by Tonie Chacon
Alice stopped in front of her and said, “Yes, I shall choose our outfits and then we shall dine with the Cheswicks and, I suppose, the Westbrookes and some other people I won’t know until we get there, so no worries, I am here to assist you.” Alice grabbed Megan’s arm and pulled her towards the staircase.
“I love this view. If you look down through this bend and line up the entire staircase all the way down, you can peer through to the bottom. I think it is where the class they call steerage is located. Come, have a look.” Alice pulled Megan over to the staircase edge.
Megan stood in the exact place that Alice had stood a moment before and leaned over to peer down. Megan felt a hand on her shoulder. Alice’s hot breath on her ear tickled slightly, or did it register somewhere else? Her heart pounded loudly in her ears.
“Here, line up here,” Alice said softly.
Megan looked down the stairway and was duly impressed. Alice had backed off from Megan to give her some room to enjoy the view. Megan suddenly missed the warmth of Alice’s body leaning into hers. Megan turned and smiled. “That was nice.” Alice smiled back and they continued to walk to their cabin.
Chapter Ten
10 April 1912 — late afternoon
AS SOON AS Colin entered the mail room, he saw Jacob. “I don’t know how you did it, but here I am reporting for duty, sir.” Colin snapped to attention and gave a smart salute. “I am impressed, to say the least. How did you do it? Helping in the mail room? My God, how hard can that be? It’s got to be easier than delivering newspapers all over this giant floating city.”
Jacob smiled and said, “Welcome to the mail room, chap. Yes, I found a poor schmuck willing to trade for shoveling shit and peddling papers, while we get to transport mail bags to and from the ferry. Lucas is also one of the firemen assigned to the task. I asked if you could be spared as well to give me a hand, and they were willing.”
Lucas waved a hello and hefted his sack over his shoulder and walked by.
“Glad you could be spared to come help. There’s an overabundance of mail for just the clerks aboard,” continued Jacob. “We can help them by letting them do their job separating and delivering mail to the proper area. Our job is to separate these mail bags from the parcels and the First Class and Registered mail to the areas soon to be listed by one of the staff. Easy enough then. We’ll get started in a bit.”
Jacob took a step away from the others and whispered to Colin, “I’d like to talk with you, if I may, in private.”
“You’re the boss, Boss.” Colin followed Jacob into a small alcove.
Jacob looked around before whispering, “I’ve got a tale for you and I implore your secrecy and integrity.”
“Okay.”
“I found out that I have a daughter in Cherbourg. Her mother is dying and wants me to take her. I think she is around seventeen or eighteen and I’ve never met her,” Jacob stated sadly. “I was not even aware of her existence until a week ago. But, I need your help. Lucas is already aware of the situation and has come up with a plan using the mail bags. It is brilliant. Anyway, we have been thinking that it would be so much easier if we had a third. You, as it seems. Would you be willing to help us and then keep your mouth shut about it and all?”
Colin nodded. He lowered his eyebrows and just kept staring at Jacob.
“All righty, then, as it goes, we set board on the ferry going in as usual. Then on the way back, we have got Alexandria stashed in a mail bag, surrounded by hundreds of other mail bags, and carry her back safely on board. With all of us looking out for each other, it should be a smooth passage. We’ve only got an hour and a half to come and go. No dallying in port.”
“But I’ve never been to France. Can I at least go touch the sand to say I’ve been there?” Colin asked. “Besides Ireland and England, I’ve never been anywhere. By the time I get to the Americas I’ll be a world traveler.”
Jacob answered, “Oh, ho, boyo, you can’t just waltz down to the sandy beaches and frolic away the afternoon. We’re still working, mon. Even though I am stealing my daughter on board and all.”
Colin laughed heartily. “Okay, but if you think that your daughter is going to willingly get into a mail bag, then you don’t know shit about women.”
“I know I don’t, and I don’t have a lot of time to learn. It’s not time to go yet but soon enough. Thank you again for your discretion.”
