by Tonie Chacon
Frances, who was slight in build with long black hair that hung to her waist, truly was a contrast to Megan. Megan stood around five eight and carried herself in a manner that Alice could not quite describe. Maybe confidence would be a good word. Since she had let her reddish-brown hair down, it curled slightly around her face, with her cute, pert, vibrant green eyes peeking out.
You’re getting a little carried away, Alice scolded herself. She was just happy to be walking on this deck with both of them. No, she was beyond happy. The sea was calm. A slight breeze came off the bow, but other than that, it was perfect. She wished she had put on a warmer coat though.
Frances noticed a shiver had consumed Alice and linked her arm into hers. “There, there, you’ll feel better in a bit,” Frances said. They walked for a few more steps and went to lean on the railing and look out to sea.
“Aye, ’tis so calm out there you can see but a ripple on the horizon there.” Megan pointed out towards the sea. She put her hands on the railing and leaned way back, holding herself with her arms on the railing. “So, what do you do on a holiday?” Megan asked. “I have never been on one before.”
“You have never been on holiday?” Frances asked. “My Lord, such a dull life you have led. We do all sorts of things, depending on where we go. The last couple of years, we have gone to the Canary Islands. It’s nice and warm there, with long beautiful beaches of taupe colored sand, lined with palm trees. It was exotic once, but we have gone back three times. I got in a little trouble the last time.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Alice said.
“Well, it’s not my fault you all left me on that beach to make it back to our place by myself. I had to ask for help from someone, didn’t I?”
“I suppose. But did it have to be that actress? It just made us look bad in front of the hotel staff, that’s all,” Alice said.
“Enough you two. Look about you. We are on the greatest ship in the whole world, and all you can do is bicker? You sound like my brother Colin and me at home after dinner. We need to figure out something to do that we will all enjoy. Oh, I know, let’s go explore the gymnasium they have on board. Or, no, I’ve got a better idea than that. Let’s go look at the swimming pool.” With that, she headed toward the Palm Room and down a staircase.
“How does she know where she is going?” asked Frances as they hurried to follow her.
Alice replied, “It must be that she studied the floor plan so much when she was selling tickets for the White Star Line that she knows almost instinctively where everything is. I’ve talked to several porters, and they said they still get turned around on board, and they have been on ship for more than a week. She seems like a fun girl, don’t you think Franny?”
“Yes, I suppose,” Frances replied blandly. “It’s only for a few days. I can put up with her for that long.”
Alice frowned.
“I mean, yes,” Frances said, “she is delightful.”
“Hurry up or we shall lose her,” Alice said.
“That would be fine with me,” Frances said snidely, but she hurried anyway.
WELL, WELL, WELL, what do we have here? Emily wondered. Alice, the other little Cheswick girl, and another new friend to meet. Delightful. Their friend was quite nice looking too, she might add, and she looked a bit familiar. Of course, it was the exuberant girl who had slapped her hat earlier. What a trio they made. And one more makes four. Delightful, Emily thought.
Emily had been walking with Ethan when she spied the group up ahead of them, coming through the doorway. “You may leave now. Be a good boy and play nice with others.” She patted him on his cheek to send him off.
He lit out of there like his pants were on fire. “You’ll find me in the baths,” he called over his shoulder, “or, more than likely, not ’til dinner.”
Emily sat down on a deck chair and waited for the women to come closer. Like flies to a spider.
“Why, hello Alice,” she said smoothly when they reached her. “What a pleasant surprise to find you on board. I didn’t really expect to see you all here, but the more the merrier, I always say. Who are your lovely companions? Oh, I remember you. You are the little Cheswick girl, but I don’t remember your given name.” Emily looked at her expectantly.
“My name is Frances. We met the other night.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right. I’m sorry I forgot, Frances.” Smiling brightly, Emily turned toward the third woman.
“Megan Mahoney, ma’am. And you are?”
