HERE AND NOW
Chapter One
London Girl
Rose tried not to be sick as she
gathered everything on the table onto her tray before giving it a good wipe
with the dishcloth. Why did some people have to be so disgusting? Cringing as
she finished cleaning one table, she went to the next one that needed doing,
glancing at the clock above the counter on her way.
5:30. Just half an hour more and
she would be free.
"Cuppa tea and a slice of
fruit cake when you can, luv," a man with greasy and balding hair, oily,
wrinkled skin, and an unpleasant smirk called from his table near the door.
Rose finished cleaning up and
went behind the counter and filled her customer’s order. She hated this job.
The only reason she bothered was because she needed to save up enough money so
that she could go home to America. It had been three years since she had first
come to England to attend university. After she had graduated high school in
America, where she had lived in various foster homes since she was twelve, she
had wanted to live out her dream of studying abroad. Rose thought that moving
to England would mean freedom, independence, and fun. It did, but it also meant
responsibility, ambition, and focus. Rose had had a tough time scraping
together her Performing Arts degree, barely getting it thanks to not enough
studying and too much working to help pay her Uni fees, but eventually the
course had ended and she’d managed to graduate from King Charles College with
her diploma.
Rose had been naive when she’d
come to England. She’d thought it would be easy being a student. Then she had
found out about university fees and living costs and had found herself being
forced to take any job she could find. When she was in college she had worked
two part time jobs, one at a movie theater as an usher and the other as a
waitress in the coffee shop she worked in now. When she had completed her
course, she had been able to drop one job. She had to work, needing to pay her
rent, food, and so she could buy basic, everyday survival items, she had kept
the job in the coffee house. While a horrible job. It did pay well, and the
money was the only reason Rose stayed there.
Her customer’s order now ready,
Rose took it to the Greaseball’s--her nickname for this particular customer,
who was an everyday regular at the place--table. She set it down in front of
him, but as she turned to go, he put a hand on her wrist.
"Wouldn’t mind a slice of
you and all," the man said, winking and grinning smugly, showing off a
mouth full of rotting and yellow teeth.
Skillfully, Rose pulled her hand
free in one swift motion and gave a fake smile, saying sweetly but firmly,
"I’m not for sale."
"Nah, luv, but you should
be," said Greaseball as Rose hurried off to the safety of the counter,
where her co-worker and best friend Amanda ‘Mandy’ Phillips was stood causally
leafing through a magazine instead of working like she should be.
"I can’t take anymore of
this," Rose breathed. "I’ve got to get out of here."
"Relax, Rose," said
Mandy. "Only twenty minutes and then we can go home, jazz ourselves up,
and hit the clubs. Have us a real gals’ night out, we will."
"Oh, I don’t know, Mandy. I
should be saving my money, not spending it." Rose sighed, wishing she
could have even one night on the town without feeling guilty for once. Every
time she spent some of her money instead of putting it into her little cash
box, she felt bad and that she was just throwing her money away when it could
be going towards her ticket home.
"Oh, stop fussin’, Rose.
You’ll get home soon enough. In the meantime, you deserve a bit of fun. Who
knows, we might even pull some hot blokes tonight if we make ourselves look
glam enough." Mandy winked.
While Rose was nowhere near as
flirtatious and man hungry as her best friend, the idea of having a good time
without any worries was appealing to her, and she at last relented. "All
right. You win. Just don’t get too drunk. I’m not driving you home while you
throw up until you pass out in the backseat again like the last time we went
clubbing."
"Oh, I won’t." Mandy
smiled innocently, even though she had her fingers crossed behind her back and
her eyes sparkled with mischief.
Six o’clock finally rolled
around, and after seeing the last customer out the door, Rose locked the front
entrance, and after she and Mandy finished stacking the chairs on tables and
gave the floor a quick mop, the girls changed out of their French maid style
outfits, happy to take off the spiked dog collars, studded rubber bracelets and
leather aprons that made up the uniforms that they were required to wear each
day. Who would’ve known that a place called The Dog House would be so tacky?
After changing into their regular
clothes, the girls left the café via the back entrance for staff and made their
way to Mandy’s car; a little pink Beetle that was parked just by the door.
Even though the girls’ flat was,
in reality, only twenty minutes away from The Dog House, the drive home took
almost double that, as it often did in heavy traffic. Rush hour in London,
which was typically between 3:30 PM and seven PM, was not a good time to travel
in, but it couldn’t be helped. It was after seven when they reached the grotty
tower block in Hackney that they called home.
The flat Rose lived in belonged
to Mandy, having been left to the young girl after her father had died. It was
a two bedroom dump that was barely big enough to swing a cat in and needed
countless repairs to the electrics and gas mains, but it was better than
sleeping outside in doorways–just. The girls had tried to make it nice, putting
up drapes and pictures on the walls and buying secondhand furniture from
auction websites and little knick-knacks from markets, but both knew the
building, with its broken-down elevator and rundown exterior, would never be
able to be called nice, or even safe.
After walking up eleven flights
of stairs, Rose and Mandy reached flat 317. Mandy let them in, the door
creaking so badly it sounded like it was ready to fall off its hinges. Rose
unpacked the food they had bought on the way and then went into her room to
change again for their girls’ night out.
