This weekend I read another wonderful short story by Daphne Du Maurier which comes recommended by LK. She has posted a mini horror short story challenge with a list of ten favorites. "The Blue Lenses" was one she came across as a child. I was happy to find it in my public library in an anthology called The Breaking Point. Although I am not sure when Du Maurier wrote the story, the anthology was published in 1959. There are illustrations before each story by Margot Tomes. This is the illustration for "The Blue Lenses"--no doubt it will give you a few ideas about what the story is about. If you want to know more, read on, but beware of spoilers!
Marda West is recuperating in a nursing home in London after an operation which is supposed to restore her sight. Although she was blind, at one time she could see. For days after the operation she had rested, a crepe binder and layers of cotton wool covering her eyes. The nurses and doctors reassure her that the operation was a success and soon she will see again. Temporarily blue lenses have been implanted in her eyes. When the binding is removed she will be able to see, but only shapes initially. After her eyes have had a chance to adjust, the lenses will be switched and she will see everything once again in vivid color. It has been arranged that after she is released from the nursing home, her favorite nurse, Nurse Ansel, will accompany Marda and her husband home for the first week as she gets used to having her sight once again.
The day arrives for the bandages to come off. Slowly everything comes into focus. She doesn't even care that she can't see the room in color. She could spend hours just looking at the shapes. She feels as though this is a rebirth for her, to see again. But something has gone wrong.
"Smiling, she saw the figure dressed in uniform come into the room, bearing a tray, her glass of milk upon it. Yet, incongruous, absurd, the head with the uniformed cap was not a woman's head at all. The thing bearing down on her was a cow...a cow on a woman's body. The frilled cap was perched upon the wide horns. The eyes were large and gentle, but cow's eyes, the nostrils broad and humid, and the way she stood there, breathing, was the way a cow stood placidly in pasture, taking the day as it came, content, unmoved."
It's not just Nurse Brand. Everyone has an animal's head. Her doctor has the head of a Jack Russell. The night porter the head of a fish. Another nurse the head of a kitten. When she sees herself in a mirror she is normal. The photos of people in a magazine are normal. What is happening? She believes it to be some sort of terrible ruse. These people must be wearing masks. Most terrifyingly her husband has the head of a vulture and her favorite nurse, who will be returning home with her has the head of a snake. She tries to explain what she sees, but the nursing home staff are offended and think she's mad. She decides it is some sort of horrible plot, but is unsure to what means they are doing this.
In the end she tries to run away, but has nowhere to run to. And she's caught. I won't tell you the final denouement, but the story is worth reading. The final twist is wonderful. Marda's sight was indeed restored. Restored so perfectly that she now sees everyone for what they truly are. Earlier this year there was an article in the Guardian about "the dark side" of Du Maurier's short stories. Patrick McGrath made a wonderful parallel between "The Blue Lenses" and "Don't Look Now". In both stories blindness and clairvoyance are central themes. Daphne Du Maurier was such an interesting person. I am slowly working my way through the Margaret Forster biography of her. I don't think I'll ever again consider her a writer of "romances", at least in the straightforward sense of the word. There is usually something a bit more complicated to her work than that--menacing indeed.