Jacob stuck out his hand. Colin grabbed it and shook it like he meant it.
“I’ll do my best for you, sir. I’ll go report to Lucas.” With that Colin walked over to Lucas.
“What do you want me to do?”
THE CHESWICKS AND the Westbrookes were to join Alice and Megan at table nine at the six o’clock dinner hour, or late dinner, in the First Class dining room located on C deck.
“It looks like we are the first here. Let’s sit, shall we?” Alice said. She pulled the chair out for Megan to sit. She looked beautiful, Alice thought. The light blue satin dress flowed around her as she sat. Alice sat down to her right.
That was barely done before they heard the booming voice of Fletcher. “Splendid, splendid, Alice, I see you found us and your accommodations? Hrmmph, Helene, my dear, why don’t you sit next to Alice?”
A blur appeared and suddenly Frances was in the seat beside Alice. Helene looked at Frances and said, “If you wanted to sit there, all you had to do was say so.” She then patted the chair next to her and said, “Sit, Fletcher. It doesn’t matter what order we sit in, does it? This is fine. Please sit down.” Fletcher held her chair for her and then sat in his own.
“Fletcher, Helene, let me introduce you both to Miss Megan Mahoney from Southampton.” They both greeted her with friendly curiosity. A lull in the conversation had Alice lifting a plate and examining it. Alice exclaimed, “It looks like we are the first people to have ever eaten off these plates. There’s not a scratch on them from silverware or stacking or anything. They are so stylish with the red flag in the middle.” Alice lowered her voice so only Megan could hear. “Now, do not be overwhelmed if there are too many forks and spoons to eat with. Just work from the outside into the middle and you will be fine.”
“I will be fine, thank you,” Megan said. “This is all part of the adventure, as I see it. I’m a quick learner. I won’t embarrass you.”
“No, no embarrassment for me. I remember my first experience at a formal dinner party. Disastrous, I must say. It seems that trial and error worked in the end for me, but I shall spare you some of the subtle things that will come along. I must warn you that sometimes these dinners take up to an hour or more to consume with about ten courses in all.” Alice had leaned over to Megan so as not to shout. The music wasn’t really in the background. The musicians were off to the side, but directly behind Alice’s left. Oh well, it was nice. Keep playing gentlemen. She leaned back and smiled sweetly at Megan.
Their conversation was interrupted by two older gentlemen settling into the chairs on the other side of Megan. They announced their names as if at a convention. The short, stout one with the fluffy moustache started first. “My name is Reginald Baumgartner but my friends call me Reggie.” He smiled over to the other gentleman, a few years older than himself.
“And my name is François Miltoon, one T, two O’s.” He was a dark little man with a wiry moustache. He pulled out his pocket watch and said to Reggie, “What time did you say it was, hmmm? It seems I’m famished,” not seeming to realize that they had been joined by Emily Westbrooke and her brother.
“Look Ethan.” Emily pointed to the number beside the flowers. “This one is ours.” Emily led Ethan to the last chairs. Alice tried not to notice as Emily nodded at the gentlemen and sat down in the chair opposite Alice. Ethan kept standing even after all the gentlemen had been seated.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” Ethan said. “To Mr. Cheswick and his family, thank you for joining us on our voyage to our homeland and then accompanying us home to Pennsylvania. For those of you who are not of
our party, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ethan Westbrooke and this is my sister Emily. We currently own three-fourths of the shares of our company, Westbrooke Shipping. Our little town has the same spelling as the name of our guests here. We thought they might be amused that the town has their name. Well anyway, here’s to a safe voyage, and may we all be great friends by the time this voyage ends. Make it matter.”
“Here, here,” said one of the elderly gentlemen. They all grabbed a glass in front of them and toasted. “Here, here.”
Clinking was all that could be heard throughout the dining room as greetings and toasts were made at every table. When everyone was seated, the waiters filled the water glasses again and brought caviar and crackers to the tables.
AS THE MEN took off to the smoking room, Megan headed to the outside deck for some fresh air.