“Please forgive me. My name is Emily Westbrooke, of Westbrooke Shipping, Pennsylvania. I had the pleasure, I mean, the utmost pleasure of meeting Alice at a gathering at the Sterling Castle last week in Southampton. She seems to have left a very good impression on me, because I still remember it, and her, vividly.” Emily smiled brightly at Alice.
Alice’s face went a bit red.
“I hope I haven’t embarrassed you, Alice. That was not my intent. I’m sure it has to be the wind on your face. Here, let me give you my wrap.” She whipped her cloak from her shoulders and draped it over Alice. “There, is that better?”
“Yes.” Alice hugged the cloak tight across her bosom. “Oh, this is so warm from your own heat. Thank you.”
“So are we all having a smashing time on board this great ship?” Emily asked a little too loudly.
Alice was quick to answer. “Yes, yes, we have all been having a splendid afternoon going from deck to deck, admiring all the exquisite finery. We never made it to the pool as we had hoped, but tomorrow it will still be there. We also counted a lot of grand pianos. I wish one of us could play.” Alice laughed at her own joke.
“My brother can play. He is right good too,” Megan said. “Maybe someday you can hear for yourself. He is somewhere on board. I haven’t had time myself to go and find him. I’ll have time though. All week on board before I need to see him.” Megan’s voice dropped. “That would be fine with me.”
“That is so nice. Having a brother on board, that is,” Emily said. “I have one on board too. What is your brother’s name?”
“His name is Colin. And he is a fine musician. He plays a better violin than piano, to tell you the truth. He got a job on board as a printer’s helper. Lord knows what that is, but he is staying down on E deck. Maybe I’ll see him when I go find the mail room. He made a little rhyme about his cabin when he first got it. Let me think. Something about E9. That doesn’t make sense? Oh well, we shall find each other soon enough.”
Alice’s face was light with interest at Megan’s chatter, though there was nothing interesting in it, as far as Emily could tell. Who was this Megan?
“Are you of the working class too, then, like your brother?”
Megan laughed. “I’m between jobs right now, but I have been known to earn my keep.”
“How did you meet the Cheswicks?”
“She sold us our tickets,” Frances said.
“How interesting,” Emily said, though she found it anything but. She took Alice’s arm and slowed her pace so that they fell slightly behind the working girl and young Frances. “Forgive me for saying so, dear Alice, but I find you the most interesting of all.”
Chapter Nine
10 April 1912 — Launch Day
COLIN SAT WITH his mates at one of the three long tables in the employee galley. “I don’t think I can lift me arms over me head anymore,” he said. “This will teach me to keep my mouth shut and stop being so bloody helpful. I think I will like being a printer’s helper better than being a steward. For one thing I won’t have to wear this monkey suit all day.” The white jacket, shirt, and pants came with a smart hat, but it automatically put his status as a steward. “After supper I am to report to the news room to collect all the papers that are ready and deliver them to all the passengers. That’s a lot of walking. Printer’s helper they call it. Fancy paperboy is all I am. Guess you can bet I will know this ship inside and out before I am through with her. The passengers will probably all want to know what’s for
breakfast too.” Colin grumbled into his supper.
Across the table, Jacob and Lucas stared at him.
“What did you think, mon, that this job was a walk in the park?” Lucas asked with an incredulous tone. “At least you had handles to grab onto and got to walk about the decks of the ship and all. I got traded down to the mailroom early this morning to where they had me unloading all those mail sacks. I tell you, I could use the help. There be thousands of them. Put certain ones here, then those go over there, and pulling and dumping and moving so much in a tight space. I’ve been slogging mail sacks back and forth, separating the actual mail from the parcels, setting up little stations so the clerks can continue into smaller detail, to where it actually goes. On-board is one whole section in itself. They spent all day going through the letters by plugging them into these pigeon hole boxes and when the hole got too full they would bundle them up with twine and place a note to indicate which deck it belonged to. It’s a bloody long tedious job if you ask me. At least I got to move around the rooms some.” Lucas held his back and stretched.