Switching on the radio as she
entered the room, Rose sang along to the song being played as she flung open
her wardrobe doors. She sighed as she looked at her meager collection of
clothes. She wasn’t as obsessed with material things as some people, but she
did wish for a decent ensemble of outfits rather than the pathetic, cheap few
she had. But clothes, especially in this city, were expensive, and she needed
her money for much more important things.
"And now, for all you
listeners tonight, Capital Gold Radio has something so special to give away we
can hardly believe it ourselves. Tonight, DJ Danny is offering you the chance
to win two first class VIP tickets to sail on the newest, most luxurious cruise
ship ever built–the RMS Titanic, property of the White Star Line company, that
will set sail on its maiden voyage next Wednesday from Southampton to New York
on April tenth!"
Mandy had come into the room and
stopped in her tracks as she heard the competition announcement.
"Oh, Rose how cool is that?
Can you imagine going on that boat?" Mandy asked, eyes wide.
"Ship," Rose corrected.
"And I wouldn’t even think about entering. There’s no way…can you imagine
all the people who are going to phone up for that?"
"God, Rose, you can be such
a pessimist."
"I’m a realist. It’s not the
same thing."
"Can’t hurt to give it a go,
though, can it? Just for fun."
"Okay. Now, here’s the
question for the Titanic competition. If you know the answer and manage to get
on Lucky Line Number Nine, you’ll be sailing on the most desirable ship around
and will be enjoying a four night stay at the Waldorf Hotel in New York
City." The DJ was brimming with excitement. "The question is, where
was the Titanic built? Phone now and it could be you winning the pair of VIP
maiden voyage tickets! It’s a once in a lifetime prize, so don’t miss
out!"
Before Rose could protest, Mandy
had dialed the competition line number and shoved the phone into her hand.
"Hello. You’re through to
lucky line number nine. Congratulations!" said DJ Danny on the other end
of the phone as Mandy squealed and turned down the radio. "What’s your
name, caller?"
Rose struggled to find her voice,
shocked that she’d not only gotten through but that she’d gotten the lucky
line. "Uh…Rose Dawson."
"Rose Dawson, wonderful of
you to call. Where’re you from, sweetheart?" The DJ played up the friendly
chitchat.
"Hackney," said Rose.
"So, Rose, how would you
like to go to America on a ship that’s even bigger and more luxurious than the
QE2?"
"Well…er…" Rose hadn’t
had time to think about it, knowing before that even getting through had been
such an impossible possibility. She knew all about the Titanic, of course. It
was the latest media sensation, having been hyped up for the last several
months. She had been fascinated at first, as the ship was so grand and
beautiful, but she hadn’t really obsessed over it like most of the world seemed
to be doing. And she did not believe that any ship could possibly be as
unsinkable, as the Titanic was boasted to be.
"Speechless, I see. That’s
great, Rose." The DJ laughed, taking Rose’s fluster for awe. "Now,
let’s see if you can answer the question. If you can, then this gem of a prize
is yours. If you can’t, we’ll have to hop to line eight instead and give them a
chance. Okay. Here’s the question, Rose. Where was the Titanic built?"
Rose knew the answer, of course.
It was impossible not to know after all the press coverage. "The Titanic
was built in Belfast in Northern Ireland."
There was a pause, obviously for
dramatics on the DJ’s part. Then a sound effect of celebratory music and people
cheering and clapping and noisemakers sounded out.
"Rose Dawson,
congratulations! You’re the winner of Capital Gold’s Titanic competition! How
do you feel?"
"I’m not sure," Rose
said honestly with a laugh. This was the most unplanned, surprising thing that
had ever happened to her.
"Well, look, stay on the
line so I can take down your details and have those tickets on their way to
you. Again, well done to Rose Dawson from Hackney!"
After Rose gave her details and
put the phone down, she and Mandy jumped around squealing for at least ten
minutes.
"This is so insane!"
said Rose. "I’ve never won anything before…God, there’s only a week before
the voyage. We’ll need to buy things and pack and…oh, this is great. I’ve got a
free ticket home."
"Y-you ain’t coming
back?" Mandy asked.
"Oh, Mandy, you know I’ve
been saving up to go home for good. I liked it here at first, but America’s where
I belong. I feel like I can’t truly achieve my dreams if I stay here,"
Rose explained.
"Well, maybe I can stay with
you. Ain’t much for me here, is there? I’ve always wanted to see the world.
Here’s my chance." Mandy smiled.
"I’d like that," Rose
answered honestly. Mandy had been a good friend to her the last few years and
Rose would feel less lonely traveling if she had someone with her.
"So, we still gonna have our
night out, then? I don’t know about you, but I think we deserve to celebrate.
We’ll go to Stones. Johnny’ll go mad with the freebies when he finds out what
we’ve won," said Mandy.
The girls finished getting
themselves ready. As she checked herself in the mirror, Rose opened the little
safe box where she kept the money she had been saving. She had nearly four
hundred pounds, which she could now spend on buying things for the voyage
rather than on a plane ticket.
As Rose left, she felt more happy
and hopeful than she had ever remembered feeling. Something extraordinary was
happening to her. Life was going to change forever.