“Wait for us,” Alice called out, so Megan paused while Alice, Frances, and Emily caught up.
“My goodness but the chefs on this ship are amazing. They do feed us well,” Frances said as the four women walked, once again, on the promenade deck.
Megan said, “I’ve never eaten so much food, and the fun part about it is you can have one of everything if you want to. Even desserts. I had two puddings. Of course, it could be the worst part. It depends on how you look at food, I suppose.”
Emily said, “I’d outweigh the mayor of our humble town if I kept on eating like I just did.” She patted her stomach area very lightly, as if she had eaten everything on her plate.
Alice replied light-heartedly, “If you keep it in small portions, I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you. And as far as your figure goes, I can’t find a thing wrong with it. Yet,” Alice said with a little smile on her lips.
Megan wondered what she meant by that.
The four women had made the circle around the promenade deck. The discussion this time was about some particular song that was stuck in Alice’s head from the dining room at dinner.
Megan sat down on one of the teak deck chairs and they all paused.
“It’s a catchy little thing,” Alice said lightly. She tried to hum it, but there was no melody to it. It seemed all over the place. “Let me try again. It goes hmm, pause, hmm, hmm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmmm.”
Emily interrupted. “Some words would be helpful, perhaps?”
Colin found them where they had gathered beside Megan’s deck chair.
“Excuse me, but I need to speak with my sister for a moment.” Colin directed his words to Megan.
“Um, these are my three new friends, Emily, Alice and Frances.” Megan pointed at each woman in turn. “This is my brother, Colin.”
“You’re the musician in the family,” Alice said. “Good. Can you help us? We are in deep discussion about a particular song I seem to have stuck in my head.” Alice began humming despite the look of horror coming across her friends’ faces. “Hm, pause, hmm hmm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmmm.” Once again, there was no clarity or melody or rhythm of any kind.
“Err, yes, well.” Colin scrunched his face and tried to ponder. “Come on up to the First Class dining room lounge tonight and see if you hear it again. Then when you do, just let one of your girlfriends know that’s the one and Megs can come tell me. What say you? Would that do the trick? If it’s at all popular, ten shillings says they will play it again.” He bowed. “It was a pleasure, ladies. I do hope you will all come up to the lounge and take in a song or two. It could be fun. What else is there to do on this ship, anyway? Megan, may I accompany you to your room to retrieve something you have that I would like to borrow? Ladies?”
Walking away Megan asked, “What’s in my room that you need to borrow, Colin?”
“Well, you did say you had your ticket still, so I was hoping that I could borrow it and use the open berth in your cabin for a friend’s daughter. She is in Cherbourg, but the way he thinks he’s going to get her on board isn’t going to work. That’s when I thought about you and what you had said about your ticket. If she comes in on the Third Class plank then it would be recorded and you both would be free. Dare say you’ll let me do that, won’t you, Megs?”
“Of course I will. Any chance I can get the ticket back as a souvenir? And why are you helping this friend? What is her name? Does she speak English?”
“You are as curious as always, eh, Megan? I don’t have the answers to any of your questions, as I have yet to meet her. It will all come about in its proper time,” Colin said.
When they reached her room, Megan walked over to her clutch bag and drew out the ticket. “Put this number on the tags and she can have this berth here.” Megan pointed to the one above hers.
“God speed and thank you. Her name is Alexandria, and I’ll try to get the ticket back. But I don’t really think you want the authorities after you if they discover this ticket has been used twice. Right then.” Colin took the ticket and rushed out the door. “Come find me in the First Class lounge later on then.” And with that, he was off to return to work.
“I’VE GOT THE solution to your problem, ’ol man,” Colin said coming up behind Jacob.
Jacob turned. “Have you now? Let’s hear it.”
“Okay, my sister’s ticket didn’t get collected. She was supposed to hand it to a Third Class seaman but she didn’t. She wanted a souvenir. So, I have taken it upon myself to get rid of it for her and will get your daughter on board without putting her in a mail sack. Lord knows why you think that would have worked. As I said before, you obviously do not know shit about women. Anyway, we need to get the labels for luggage and such before we leave this ship and go out on the tender.”
