The Warm Hands of Ghosts

Content Warning: Depictions of violence and murder and discussions of mental illness using outdated/offensive language.

Laura recalls the summer of 1914, just before the war started. She had just received her nursing certificate, and Freddie was working as a harbor clerk. Their mother was convinced that 1914 was the year the world would end.

In the present, Laura returns to Pim’s house to ask Mary if the offer to join the field hospital still stands. Mary is skeptical at first, knowing that Laura is only going for news of her brother, but agrees.

Two days later, Pim announces that she will be joining Laura and Mary when they return to Belgium. She wants to help, though she is not a trained nurse. Laura tries to convince Pim otherwise. She shows Pim her scarred and knobby hands, stating, “If you’ve so much as a paper cut, or a blister on your own hand, well, that goes bad too. Over and over. It hurts very much. It scars. Do you want your hands to look like this?” (60). Still, Pim insists that she owes it to Jimmy to help.