Many of the boys, however, were sullen and sensitive about their afflictions, and with these the nurses had to pretend that their handicaps didn’t exist. Though the wounds in Bruce’s side had been slow in healing, and he would always limp from the improperly knit leg bone, at least his body was whole, and the doctors assured him he would be strong again.
At the moment the number of cases was slightly reduced in number. Many of the earlier patients had been sent to ports to be taken home on ships that brought nurses and men over.
“I heard a rumor today,” said Mabel, “that we may be moved soon—out to the islands.”
“Don’t know. I just got a whiff of a change.”
Bruce threw down a card with vigor and glanced across at his fellow-sufferer. “That’s the way they treat us, Pat. Eager to leave us to our fate.”
“You’ll be moving on yourselves before too long,” Nancy assured him.
“Just when I’m beginning to enjoy life here,” said Bruce, “Nancy looks forward to leaving me.”
Nancy flushed, seeing the other two at the table figuratively cock their ears.
“Oh, you’ll soon be able to get along without any nursing,” Nancy assured him.
“I can never get along again in this life without you,” he told her, regardless of their audience.
“Say, what’s all this?” burst forth Mabel. “A public proposal in broad open daylight?”
Bruce laughed heartily at Nancy’s chagrin. “Thanks a lot, Mabel, for helping me out. I’ve been trying to figure out a good opening for a proposal for the last week.”
“You’ll surely have to make an improvement before I’ll accept you,” stated Nancy, triumphantly trumping Bruce’s ace.
Bruce looked from Mabel to Pat Walden, and said mischievously, “You’ll both stand witness that she’s practically accepted me.”
“Stick to your card playing, Bruce,” said Nancy pertly. “This is no time to settle down to marriage. We have a war to win.”
“But it’s not too early to begin making plans for the peace,” he retorted promptly.
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The nurses made quite a festive occasion out of the Fourth of July. Although it was midwinter, Northern Australia was close enough to the equator for the weather to be like midsummer at home. Nancy as chairman of the program committee, started weeks ahead trying to collect flags and bunting to decorate the wards. Miss Anna Darien and the Red Cross workers back in Sydney sent her boxes that were real gold mines for her purpose.