‘This evening just seems to be flying by,’ said Basil, ‘and it would be so wonderful if we could arrange to have dinner again.’
‘Of course we will,’ said Madge. ‘But I’ve told you lots about me. Are you going to tell me more about yourself? Or is it a secret!’
Basil, who was due to turn twenty-two in a few weeks’ time, on 1 January 1945, was, in fact, part of an experienced group of administrators involved in the massive movement of troops and equipment that was taking place in the battle to drive the Japanese back south out of Burma. Because of the strategic importance of Chittagong thousands of troops and huge volumes of supplies were channelled through the most important railway junction in Bengal and for Basil’s unit the work went on round the clock. Madge listened attentively to the few details he was able to tell her, enjoying every moment of getting to know him better.
Madge was normally asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow but that night she stayed awake into the small hours recalling the events of what she decided was one of the loveliest nights of her life. By the end of the evening, she mused, we were chatting away as if we had known each other forever! She had been far from impressed on their first, brief meeting but had soon realised that he was, in fact, a perfect gentleman. On her return to the table after a visit to the ladies’ powder room he had stood and eased her chair back in when she sat down. He had walked on the outside on pavements and always stood back to let ladies go first. Little things, Madge told herself, but they meant a lot and she remembered what her mum had told her – ‘You can always judge a man by his manners.’
Most of all she played the scene at the hospital gates at the end of an enchanting evening over and over in her mind. Basil had bent in the moonlight to give her the sweetest of goodnight kisses that had left her saying with a wildly beating heart, ‘Your apology is accepted.’
The following afternoon as Madge relaxed in the mess at the end of her shift she was called to the phone and it was Basil asking if she fancied a drive along the Bay of Bengal to a vantage point ten or so miles away where they would see ‘a rather splendid sunset’.
‘The only problem is,’ said Basil, ‘would you be able to bring one of your friends along to make it a foursome?’
‘Why, who is he?’ asked Madge.
‘Jim, an officer I know from our Movements unit,’ said Basil. ‘He’s a very pleasant person.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ promised Madge, after arranging a 6 p.m. rendezvous with Basil at the hospital gates.
As Madge walked down to her basha Phyl suddenly appeared. She ummed and aahed when Madge asked her to join them on their evening drive.
‘Come on, Madge,’ she said, ‘I need a bit more information. Is he going to be dashingly handsome?’
‘I’ve never even heard of him before, let alone met him,’ laughed Madge. ‘I honestly don’t know.’
On the dot of 6 p.m. Basil neatly parked a station wagon with eye-catching wooden panelling so that it wouldn’t block the main gates and alighted to introduce Jim, who was his commanding officer. Madge then introduced Phyl to the two men.
‘Lovely night for a drive,’ said Basil, ‘but the road will be greasy in places after that heavy rain early today.’
He was ultra careful as he manoeuvred his way round a sacred cow that was happily wandering down the middle of the road and wisely pulled over and stopped as a convoy of army supplies thundered past heading south in the direction of Cox’s Bazaar, a key port in the confrontation with the Japanese.
After thirty minutes he pulled off the potholed highway and onto a tranquil section of beach that was slowly turning from yellow to rose pink as the sun began to set. ‘For my next trick, said Basil . . .’ pulling a hamper from the back of the vehicle. Within minutes he and Jim had placed a rug on the sand, set up a makeshift picnic and passed around gin and tonics that looked so inviting in tall-stemmed glasses.
‘This really is gorgeous,’ said Madge an hour later as the rose-pink horizon flickered into a red haze when the sun set with remarkable speed. ‘Sadly it looks as if that is it for the night,’ she added and it became so dark that Basil switched on the headlights so they could see to pack the picnic debris away.
‘Thanks for that, boys, it was a really nice surprise,’ said Phyl.
Madge looked over to see that Jim had got behind the wheel and was insisting on driving home in spite of Basil asking if he was sure it would be OK. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, I haven’t seen your name on the list of authorised drivers,’ he added.
‘Never mind about that,’ said Jim. ‘I’ll be fine! I think it’s time to go so let’s head off, shall we?’
The clutch screeched in protest as he put the station wagon into gear. By now it was almost pitch black on a moonless night and patches of moisture glittered on the road in the headlights. One minute the girls were chattering happily in the back as the vehicle eased into what looked like the most uncomplicated of bends a couple of miles from Chittagong. Then all of a sudden there was utter chaos as it skidded on a patch of greasy road. Jim jammed the brakes on but that made the station wagon slither sideways. A front wheel caught a pothole and almost in slow motion the vehicle turned on its side and then rolled upside down.
Madge’s heart seemed to stop momentarily. As soon as the car came to a standstill she looked
