The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1945, Qupperneq 47

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
45
With a mighty effort she threw off her
inertia and dashed forward, shrieking.
Her scream tore through the heavy
silence. Light seemed to flood the dark-
est corner, everyone started talking, and
then someone grabbed her shoulder.
She fought savagely, but she couldn’t
get free—then she was falling, falling—
★ ★ ★
“Mrs. Eliason! Wake up. You’re having
a nightmare!”
It was the voice of the night nurse
on the maternity ward at St. Margarets.
Ruth opened her eyes. She was back
in the familiar hospital room.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Was I scream-
ing?
“Were you screaming?” said the
nurse. “It’s a wonder the whole hospital
isn’t here.”
’’I’m sorry,” Ruth repeated stupidly.
It was hard to shake off the terror of that
moment in the underground laboratory.
Maybe she was in Burma after all. There
was that wailing—now rising—now
falling.
“That noise” she whispered.
“It’s the woman in the next room.
She isn’t really in much pain; the drug
makes her cry like that. She doesn’t
know what she’s doing.”
Ruth nodded. After all she was a
nurse too.
“Would you mind opening the win-
dow,” she said, “It’s hot.”
“Yes it is, they forgot to turn off the
heat. No wonder you had a nightmare.”
She opened the window and Ruth felt
the cool air blow into the room. The
nurse placed a screen in front of the
window. “You’ll be all right now,” she
said.
“Yes thank you. What time is it?”
“Two-twenty. If you have any trouble
getting to sleep just turn on your light.”
The room was cooler now and she
was quite comfortable but she couldn’t
go to sleep. She couldn’t shake off
the fear engendered by the dream. She
was obsessed by her anxiety for Bob,
so much so that she almost rang for
H>. Patbal
Funeral Service
•
PHONES: 27324—26 444
Bardal Block
843 Sherbrook St. Winnipeg
Established 1897
S. Thorvaldson, M.B.E., President
L. A. Sigurdson, M.D., Sec.-Treas.
SIGURDSSO N
THORVALDSON
CO. LTD.—=
GENERAL MERCHANTS
Riverton—Hnausa—Arborg
Lumber Yards at Riverton & Arborg
Phones: 1 55/33 1
Manitoba
ALWAYS ask your
Grocer for
"BUTTER-NUT
BREAD"
Rich as Butter — Sweet as a Nut
★
CANADA BREAD
CO. LTD.
PHONE 37 144