The Other Side of Paradise Read online

  When Amith had gone her father said, ‘It’s important to carry on as usual, poppet. To set an example to the servants. Show them there’s nothing to worry about.’

  ‘What if there’s another raid tonight?’

  ‘The Japs will find it much more difficult if they try it again. We made it easy for them last night. Lights blazing, no air raid warning until much too late, not one of our fighters in the air. And it wasn’t only Singapore that they attacked, I’m afraid. They bombed Hong Kong and the American fleet in Hawaii, at the same time.’

  She stared at him. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘They said so on the wireless this morning. There was a special news bulletin. No details yet but it means that the Americans will have to come into the war.’

  ‘Then they’ll help us.’

  ‘I doubt if they’ll be able to help Malaya. They’ll have too much else on their plate. We’ll have to fight our own war. You and Mummy will leave as soon as I can arrange it. There’s to be no argument now from either of you – or from your grandmother either. She must get out of Penang and come down here to Singapore, whether she likes it or not.’

  She fed the doves after breakfast, sitting on the verandah steps while they fluttered round her and perched on her shoulders, cooing in her ears. When she phoned Milly later, Milly didn’t sound a bit alarmed.

  ‘Daddy says the Japs tried to land in the north but we soon got rid of them. They’ll never manage it.’

  ‘They managed to bomb Singapore.’

  ‘He says we’ll be ready for them next time.’

  ‘I hope he’s right.’

  ‘I’m on duty at the hospital later. How about you?’

  ‘Not till tomorrow. And the good news is that Pitman’s has closed down until after Christmas because of the bombing. No more typing, no more shorthand. I’m rather grateful to the Japs.’

  Susan went with her mother to buy blackout material. It was a shock to see the bomb damage in Raffles Place – shops wrecked, glass and rubble in the streets, and Robinson’s had been hit. The front of the store had been badly damaged, windows blown in. Tamil labourers were clearing away the rubble, and crowds of people had come to gawp – European, Eurasian, Chinese, Indian, Malay – gathered to stare at what the Japs had done.

  Inside the store, there were long queues and a shortage of assistants. Lady Battersby was complaining to a harassed floor manager.

  ‘How much longer do you intend to keep me waiting?’

  ‘I’m very sorry, madam. So many of our staff are busy clearing up, and everything has to be moved down from the restaurant.’

  ‘Whatever for?’

  ‘The top floor was bombed in the raid, madam. We’re planning to reopen the restaurant temporarily in the basement, as soon as possible. Rest assured that refreshments will still be available to our customers.’

  ‘I’m not concerned about your refreshments – only what I came for: a large quantity of your best blackout material to be delivered immediately to my address.’

  The woman queueing in front of them said, ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about. My husband says the Japs won’t dare do it again.’

  They went on to the Cold Storage where the glass shelves were intact and as well stocked as ever, but Maynards the chemist had boarded up its shattered windows against looters.

  In the car, going home, her mother said, ‘Daddy is insisting on us leaving Singapore.’

  ‘Yes. I know.’

  ‘I’m more than happy to go home to England but he wants us to go to Australia. He thinks it’s safer there.’

  ‘I’d far sooner stay in Singapore.’

  ‘He won’t let you, Susan. Not if the Japs go on bombing us. He wants Grandmother Penang to come with us too, but she’s being very difficult about leaving her home. And I must say I don’t much like the idea of coping with her on a long sea voyage. We’ve never exactly seen eye to eye.’

  Denys telephoned in the early evening. ‘Just wanted to make sure you were all right, sweetie.’

  She was touched. ‘Of course I’m all right. What have you been up to?’

  ‘I’ve been busy rounding up Jap civilians and bunging them in a camp.’

  ‘Do you think the bombers will pay us another visit tonight?’

  ‘If so, we’ll be ready for them.’

  ‘We weren’t very ready last night.’

  ‘Well, apparently the ARP headquarters weren’t manned so nobody could get a message to them to sound the siren, and the chap with the street-lighting master key was at an all-night cinema.’

  ‘How pathetic.’

