Survival Tails_The Titanic

by Katrina Charman

  Clara sighed. “We’ll discuss it later. I need to decide what to do with this dog.”

  “He doesn’t look so bad,” Jack said. “Maybe you could look after him, too, Miss Clara?”

  Clara choked at the thought, and the dog chuckled again.

  “These kittens trust me,” he said. “Maybe you should, too?”

  Clara had narrowed her eyes, wondering if she should alert the captain or find the nearest officer, when she had a better idea. “I’ll make you a deal,” she said slowly.

  Mutt cocked his head to one side. “What kind of deal?”

  “In all my years with the captain, I’ve never let any stowaway remain on my ship,” she said, not adding that she had never in fact ever come across any stowaways before—apart from rats, and they didn’t count because they were easily dealt with. But here was a chance to deal with them all in one swift move and enjoy the rest of the voyage with her captain in peace.

  “Cosmo and his siblings, here, are also… unaccompanied,” Clara continued. “If you promise to watch them and keep them out of sight and out of trouble for the rest of the journey, I will promise to allow you and your rat friend to live.”

  Mutt started to protest, but Clara ignored him. “That means no more wandering the decks. You must remain hidden until we dock, and then and only then will you be allowed to find your girl—if she is in fact on this ship at all.”

  “But she doesn’t know I’m here,” Mutt barked. “If I don’t find her on the ship, it will be impossible to find her in the New World.”

  “Ah, so the truth comes out! It’s that or be thrown overboard,” Clara snapped, running out of patience, and the kittens gasped.

  Clara bit her tongue as the kittens gave her an uneasy look, but it was too late to take it back.

  “What about them?” Mutt asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What happens to the kittens when we reach the New World?”

  The three kittens looked up at Clara, apparently wondering the same thing. They were ever so young to have been abandoned by their mother, but that wasn’t Clara’s fault. She couldn’t look after them, and she certainly couldn’t guarantee that the captain would want more cats around.

  Clara avoided Cosmo’s gaze as she gave the dog a steely glare. “That’s not my problem,” she said, turning to stalk away, her tail and nose high in the air. “Now, all of you follow me, before I change my mind.”

  CHAPTER 11

  MUTT

  Sunday, April 14, 1912

  Mutt followed the cat down into the depths of the great ship. He wasn’t entirely sure that she wasn’t leading him into a trap, but he didn’t have much of a choice. They finally arrived back at the lowermost deck, passing the mail storage room where Mutt had started his journey, then moving on to a large cargo area piled high with huge leather trunks and crates. There was even a shiny black motorcar.

  “It’s a little dark,” Clara was telling the kittens. “But there is plenty of room for you to run about and the door is never closed, so you won’t be shut in.” She caught Mutt’s eye as he gave her a glare.

  “What about food?” he asked. “And where do we go to… you know… do our business?”

  Clara sniffed. “I had the impression that dogs did their business wherever they pleased.”

  There was a loud squawk in the corner, and Clara and Mutt hurried over to see what the kittens were up to.

  “What are you doing over there?” Clara called as Cosmo and Jack pawed at something out of sight.

  There was another squawk and a ruffling of feathers, and Mutt moved closer to see Cosmo swiping at a large cage filled with chickens.

  “Get away! Get away!” the birds clucked.

  “Chickens?” Mutt said. “Why are there chickens down here?”

  “They are cargo,” Clara explained, ignoring the evil eye one of the chickens was giving her through the bars of the cage. “You’re lucky that’s all there is down here. I’ve been on voyages where there were pigs on board and, let me tell you, the smell is extremely unpleasant.” She sniffed at Mutt. “Although it might not have bothered you so much.”

  Mutt bit his tongue, resisting the urge to snap back at the cat. He had to be patient and respectful. Let the cat think he would obey her every command and bide his time until she had wandered off to bother some other poor creature. Once the kittens were asleep, he would continue his search for Alice and return to them once he had found her. There was no way he could wait until they arrived in the New World. The sooner he found Alice, the sooner he would feel safe again.