“We have been assigned to the tender, SS Nomadic. It’s leaving in five minutes. You sure did use all the time that was allowed. But you did good, me boy.” Jacob slapped Colin on the back with enough force to propel Colin forward.
They grabbed a handful of luggage tags, ran to the tender, and jumped aboard. Lucas gave them a hearty wave from the bow. All was well. Jacob and Colin went into the crew cabin. While Colin stood watch, Jacob wrote in the ticket number 242154 on each corresponding tag. He put them all in the White Star Line envelope and put the ticket on top, then slid them all into the front inside pocket of his jacket.
“All right, then, let’s keep a look out for a young woman with a red scarf on.” Jacob seemed nervous. “I get to see my daughter for the very first time in just a couple of minutes now.”
Colin peered out at France, as excited as if he was a boy. He watched the shore of France getting bigger and stood on his toes to get a better view. His face broke out in a wide open grin as he stared out onto the coastline of sand and the dock that was getting closer and closer. This was the life he had wanted for so long. The sea air whipped his hair around. He breathed so deeply, he could feel the molecules of moisture in the air explode in his lungs. Such an adventure this was.
As the tender arrived at the shore, it was plain to see no one had thought about all the other people who were going to be at the dock waiting to board. At least seven hundred other souls wished to gain passage on the greatest ship ever. Fear showed in Jacob’s face.
“My God. How am I ever going to find her?” He looked around at the crowd and back at Colin. He raised his arms with a questioning look.
They were set to dock. Jacob and Colin jumped off to put the giant ropes onto the cleats that were provided on the dock. The gangplank was stretched out and attached to the tender. They started to grab the mail bags and haul them on board. Passengers gathered in a line to board Titanic. One by one they boarded the tender and waited to head back out to Titanic. Jacob looked back out into the crowd that was slowly dispersing. His face was filled with panic.
Colin climbed on top of some boxes to see if he could find her in the thinning crowd. “There!” Colin pointed to a very petite young woman with auburn hair cascading down her back in fluffy curls. “Do you see her?”
Jacob’s eyes followed in the direction that Colin had pointed. “Aye.” Jacob seemed
overcome with emotion. “She is but how I envisioned. A spitting image of her mother at that age. Oh how I remember her now.”
“Let’s go, mate, before we lose her.” He and Jacob ran along the pier searching for the girl Jacob once knew. Suddenly, Jacob stopped. “That’s her.” Colin saw the girl, standing there looking demure and proper, and a little anxious too, he believed.
“Excuse me?” Jacob asked. “Would you by chance be Alexandria?”
The young woman looked up at Jacob with huge green eyes and nodded her head.
“It’s like looking into me own soul. Aye, me. It is you. And here I thought I wouldn’t recognize you. You look too much like her. How is she? Has she?” He left the last question hanging, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.
“Mama? The last time I saw her she was on her last breath. I had to leave to come find you. You are exactly the way she described you. Though probably a little fuller through the middle. No, that isn’t how you say it? I’m sorry but my English is a little rusty. We were taught in my Switzerland school but I have had very little use for it here in France.”
“Ho ho, that’s all right. We will get along just fine. Here is your ticket, and are these your bags here?” Jacob pointed to the two bags she had at her feet. “We’ll take care of these, you just go on up that ramp over there and I will see you on board. Your cabin and berth number are here on these papers. I will bring you your baggage once we get back to Titanic. Now, which ones do you need for your travel now and which one is for deep storage?”
Alexandria stared over at him, seemed to think about what he said and pointed. “These two for my room, please.”
SUCH A WHIRLWIND it had been. From the moment she saw that big ship in the harbor, Alexandria thought she had just about died. It was so beautiful, sitting out there on the horizon waiting for all of these people to get on board and follow their dreams to America. She was so glad she had done a little questioning to find out where Titanic was headed.