Jacob took a bite of stew and stabbed his bread into the air. “Well, I say it’s a good thing that they feed us well. It’s so we have enough energy to keep up with this exuberant crowd we have on board. I’ve been assigned to walking several dogs. In fact, it appears it be the same ones I spied while we were all watching the boarding in Southampton. Wouldn’t you know it? I hate shit. I hate it, I hate it. I can’t stand the smell of any kind of it, it makes me gag. I know, I know, all I have to do is take a wee shovel and throw it into the ocean. It’s a quick pick up, then done, no more shit until next time. Picking it up, especially if it’s runny, just about has me over the edge puking my guts out. How would that look to the passengers?” Jacob asked wearily.
“I’ll trade with you,” Lucas said. “Shit don’t bother me. I’d rather handle shit all day than slogging mail. Who would we talk to about changing assignments?”
Colin had finished his supper of ham hocks and beans, some sort of vegetable soup, very tasty, with an assortment of breads and some lemon pie for dessert. “Well I’m off, mates,” Colin stated as he pushed back from the table. The chairs were attached to the table but swung around so he could get in and out easily. The table was attached to the hull. “Have a good evening, then. If you are not busy this evening or not too tired in your case,” Colin said to Jacob. “I’ve been asked to join the orchestra in a song or two up in the First Class dining area, behind the stairwell. I’ll be playing my violin, of course. The best sort of luck, you see. Wally heard me play and asked if I could join them tonight after they get off. Anyway, come on up if you care to. It will be after the supper hours have finished, for the lingering crowd, I suppose.” Colin gave a wave as he headed for the companionway.
THE MEANDERINGS OF the four women brought them finally up to the Second Class entrance of the boat deck, where the lifeboats were.
Megan reached the top first and examined a lifeboat until they had finally all gathered again. “I guess they are strong enough to withstand the waves if we had to get in them?” Megan asked. She laughed then at her own joke. “Ha ha, that’s funny. Lifeboats on an unsinkable ship. Well there’s not too many of them, that’s for sure. I counted but twenty, even with the collapsible ones they have up top, and I still don’t think that is enough for all of us here on board. In case of a disaster, of course.”
As she turned back to join the others, her face dropped the smile and she quickly ducked behind the three women. But she was too slow.
“Megan? Megan is that you?” A gentleman in a white uniform was walking towards them. “My God, Megan, if that is you, please have the decency to show your face. Quit hiding behind that woman and face me. Come greet me proper and all.” He stood with his arms open wide and a huge smile on his face.
But Megan, staring through the women’s hats at him, knew what he was really feeling just by looking at his eyes. Burning, they were. So jovial on the outside but burning bright red on the inside. How she had wanted this meeting on her terms, damn it.
“Colin, me favorite brother,” Megan said as she removed herself from behind the women’s bodies. “How you be? We were just talking about you, weren’t we ladies?” She hesitantly went into his arms. He hugged her a little too tightly, but she got through it.
“Will you be playing? I see you have Violet with you. You see, Colin named his violin Violet when he was a wee lad and it stuck.”
All the women laughed.
“Me? What do you mean asking about me, here, now, of all times?” Colin was starting to raise his voice. Megan grabbed his arm and shoved him into a deck chair.
“Stay there, I’ll be right back.” Megan walked up to the women and said, “It’s my brother, Colin. He needs to talk to me. Go on and catch me up on the next go around. All right?”
Megan sat in another deck chair beside Colin’s and got comfortable, ignoring his glare. She stared out at the blue sea going by, watching the reflection of the sunlight that filtered through the clouds, to shine across the sea. It was beautiful. All right, here goes.
“I borrowed a ticket from a patron I knew wasn’t going to go on the voyage,” she said. “He had been given a refund and he said that he had destroyed the items in the envelope he had received and wanted his money back for the ticket he was holding. After he left, I was burning the trash and there was the ticket that Cecil had forgotten to void. It was still a real issued ticket as far as anyone else could see. Cecil won’t remember not stamping it. He will believe he did like he always does. This all happened almost the same day you got a job, so I decided I had to use it.”
