indeed?’ He turned his head to study her face. ‘Yes, I do believe you mean that. I came up here a couple of years ago for a few weeks and it’s quite extraordinary, more so because the people who live here take it for granted.’
‘But you live in Holland?’ She had never asked him any questions before; probably he would snub her politely, but he didn’t.
‘Oh, yes—I’ve a practice in a small country town; Goes—it’s near Middelburg, if you know where that is.’
‘Well, of course I do,’ she protested indignantly, ‘though I’ve never been to Holland.’
She felt a strong urge to ask him if he were married, if he had children and a family. She wanted to know more about him, but although he had kissed her with some warmth, his manner was as casual as it always had been and she was sensible enough to know that kissing a girl when there wasn’t another female to be seen for miles was a perfectly normal thing for a man to do. She stifled a sigh and asked: ‘What exactly does everyone do here? Freddy doesn’t make it very clear.’
He threw her a quick look. ‘It’s a radio station, you knew that? We send weather reports and relay shipping news and there’s an early warning system…’
‘Oh, I see… I suppose I’m not supposed to be too curious?’
‘The boss relies on your discretion, but unless you happened to be an electronics expert with a very inquisitive nose, I don’t think you would be any the wiser.’
‘Well, I’m not particularly interested,’ she said loftily, and he laughed. ‘You’re not bored?’
‘Bored? Heavens, no—how could I possibly be that? I don’t have much time for a start, do I? And there’s such a lot to cram into each day.’
‘And there’s a treat in store for you in a couple of days. Fetching the stores from Ny Aalesund. There’s one shop there and it stocks everything, although not all of it is on sale to the tourists from the cruising trips coming from Norway during the summer. The men will give you a list as long as your arm and you’d better make one for yourself. We only go once a month.’
‘Don’t you go on the Coastal Express?’
‘Sometimes, but the jetty isn’t any good and we have to go out to her by boat, and transferring the stuff from her on the return journey is quite a lengthy business.’
‘Then how do we go?’ Annis gazed round her. ‘There’s no road…’
‘We fly.’
‘Oh—does the plane come from Tromso?’
‘No—there’s one here, it’s in a boathouse on the other side of the radio station. I don’t suppose you’ve been as far.’
She shook her head. ‘No. It’ll be fun to go to Ny Aalesund.’
They went back presently and she went to the hut and joined Freddy, writing one of his rare, sketchy letters. He looked up when she went in. ‘Hullo—enjoy the seals?’
‘Enormously.’
‘Jake’s a good fellow to be with, never gets worked up about anything. I’m told that he’s much sought after by the birds.’
‘Don’t be vulgar, Freddy.’ She added carelessly: ‘He’s not so young, though, is he?’
Freddy grinned. ‘Thirty-five, very up-and-coming in his profession, too. A worthy target for your charms, love.’
She turned a wintry eye on him. ‘Freddy, I’ve already begged you not be vulgar. I’m sure Doctor van Germert is a very pleasant man, that’s all.’
He sighed loudly. ‘Don’t tell me that you’re pining for that dreary Arthur?’
Annis giggled. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! That’s why I came here—we weren’t getting anywhere and I’d discovered that I couldn’t possibly marry him.’
‘Bully for you, ducky. I found him a drip, not your sort.’
‘What’s my sort?’ She had sat down on a folding chair and had picked up the map she had been studying each day in the hope that she would know exactly where she was.
‘Jake.’
She put the map down carefully. Her voice was light and a little amused. ‘I’m waiting for a real charmer, Freddy—I’d like to be swept off my feet.’
Freddy turned back to his writing. ‘As long as you find them again,’ he warned her.
It was at breakfast the next day that someone asked: ‘Who’s going with you, Jake?’
‘Annis.’ The doctor didn’t even look at her as he spoke. ‘Have your lists ready by this evening, will you? We’ll leave early.’
‘And what is early?’ asked Annis sweetly. ‘I don’t seem to have been told much about this…’
He refused to be ruffled. ‘After the night shift’s breakfast,’ he told her blandly. ‘The second breakfast men can manage for themselves—we’ll be back in time for you to cook supper.’
She eyed him frostily. So she was to cook supper, was she, after a hectic day shopping in a strange language among strange people, not to mention the trip there and back. She only hoped whoever was to fly the plane was a nice levelheaded man who didn’t expect her to get thrilled every time they hit a pocket of air and dropped like a stone…
‘Will you have time to show Annis the hospital, Jake?’ asked someone.
‘I thought it might be an idea; I’ve a job or two to do there, anyway.’
Annis’s interest quickened. It would be fun to see a hospital so far from the rest of the world, and she began to wonder about it, not listening to the talk around her.
She would have liked to have worn something more feminine than slacks and a shirt on this, the highlight of her stay, but common sense warned her that the weather might change with a speed she hadn’t quite got used to, and probably the ground was rock. She wore sensible shoes, her new pale blue slacks and a white cotton blouse with a blue and white striped sweater to pull over it, and covered it with a pinny while she saw to breakfast.
She studied the lists she had been given while she ate her breakfast through a chorus of items which had been forgotten. She already had a list of food and necessities and how she was going to get the lot in a day was beyond her, although with only one shop it might be easier. She finished her meal and only then noticed that the doctor wasn’t there. Perhaps she was late—she got to her feet in a panic, gathering her plates and cup and saucer together. ‘I should go,’ she cried to those around her. ‘Who’s flying the plane?’
‘I am,’ said Jake, coming in through the door with maddening slowness. ‘And I haven’t had my breakfast yet, so don’t panic.’
‘I am not panicking,’ declared Annis crossly. She added: ‘Can you fly a plane, then?’
There was a chorus of kindly laughter. ‘It’s his plane, Annis,’ she was told.