  ‘Yes, isn’t it? If they do come back, go and sit in that shelter of yours.’

  ‘It’s full of water at the moment; the mosquitoes love it.’

  The blackout curtaining made the house unbearably hot and escaping to the verandah after dinner was a relief. In the moonlight, the lallang grass was a silver carpet, the palms giant black fans. She curled up on the divan and kicked off her shoes. The houseboys brought out coffee and her father’s stengah.

  He lit his cigar. ‘If there’s another raid tonight, we’ll go to the shelter.’

  Her mother said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Tom. I’m not sitting with my feet in muddy water, being bitten to death by mosquitoes.’

  ‘The kebuns drained it today. It’s all right now.’

  ‘The water will come back again. It always does in Singapore. We live in a swamp.’

  There was more argument about the shelter and, finally, her mother went off to bed. Her father went on smoking in silence for a moment, drinking his stengah.

  The blackout curtain twitched and a shaft of yellow light showed at the edge of the doorway. ‘There is a visitor, tuan. Mr Trent. You wish him to be admitted?’

  ‘Yes, certainly, Soojal. Show him out here.’

  After a moment the blackout moved again like a stage curtain, and the newspaper correspondent emerged.

  Her father stood up. ‘Come and join us, Lawrence. You remember my daughter, don’t you?’

  ‘Of course. Good evening, Susan.’ He bowed in her direction.

  ‘You’ll have a stengah, Lawrence?’

  ‘Thank you. I could do with one. It’s been a long day, one way and another. I’m sorry to disturb you, but I thought you might like to hear the latest news.’

  ‘Bad, I take it?’

  ‘It rather depends on your interpretation.’

  ‘Wait till the boy has brought your drink – he’d better not hear it.’

  Soojal came and went on silent feet. The ice tinkled in the stengah glass.

  ‘Mind if I smoke my pipe?’

  ‘Go ahead, Lawrence. You don’t mind, do you, poppet?’

  ‘Not at all.’

  The acrid smell of pipe smoke joined the cigar’s rich aroma.

  ‘I don’t want to alarm your daughter, Tom.’

  ‘I should much prefer her to be aware of the facts. Carry on.’

  ‘Very well. The press was issued with three communiqués today. The first said that the Japanese army landed at Singora and Patani in south Siam during last night and met with no resistance.’

  ‘That doesn’t surprise me. The Thais were never going to put up much of a fight.’

  ‘It didn’t surprise me either. But, unfortunately, the Japs have also landed men on the Malayan peninsula.’

  ‘My God! Where?’

  ‘At Badang and Sabak beaches, near the Siam border. Eight miles north-west of Kota Bahru.’

  ‘I know the region. Sandy, no swamps – they chose a good place.’

  ‘So it seems. According to the official report, they came ashore from troop ships in armour-plated barges. There was confused fighting and some of the Japs retreated. A spot of bother, as one British officer described it. Mopping-up operations are, apparently, in hand.’

  ‘Mopping-up operations?’

  ‘A nice soothing phrase used by our military to imply that a situation is well under control.’


  ‘Is it?’

  ‘I don’t think so for a moment. Apparently a considerable number of Japs managed to force their way inland. Our chaps are trying to cover up the bad news. Talking about regrouping and massing a counter-offensive. And there’s worse. The Japanese air force have also been bombing and strafing our aerodromes in the north of the peninsula, including the one at Kota Bahru. They’ve destroyed more than half our planes in the process. And they bombed Penang, by the way.’

  ‘Penang? My mother lives there. Do you have any details?’

  ‘Not yet, I’m afraid. As I said, they’re trying to keep a lid on everything. I take it you’ve seen the message from the commanders-in-chief posted up all over town?’

  ‘Yes, I read it.’

  ‘We are ready; we have plenty of warning and our preparations have been made and tested,’ Lawrence Trent quoted drily. ‘Japan will find that she has made a grievous mistake. I think that was the general gist of it.’

  ‘Most people seem to believe it.’

  ‘And they’ll go on believing it and trusting the commanders. I wish I could but I’m just a sceptical old hack, especially after what’s just happened at Pearl Harbor and to Hong Kong.’