  Violet joined her brothers to tease the chickens with a wide, toothy grin. The chickens kicked their feet, stirring up sand and sawdust that billowed in the air in dusty clouds.

  Violet and Jack coughed, moving to a safer position away from the fussing chickens, who rattled their cage back and forth. The kittens continued to give the chickens longing looks, even though the chickens were twice their size. Mutt wouldn’t have minded a mouthful of chicken himself, but he preferred the roasted variety. Besides, he didn’t think Clara would allow them to eat the humans’ precious cargo.

  “They are not for eating,” Clara scolded the kittens, reading their minds.

  At this, the chickens became more agitated, squawking and pressing their puffed-up bodies against the walls of their cage until it shook. An open crate perched on top of the cage wobbled. Before Mutt could move a paw, it toppled over onto Cosmo.

  “Cosmo!” Clara screeched. She hurried over, glancing up at Mutt, whose heart was hammering in his chest.

  “Cosmo!” he barked. “Can you hear me?”

  “It’s dark in here,” Cosmo called out weakly.

  “We need to lift the crate,” Mutt barked, snapping Clara out of her shock.

  Clara nodded. “We’ll get you out of there, Cosmo.” She looked at Mutt. “How are we going to lift it off him?”

  Mutt searched for something they could use to pry the crate off Cosmo. In the corner he found another open crate filled with tall wooden sticks. He grabbed one in his jaws and carried it back to Clara, who paced the floor, assuring Cosmo that everything would be fine.

  Mutt pressed his rump against the side of the crate, pushing with all his strength to ease up the edge. Then he quickly slid one end of the stick underneath.

  “Help me lift this,” he panted as Violet and Jack watched nervously.

  Clara gripped the opposite end of the stick in her teeth and Mutt did the same, shaking his head briefly at the absurdity of standing side by side with a cat.

  “I’ll help!” Jack said, biting the stick with his tiny teeth, and Violet joined him.

  They gave one more heave, and the crate rose off the ground just enough to allow Cosmo to squeeze himself out. His fur was coated in a sticky golden substance, and he tumbled across the floor, rolling into a pile of chicken feathers.

  “Are you all right?” Clara asked, examining Cosmo for any injuries.

  “I think so,” Cosmo said with a sneeze, sending feathers flying up around him.

  Jack laughed. “He looks like one of the chickens!”

  Mutt sniffed at Cosmo’s fur, then gave his head a small lick. “It tastes… sweet,” he said. “Like honey.”

  “Thank goodness you weren’t crushed!” Clara said, nudging Mutt away to lick all the goo from Cosmo.

  When he was clean, Cosmo snuggled up against Clara, too afraid to go near the chickens again. Violet and Jack snuggled against Mutt, and he settled down beside Clara, listening to the kittens’ tiny purrs as they fell asleep.

  “What are we going to eat down here?” Mutt asked. “We can’t stay down here for days without food or water…. We’ll be starved by the time we reach the New World.” He paused for a moment, wondering if that had been the cat’s intention all along. But then he saw how she looked at the kittens—always watching to make sure they were close by, nudging the smallest one—Cosmo—if he fell behind. If Mutt hadn’t known better, he would have
thought she was their mother. She might be happy to let Mutt starve, but she wouldn’t let any harm come to those three kittens.

  “Wait until nightfall,” Clara told him. “I will bring you some food then. I can’t do it while the humans are awake—it’s too risky.”

  “What about my girl—Alice?” he asked. “I need to find her.”

  “You risked a lot to find her,” Clara said.

  Mutt nodded. “I can’t imagine a world without her.”

  Clara gave him a small smile. “It’s the same with my captain,” she said. “We’ve been together since I was a kitten. I couldn’t imagine being parted from him for even a few days.”

  “So you understand how I feel,” Mutt said, hope building in his belly for the first time since he boarded the Titanic. “You know this ship well…. Maybe if we searched together…?”

  Clara sighed. “I’ll do what I can,” she said. “But I have my duties, and these three to take care of.” She eased her body away from the sleeping Cosmo and he rolled over to join his siblings, snoring against Mutt’s fur. “The captain worries if I am away for too long. Please stay with the kittens for now,” she said.