“Use what?” Colin asked.
“The ticket. I used the ticket number to gain my passageway onto Titanic. The greatest ship ever. Someone I know said that, just recently.” She got a shove on her shoulder for that remark. “I entered on the Second Class ramp with a Third Class ticket, but all my other documents showed Second Class so he let me board. And then he told me to go give it to the Third Class purser. Can you believe the naiveté of some people? I still have the ticket. Now I have a souvenir.”
He gave her a look.
“I know, I know, it was dumb, but it worked. Here I am and now you know and here you are going, it appears, to play music on the ship of your dreams. Am I to miss that? No, I’m not. So, now we are on this adventure together. You go fulfill your dreams and I will carry on toward mine. I am on Deck D, Cabin 22. Come find me in the morning and we will talk some more. I can’t get too lost on the ship, even one this size.” Megan smiled over at him.
He, too, was smiling. “Aye, lass. Da will have your hide, sooner or later, you know that?”
“Aye, but you will be with me to keep an eye upon me so I don’t fall into traps that you see coming my way. And I thank you for that, in advance.”
“Any way you try to tangle your way through all this,” Colin gestured his arm all around, “you still should not be on board. But since you are, I can’t really say anything now, can I?”
“No, I suppose not. Thank you for that, too, then. But I’ve always wanted an adventure, not to be at home with everyone about. When Titanic came in that first day, I was almost overwhelmed with emotion. I had no idea until that man came in with the actual ticket wanting a refund that I would be going too. If I hadn’t gone to burn the trash that day?”
Colin replied, “It would have been fun to have experienced that with you. I forgive you. I’m right glad to know you are on board now. See you later on then?” Colin told her about the lounge area after the dinner and cigar hours were done. “Please come find me. Enjoy your meal. It should be announced soon.” With that said, he was off.
Megan joined the other women and continued to walk. She could tell they were curious about Colin, but they didn’t ask many questions. That was nice.
The gong sounded, a warning for the ladies and gentlemen who needed to dress for dinner. “Are we at a horse race?” Frances said snidely.
&
nbsp; “It did sound rather like horses being called to the trough, didn’t it?” Emily asked.
“Well, I’m as hungry as a horse, so it sounds good to me,” Megan said. She reached in her pocket. “Oh damn. I think I left my handkerchief on the deck chair when I was talking to Colin. I need to go back.”
“Why?” Frances asked. “It’s just a handkerchief.”
“My mum tatted it for me. It’s more to me than just a kerchief.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alice said. She removed the cloak and handed it to Emily. “Thank you for the loan. It was lovely.”
“All right,” Emily said. She turned to Frances. “Come walk me to my cabin and we shall meet the others at dinner.” Over her shoulder she sent Alice a smoldering look. “See you both at dinner then?” Emily and Frances waltzed off ahead.
“What was that for?” Megan asked Alice, whose face had rapidly become pink.
“I’m not sure,” Alice said, “but I intend to find out. Let’s go find your handkerchief and then pick out our evening attire.” They walked a little further. Megan ran over and picked up her lost handkerchief.“You do know we dress for dinner here?” With that Alice turned into the stairway leading down to their deck.
“Uh, I guess I knew that. I just didn’t quite know what it really meant,” Megan replied as she followed Alice down the stairs. “I really do need your help on choosing an outfit that is worthy of First Class. That was an invitation to meet them for dinner in the First Class dining room, wasn’t it? I wish I had my mother’s bracelet with me instead of putting it in my steamer for deep storage.”
Megan tucked the handkerchief into her sleeve and began fussing over the outfit she had on. It was one of her best. Lord, how long was this voyage, and did she have enough clothes to get her through it? She was sure, now that they were underway, she did not have enough clothes to pull off all this stuff one had to do to change her life. What to do?
