A Nightingale Falling

A keeper of secrets.

This is what I am.

what I too have become.

September 15th, 1920.

Morning air brings with it, hope...

a lingering sense of peace captured in the stillness.

For the most part, all is normal.

Since the passing of our parents

the life at Gleep House had settled down into a

passion of routine and unrelenting work

the roles that of myself and my sister Tilly

dovetailed with... #

I have known and worked alongside Tom Noolan since I was a girl.

Since papa's passing

I have come to depend on him

as I would a brother.

This is a private matter.

So I do apologize.

Is everything alright?

Tom, you've been a good friend of ours for many years and I know...

I know my father would not be best pleased to hear me say this

but I have to make the important decision for the house.

And with things the way they are, I have no choice. I must...

sell another field.

Oh! I'm sorry. I did not realize that things were that bad.

Well, perhaps, you could consider,

which field might fetch a considerable sum and make the arrangements.

And also...

poor Tilly need not trouble herself with such matters.

Yes, Miss May.

In fact, keep this as quiet as you can.

Of course.

Thank you Tom.

And I'm...

I'm sure your father would understand.

Tom rarely speaks of his only son, Jackie.

Not yet 20, and if local gossip is trusted...

wild and heady buck who is very possibly an active member

of the local IRA volunteer brigade

Despite our financial struggles and the...

unspoken threat that is all around us...

we are surviving...

as best we can.

I found a new journal...

and just the right combination

It is now late evening and the peaceful silence that falls

blankets the house like a veil.

Though the future is uncertain...

I must continue to show strength in...

word...

deed...

and action.

Hold your guns. Hold your guns... #

#

#

Sergeant?

Tilly!

Tilly, I need you.

What's the great emergency?

Come with me.

-Oh, dear Lord, is he dead? -No.

You must be calm, Tilly. We have to deal with this immediately.

Who is he?

Tilly, take hold of his leg. We must shift him from this position.

Fetch some clean sheets.

We'll see he doesn't die on us.

How is he, May?

Shh!

There's someone.

Shall I go get the dcotor?

There's no time.

We must get off to the back room and see to these wound before it's too late.

What? That doesn't make any sense.

-Do you want to let the man die? -No, of course not!

Well then, think straight.

Go into the store, inside the stables.

In the corner under some blankets, you'll find papa's old chair...

that'll help us get him upstairs.

Gently, gently.

#

Well, will he live?

Too soon to say.

But...

there are no major arteries cut and...

there seems to be good clotting.

Oh... Tilly.

You're quaint.

We'll do for him as much as we can and...

the rest we'll leave to God's mercy.

I've done all we can for him now.

And he seems to look more human now he's cleaned up a bit.

Not a bad looking chap, I thought.

I am delighted to see you awake to us and the world this morning, Captain Shearing.

Perhaps...

you do not fully recall the other evening's conversation.

Perhaps, we did no fully introdcue ourselves to you.

I am May Collingwood.

And this is my...

# sister Tilly.

Tilly, go have your breakfast.

I can get a meal here.

I brought these up

so you can at least communicate with us.

Doctor.

Me?

Although...

# I was a nurse once.

So...

Captain James Shearing.

How long have been staged at the barracks in Phillipstown?

-Now Captain Shearing, it's time... -You're not going to beleive this May.

Believe what?

Hello May.

You're speaking.

Yes.

-Well, don't try to say too much... -Oh, May, please!

It's because of your wonderful nursing skills that James is now speaking again.

James?

How are you feeling today?

So...

Take it easy. Those wounds do need a lot of attention.

But you're doing great.

I helped James with this.

What's this?

It's for my parents.

To let them know he is good hands.

Of course, he is in good hands.

I'll see to it.

I want to remind you of something.

He's still a patient of ours.

It's only natural, now that he has..

regained full consciousness, that our personal relationships with him will change.

But we ourselves must keep a professional distance.

Of course.

The sun rises...

and the sun sets.

The hours in between moved with a slow...

rythmic pattern...

of the usual seasonal labours.

Tilly and I continued to watch over and attend to our wounded patient.

I tried to imagine his family background...

and his life as a soldier in the trenches.

What horrors had he witnessed in the Great War?

I recall my father saying that...

the wounds we don't see on the flesh are the wounds that never heal.

And ulimately cause the most suffering and damage to those who carry them.

I am becoming...

acutely...

aware of a familiar notion running up inside me, a...

strong and tender regard for this once dying and broken soldier,

whom I've cared for all these months.

I lost to love before.

I do not intend to lose again.

Three glasses, Till?

Yes.

One's for James.

I'll take it up to him.

It perhaps will seek to raise his low spirits.

Boy! Boy!

Nobody panic.

Is this your home?

No. I just work here.

What's your name?

Tom Nolan.

It's my home.

Along with my sister Tilly.

You're a Collingwood right?

May Collingwood.

Well, May...

where is she at?

I imagine she's inside.

-Does anyone else live here? -No.

A few months ago, we lost one of our men.

It happened close to her.

And we haven't found him.

I reckon, somebody knows something.

Well, we don't know anything.

Thst's what everybody says.

Well, we found this.

It was found close to here.

So somebody heard soemthing, seen something...

If we had seen anything at the time,

we would have come forward with that information.

I'm in these fields everyday. Surely, I'd have seen some thing.

Well, you didn't see this, did ya?

No!

What exactly do you do here?

Farmhand.

That's quite a big house for two women to live in all alone out here.

What of your parents?

They are both deceased.

My father came here in 1880.

He was a Colonel in the British Army.

Really?

Now I coud see myself in a house like that some day...

when all this madness is over.

Do you mind if I have a little look around?

Of course.

You and your men are welcome to some tea also.

Wait.