  Mutt nodded down at the kittens sleeping against him. “I couldn’t leave them even if I wanted to,” he joked.

  “Thank you,” Clara said, and Mutt nodded in response.

  She gave the kittens one last backward glance, and then she was gone, leaving Mutt thinking that maybe cats weren’t as bad as he’d always thought.

  CHAPTER 12

  MUTT

  Sunday, April 14, 1912

  “Finally!” Mutt said as the kittens awoke from their naps. “Now, I don’t know about you three, but I’m starving. Let’s see if we can find something to fill our bellies with, shall we?”

  Jack gave a loud meow in agreement, but Violet didn’t seem so sure. “Miss Clara said we were to stay here,” she said.

  “She did,” Mutt said. “But she also told me to tell you to do as I say, and I say that it’s dark and cold down here and I’m so hungry that I’m not sure those chickens will be clucking for much longer.”

  The chickens overheard this and squawked loudly.

  “We could find something to eat and be back here before Miss Clara even noticed,” Jack said slowly.

  “What if we get lost?” Cosmo asked.

  “Miss Clara will find us,” Jack told his brother. “She always does.”

  “Of course she will,” Mutt agreed. “After all, she is the captain’s cat.”

  The kittens followed Mutt out of the cargo hold and along the hallway, where the vibrations from the huge engines rumbled beneath their paws. As they moved along, Mutt felt the air warm, and they paused to peek into the open doorway of the boiler room, which was completely filled by its three huge furnaces. The heat coming from inside was incredible. Mutt watched for a moment as men loaded coal into the furnaces from a large bunker with shovels, back and forth, back and forth. Around their necks the men wore neckerchiefs, and every so often they sucked on the ends.

  “No food in there,” Mutt told the kittens, sniffing the air.

  They went up a stairwell to the next deck, following their noses until they came to a doorway labeled THIRD-CLASS GALLEY.

  Mutt peered into the large open kitchen. There were a couple of humans dressed in white uniforms and hats washing dirty dishes at the sink. Bubbling away on the stove behind them was a large steel pot, filled with something that made Mutt’s stomach gurgle so loudly he worried for a moment that the humans might have heard.

  “What is that smell?” Jack whispered, taking in a deep breath and sighing.

  Mutt grinned at the kittens. “Our supper,” he told them.

  “How are we going to get to it?” Violet wondered aloud, licking her chops. Her wide eyes darted between the humans and the pot of food.

  Mutt didn’t have an answer to that. He just knew that if he didn’t eat something soon, he would probably collapse and never wake up.

  “Stay back!” he hissed as the humans dried their hands and turned toward the doorway. He ushered the kittens beneath his legs and they backed up, pressing themselves against the wall.

  The humans came out of the galley, but to Mutt’s relief, they turned the other way, moaning to each other about how much their feet hurt. Mutt waited for a moment, and when they didn’t return, he gave the kittens a nod. “All clear!” he said.

  They trotted into the galley and Mutt jumped up onto the metal counter beside the stove. He leaned his nose over the pot for a long sniff. It was filled with thick gravy and meat and vegetables and smelled so good it made him dizzy. Mutt lowered his tongue into the pot for a tiny taste but jumped back with a small yelp. “It’s too hot!” he said, flapping his tongue about in the air to cool it.

  “Maybe there’s something else we can eat?” Violet suggested, wandering over to a large set of shelves piled high with plates, cups, and saucers.

  Mutt suddenly caught the scent of something else a lot less appealing and jumped down from the counter.

  “Who are your new friends?” a voice asked from the doorway.

  Mutt didn’t need to turn to see who was there. He had smelled him coming a good few minutes before he actually arrived.

  “Come back to cause me more trouble, have you?” Mutt asked King Leon.

  King Leon raised a paw to his chest innocently. “Who, me?” he said with a grin. “I’m the one who’s been getting you out of trouble, if you haven’t noticed.”

  “Much good you did me when the captain’s cat showed up,” Mutt muttered.

