I Knew You'd Have Brown Eyes by Mary Tennant Read Free Book Online

tip, which gave me a thrill – money for nothing! Best of all, I had something other than grief to occupy my mind. No-one in the restaurant knew about my baby. Being on my feet most of the day also helped me to lose the weight I had gained during pregnancy.

7
    To be a trainee nurse in the 1970s was like returning to boarding school; it was compulsory to live in the nurses’ quarters. Only six years before my traineeship, a nurse had to resign if she married.
    It was 4 pm on Sunday 7 September 1975 and I was standing in the foyer of the building that would be my home for the next three years. The nurses’ quarters were almost as big as the hospital itself. Bryan dropped me with my single suitcase at the front door. A woman in uniform stood at the entrance, clipboard in hand.
    ‘Name.’
    ‘Mary Capra.’
    ‘First floor, B block. You will find your name on a door.’
    There were a few girls in the corridor when I entered, but as soon as I found the door with my name on it, I went in and shut it. Lying on the bed was a neat pile of freshly laundered uniforms, a red cape and four starched caps. I picked up the uniforms and immediately recognised the smell of starch and was transported back to the Holy Cross laundry. It didn’t deter me. Though I had experienced more than most eighteen-year-old girls my age, I was determined not to let that define me. A thrill ran through me. I was on the verge of my adult life – at last. I unpacked my few belongings, sat on the bed and looked at the strange buttons that had been delivered along with the uniforms. I fiddled with the clip and worked out how to insert the buttons and secure them with the clips provided. All the items had my name on them. No sooner had I hung my new uniforms in the closet and was trying to work out how to fold the cap when there was a knock at the door. I opened it.
    ‘Hi, I’m Sally! I’m in the intake three months ahead of you. Some of us thought we’d come and say hello and welcome you new girls.’
    ‘Wow, that’s sweet of you. Take a seat.’ I began to close the door.
    ‘Nah, leave it open. There’ll be a bunch of other girls here soon.’
    Soon I heard other doors opening along our corridor and similar conversations. We sat on my bed.
    ‘Want a cigarette?’
    ‘Mmm, yeah okay. That sounds like a good idea.’
    I had tried smoking before and this cigarette tasted good. I felt very grown up. We talked about the uniforms and the buttons.
    ‘Why have I only got one set of buttons?’
    ‘Oh that’s standard issue,’ she replied. ‘Hang on to them. They’re rare as hens’ teeth. If you lose them, they’re pretty stingy about giving you more.’
    ‘Why do they use that funny system of putting them on the uniform?’
    ‘I dunno, something about the steam irons they use. They would break the buttons.’
    ‘They must wash them in an industrial laundry.’
    She shrugged her shoulders. Soon the corridor was buzzing with the sound of other girls chatting and we moved to join them.
    ‘Hi, I’m Suzie.’ I met Catherine, Karen, Shirley, Dee, Linda, Margaret. They kept coming. The lady who had pointed me to my corridor – there were several others who worked in the quarters, called home sisters – had told me that dinner was at 6 pm in the dining room. Our new guardian angels showed us the way there. It was in the main hospital building and on the way they pointed out some landmarks – the doctor’s quarters, emergency department and so on.
    ‘Your table’s down there.’ One of the girls indicated a table at the very back of the huge dining room, which seated around six hundred nurses and sisters (trained nurses). It was humiliating to have to walk past the other nurses all seated at their tables because we stood out in our civvies – the others were mostly dressed in uniform. They were working and this was their tea break. We would soon learn the hospital hierarchy. It was blatant here in the dining room, where sisters sat at the head