  ‘The Governor sounded very confident.’

  ‘He’s a decent and honourable man but he’s got both feet in the past. He was a schoolmaster once, you know, and he still plays by school rules, especially the cricket ones. Not the sort of tough leader you need in a war of this kind against people like the Japs. Anyway, I’m off upcountry first thing tomorrow, so I shall be seeing for myself what’s going on. When I get back to Singapore, I’ll let you know what I’ve found out.’

  Her father said, ‘Even if the Japs have got on to the peninsula, Lawrence, it’s still inconceivable that they could make very much headway. There are surely more than enough of our troops up there to drive them out and I know the Malayan jungle – most of it’s virtually impassable.’

  ‘Not to the Japs. They’ll know how to make full use of it. To infiltrate. Their objective will be first capture the north of the peninsula, and then progress steadily south to the Johore Straits and Singapore.’

  ‘You’re forgetting that we now have the Prince of Wales and the Repulse anchored in the Straits.’

  ‘What you’re forgetting, Tom, is that those ships have no proper air cover. The aircraft carrier that was supposed to accompany them from England is still back there undergoing repairs. The Japs must know that perfectly well. Meanwhile, there will certainly be more bombing raids on Singapore.’

  ‘We can take it.’

  ‘Like the Londoners in the Blitz? But this isn’t London. And this isn’t England and the English standing united. This is a Far Eastern country with a big Asian population who think quite differently from us. They don’t much care whether there’ll always be an England. Of course, with the Americans in the war we’ll win in the end. The Japs gave the sleeping tiger’s tail a great big tug at Pearl Harbor and they’ll regret it. But it’s all going to take time and there’s not enough of that left to save Malaya.’ Lawrence Trent looked at her. ‘I’m sorry to talk like this, Susan. I don’t mean to frighten you.’

  ‘I’m not frightened,’ she said. ‘I don’t believe the Japs could ever take Singapore.’

  ‘I believe they will. Which is why you and your mother should leave as soon as possible. Your grandmother, too.’

  Her father said, ‘I’ve been telling them that. My mother refuses to leave Penang, my wife wants to wait for a passage to England. And my daughter is too busy driving ambulances.’

  ‘I’m afraid she’ll be busier than ever.’

  ‘How long do you think we’ve got left, Lawrence?’

  ‘Two or three months – if we’re very lucky.’

  The air raid siren went again that night and they sat in the shelter being attacked, not by Japs, but by mosquitoes, before it turned out to be a false alarm and the all-clear was sounded. Rather than go back to bed, Susan sat for a while on the verandah steps in the heat of the night, watching the fireflies and listening to the croaking of bullfrogs. Sweep came out of the darkness to sit quietly beside her.

  ‘I bring you something, missee.’

  She turned her head. ‘No, thank you, Soojal.’

  ‘News not good, missee.’

  ‘No, not very.’

  ‘Japanese very bad people, missee. Better you not stay here.’

  He’d been listening, of course. The servants always knew everything.

  ‘I don’t want to leave, Soojal.’

  ‘I know, missee. But better you go.’

  The Prince of Wales and the Repulse were both sunk by Japanese bombers two days later as they patrolled the Malayan coast. A long convoy of ambulances drove to the docks to collect injured survivors being brought down to Singapore by ship. The orderly with Susan was a talkative little Welshman called Delfryn and, on the way, he gave her his unasked-for opinion of the disaster, his sing-song voice lifted above the noise of the engine and the whine of the gears.

  ‘There’ll be no hope for us now, miss. The Nip navy can do what they like, see. We’ve no decent ships left to stop them.’

  It was pouring with rain and water was trickling through the ambulance air vents and running down her back.

  ‘That’s nonsense. We’ve still got other ships and we’ve got planes too.’

  ‘Might as well be rowing boats. And all we’ve got for planes is a lot of old crates. The Japs have got those Zeros, haven’t they? Much better than any of ours, so I hear. We don’t stand a chance against them. Look how they sunk those two big ships – no trouble at all. Went down in a few minutes. And all those men drowned.’