  “What was I supposed to do?” King Leon asked. “A yappy dog is one thing, but a cat—” He gave a little shudder. “No sirree, cats and rats do not mix well. That’s one thing every ship rat knows. If the cat finds you, you’re a goner.” He gestured to his stump of a tail. “Trust me, I know. I almost got caught myself a few nights ago. But I’m here now, aren’t I? Rats never abandon their friends.”

  Mutt looked at King Leon for a moment, deciding whether or not to forgive him. He had helped Mutt find a way onto the ship and had gotten rid of the yappy dog and led Mutt to food—even though he hadn’t had a chance to actually eat it. “I suppose so,” he said finally with a smile.

  King Leon grinned, then nodded to the kittens. “How did you end up with these three?”

  “It’s a long story,” Mutt sighed.

  “Is that a rat?” Jack asked, running his tongue over his tiny, sharp teeth. “Can we eat him?”

  Mutt cocked his head as though he was considering Jack’s request, and winked at King Leon, who smirked. “King Leon is a friend,” Mutt said. “Friends are not to be eaten.”

  “How about some oodle instead?” King Leon said, scurrying to the far side of the galley.

  “What’s oodle?” Mutt asked as he and the kittens followed.

  “It’s a kind of stew,” King Leon said, jerking his head up to the counter, where another batch of the delicious stew was cooling in smaller bowls set out on the steel table. “Made out of the leftover cuts of meat. The crew eat it because it’s not good enough for the passengers.”

  Mutt helped the kittens clamber up onto the counter, his mouth watering and his stomach twisting at the sight, then he quickly followed.

  “Well, it’s good enough for me,” he said, dunking his jaws into the nearest bowl and gulping down the meat, carrots, and gravy, barely stopping to chew or breathe until the bowl was empty. Then he licked it until it was as sparkling clean as the ones on the shelf. Beside him, the kittens were doing the same thing—although the chunks of meat were too big for their small jaws, so they lapped up the gravy as though it were milk.

  After a few minutes, Cosmo looked at Mutt with a dopey grin, sighing in satisfaction over his protruding belly.

  King Leon caught Mutt’s eye. The rat had stood up on his back legs, his whiskers twitching as he sniffed at the air.

  “What is it?” Mutt asked. “Humans?”

  King Leon frowned. �
��Something is not—” He didn’t have a chance to finish his thought, because at that moment the humans returned. They took one look at the dog, rat, and three kittens eating their food and ran at them, screaming and shouting.

  “Run!” Mutt barked, ducking as one of the humans swung an empty frying pan at his head.

  The kittens jumped down from the counter and scrambled off in different directions before reuniting to run around the legs of one of the humans. The man spun around and around, trying to catch one of the furry blurs, until he became so dizzy he fell over, crashing into a pile of crockery, which smashed to the floor.

  “Follow me!” King Leon puffed, racing along the counter to leap over the bubbling pot of oodle, barely making it to the other side.

  The other human turned to give chase but tripped over the broken crockery and knocked over a crystal bowl full of trifle, the contents of which landed on Mutt’s head. Mutt licked the cream out of his eyes and raced after King Leon and the kittens, zigging and zagging along corridors and down the stairs, not stopping until they were back at the cargo hold.

  “I think we lost them,” King Leon puffed. He glanced up at Mutt and started laughing.

  The kittens were lapping up the drips of cream that dropped to the floor from Mutt’s fur. Mutt sighed, then licked away the cream and pieces of fruit and sponge cake seeping down his forehead as best he could. It was only when King Leon came over for a taste that he decided he’d had enough.

  “I’m running out of time to find my girl,” Mutt said. “We were almost caught. If I get trapped somewhere again—or worse—I’ll never find her.”

  “So what’s the plan?” King Leon asked, munching on a large chunk of strawberry that had fallen off Mutt’s head.

  Mutt had started to recount the whole story about Clara helping him to find Alice, when he heard the patter of tiny feet heading along the floor out in the hallway. Five rats almost the same size as King Leon raced past. They shouted out something to King Leon in a language Mutt couldn’t understand, then, seeing that he wasn’t going to join them, hurried on.