ‘Matron’s not a pretty sight when she’s angry, I can tell you,’ Phipps remarked with a humourless chuckle. ‘We all took cover.’
    ‘I’ll bet.’
    ‘But then the Poles aren’t making life easy for any of us at present.’
    Preparing himself for one of the major’s litanies of complaint, begrudging the lost time, Bennett responded weakly, ‘Oh?’
    ‘The thing is, they’re absolutely incapable of making a decision. One of their officers came and explained this Resettlement Corps business to them weeks ago. Told ’em it was
that or repatriation. But will any of them sign up? No – they just fiddle-faddle about, blowing hot and cold. And at least five of them are flatly refusing to consider either option. Say
they’d rather die, or some such nonsense. Well, it won’t do, Bennett. It simply won’t do.’
    ‘It’s a hard decision for them.’
    ‘That’s the thing – it’s a decision. They’ve got to come down on one side or the other. Can’t sit on the fence.’
    ‘But they must be allowed time to think it over, surely.’
    ‘They’ve already had plenty of time. Can’t have more. The War Office is quite firm on that. Either they stay and prepare for civilian life, or they go home. Can’t carry
on as they are. The Polish army has absolutely no official standing, you know. We don’t recognise it any more. No one recognises it. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t even exist.’
    ‘It existed all right when we needed it.’
    ‘Good God, I’m not saying the Poles haven’t done their bit!’ the major fired back, looking offended. ‘No – brave men, the lot of them. But the war’s
over now, and it’s high time they accepted it. No good them hanging about hoping to get back into the fray, so they can go and settle a few old scores. Can’t have a mutinous
army.’
    ‘Mutinous?’ Bennett questioned mildly.
    ‘Don’t know what else you’d call it,’ the major retorted in a voice that seemed to ring down the corridors and into the stairwells. ‘Their government has told them
to stand down and go home, and they’re refusing. Can’t get much more mutinous than that. Nothing unreasonable about a government wanting its army back, you know – that’s
what governments do all the time. No’ – he glowered at a couple of patients who’d wandered out of the day room into the corridor – ‘the best thing the Poles could do
is to pack up and go home. Pronto.’
    ‘I’m sure they’d like nothing better, if they felt it was safe to do so.’
    ‘Safe?’ The major gave a dismissive sniff. ‘I wouldn’t believe everything the Poles tell you, Doctor. A great fondness for melodrama, our friends. Can’t resist
over-egging the pudding. All this talk of getting stick from their own people, of getting shot for their trouble . . .’ He gave a dismissive snort. ‘Stuff and
nonsense.’
    ‘Getting stick from those in power, I think they mean. From the new regime.’
    ‘But no regime’s going to go and shoot its own soldiers, is it?’ the major declared. ‘Not a whole damned army. No, no, the Poles are spinning you a line, I’m
afraid, Doctor. They’re devils for trying to tug the old heart strings.’
    ‘I don’t think anyone’s suggesting the entire army would be