  ‘A lot of them were rescued.’

  ‘Terrible burns, though – that’s what I was told. And all kinds of nasty injuries.’

  The destroyer Electra was already moored at the docks, the gangplanks down to bring the wounded ashore. Susan stayed in the front cabin, keeping her eyes averted, the blind over the communicating door lowered. She could hear the bumps and bangs and the cursing that always went on when the stretchers were loaded. And she could hear the moans and cries of the injured men and smell the horrible stink of oil and another much more sickening smell which she realized, revolted, must be of burned human flesh. She poured several drops of Je Reviens on to her handkerchief and held it to her nose, breathing in deeply. After what seemed a very long time the orderly opened the door behind her and poked his head through.

  ‘All aboard, miss. We can go now. Better get a move on but for God’s sake don’t bump this lot about.’

  Treat them like eggs, that nasty driving examiner had said. She did her best but nervousness made her do some jerky gear changes and every time this happened, there were pitiful cries and moans from beyond the door. At the hospital she waited, shaking, while the stretchers were being manoeuvred out of the back. The Welshman stuck his head round the door.

  ‘Can you come and keep an eye on this one for a moment, miss, he’s in a real state.’

  ‘Can’t someone else do it?’

  ‘They’re all busy. Come on, miss, he needs someone to hold his hand, that’s all.’

  She got up slowly and went through the doorway into the back of the ambulance. The orderly had gone, so had the three other stretcher cases. The fourth man was on a lower bunk. His face was swathed in bandages and he was scrabbling at them and sobbing hysterically. His arms were bandaged too and what little skin remained visible was black. The smell of burned flesh made her retch.

  She managed to speak. ‘It’s all right. You’re at the hospital. They’ll take care of you. It’s all right.’

  His hands stopped their frantic scrabbling and he turned his head towards her. She saw that his hair, visible above the bandages, was thick and fair and curly. Nice hair. Somehow that made it all the more terrible.

  ‘Who’s there? I can’t see you. Who’s that?’

  He sounded very young – perhaps her own age. Not much more.


  ‘I’m the ambulance driver.’

  He clawed again at his face. ‘My eyes … my eyes … Have I gone blind? I can’t see anything.’

  ‘It’s just the bandages,’ she said and heard her voice shake. ‘That’s why you can’t see.’

  To her horror, one of his hands shot out and fastened tightly round her wrist.

  ‘I’m blind, aren’t I? Tell me the truth, for God’s sake … tell me.’

  She should have told him lies – any lies to comfort him. Held his hand, like the orderly had asked. That was what she was supposed to do. Instead, she panicked and tried to pull her arm free. He clung to her even tighter – tight as a vice – and in the struggle she’d dragged him off the stretcher before he finally lost his grip. He started to shriek and flail around.

  ‘I’m blind, I’m blind … oh God, oh God, oh God.’

  The orderly returned, bringing Ray Harvey with him. The Australian took one look at her, backed up against the door, the man flailing and shrieking on the floor at her feet.

  ‘Get the hell out of here, Susan.’

  She went and sat in the cab and leaned her forehead on the wheel.

  After a while the orderly climbed in beside her, patted her arm.

  ‘You’ll get used to it, miss,’ he said. ‘Don’t fret.’

  They went backwards and forwards to the docks many more times that day. At the end of it she went home, stripped off the uniform that stank of oil and burned flesh and sweat and lay down on her bed, exhausted. Her wrist was still red and sore where the burned sailor had clung to it.

  Seven

  GRANDMOTHER PENANG CAME down to Singapore by train, accompanied by her equally aged amah, Zhu, and much against her will. After the heavy air raids by the Japanese air force, all white European women and children had been evacuated from Penang Island on military orders. She arrived at the railway station wearing her white solar topee, her black widow’s weeds and a furious expression. The train had been crowded with hundreds of other evacuees. Englishwomen in crumpled cotton frocks, flushed scarlet with heat, clutched tearful children and howling babies and struggled with suitcases and bags and boxes.