Carly ground her teeth together. ‘That’s SO stupid.’
‘I know,’ Jo sighed. ‘They said that women should stay at home and knit. But she didn’t let it stop her. She joined the Scottish Women’s Hospital, who did take women doctors. She went to the front and looked after the soldiers in Europe, right there where all the action was happening. She was very brave. I went with her and looked after the ambulances.’
I know you did, thought Carly, remembering Jo with the smudge of grease on her face and the spanner in her hand.
‘I’m glad you didn’t let Dr Cooper near the cars,’ Carly said. Jo smiled.
At that moment, a shadow fell upon them. Carly looked up and saw a tall woman with a long face and grey hair tied up in a bun. She was wearing a dark straight skirt and a suit coat with a white shirt and tie. Her face was lined and anxious but Carly recognised it straight away.
‘Hi, Dr Cooper,’ she said.
The doctor nodded and looked at Carly as if she half-recognised her but couldn’t quite remember who she was.
‘It’s time to go back in,’ Dr Cooper said to her friend. ‘The jury is about to announce the verdict.’
Jo jumped to her feet, and the two ladies marched towards the court house. Carly and Dora followed and Ellie trotted behind.
In the foyer, it was cool and quiet and serious. They tiptoed up the staircase and into the courtroom. It seemed that the whole of Brisbane had turned up for the trial. There were people everywhere. Carly and Dora and Jo couldn’t find a seat, so they stood at the back.
At the front of the courtroom, Dr Cooper sat in a little fenced-off area. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were tired and sad. A man in a red robe and long white wig sat behind a big desk, frowning sternly.
‘That must be the judge,’ Dora whispered, pointing to the man in the red robe.
The judge banged a hammer on the table and the chatter in the courtroom stopped.
Everyone looked at him. A group of men came in from a side room and sat together in rows of seats out the front.
‘Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?’ the judge asked them.
One of the jurymen stood and faced the judge. He said, ‘Yes, your Honour, we have.’
The judge said, ‘Will the defendant please stand?’
Dr Cooper slowly rose to her feet. Her face was pale and her brow wrinkled with worry.
The judge turned to the jury and said, ‘You may read the verdict.’
The man cleared his throat.
Carly held her breath.
‘Not guilty.’
Jo cried out with joy.
Not guilty! Dora clapped and whistled, and a stern-looking lady beside her frowned. Carly grinned and waved at Dr Cooper, who sat behind her fence looking dazed.
Jo wiped tears from her eyes. ‘I knew it,’ she said. ‘I knew she’d be all right. My dear, dear friend.’
Carly watched as Dr Cooper rose slowly from her chair and elbowed her way through the crowd towards them.
Then an amazing thing happened. A dozen men stood and made their way towards Dr Cooper. The men were all smartly dressed and
important-looking. From all over the room they came towards the doctor with outstretched hands.
‘They’re all doctors,’ Jo whispered.
They watched as the doctors surrounded Dr Cooper and cheered, smiled, shook her hand and patted her on the back.
‘At last!’ Jo said. ‘She’s worked so hard and done so much good. She’s showed them that it doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female. At last they know how much she's really worth.’
Jo was looking at her friend with so much love and pride that Carly felt a lump growing in her throat.
‘I think it’s time to leave,’ she croaked. She didn’t want things to start getting soppy.
Dora agreed. ‘Let’s go then - but we’re taking Ellie with us this time.’
Ellie barked. Carly picked her up and tucked her under her arm. Then the girls looked at each other and, on the count of three, slipped the shawls off their shoulders and plunged back into darkness.
When the darkness lifted, they were back in the boarding house. Ellie was still in Carly’s arms. Carly put the corgi down to the floor and she trotted off to the common room. Carly and Dora followed her on shaky legs.
All the new boarders were in the common room, playing board games or chatting. Arthur was sitting alone on a sofa, reading a book. Still clutching their shawls, Carly and Dora wandered in and plopped down beside him. He smiled at them and turned back to his book. On the opposite sofa, Simone lay with her bandaged ankle propped up on pillows. Like Arthur, she was reading.
So she really does like reading, Carly thought. When Simone saw the girls, she put the book down and snorted.
‘You’ve got one of those ridiculous shawls too, Dopey Dora!’ she sneered. ‘They must be all the rage in woop-woop.’
‘I’m from Sydney,’ Dora said calmly.
‘Whatever,’ said Simone, picking her book up again.
‘Lilian Cooper was amazing,’ Dora whispered to Carly. ‘I want to be just like her when I grow up! So smart and strong.’
‘And Jo,’ Carly added. ‘What a good friend she was.’
‘Well, you’ll never be like them,’ Simone said.
‘Do you have to butt into every conversation?’ Carly snapped. ‘Anyway, you have no idea who we’re talking about.’
‘Of course I do, stupid. Everyone knows Lilian Cooper: Queensland’s first female doctor. She’s a local hero. Don’t they teach you anything in woop-woop?’
Carly was speechless.
‘How do you know of her?’ Dora asked.
Simone rolled her eyes. ‘I keep my ears and eyes open, that’s how. And I read books - you should try it sometime; you might grow a brain. And there’s only an electorate and a women’s health clinic named after her.’
‘Really?’ asked Dora. ‘Wow. That’s great.’
‘I can’t believe I’m being forced to live with two idiots.’
‘That’s three idiots,’ said Arthur.
