HERE AND NOW
Chapter Thirteen
New York, NY
Rose looked down at the city
below, though there was no satisfied smile or any kind of happiness at the
sight. The only thing she felt was relief. And maybe a bit of fatigue. It had
been a bizarre few days.
Thanks to Molly Brown’s amazing
organizational skills and sheer good luck, she and Jack had made it off the
docks and were now residing in a small youth hostel that wasn’t too far from
Carnegie Hall. The media, thankfully, had been kept well back from the docks so
that the survivors wouldn’t have to go through more than they had already,
though Rose didn’t remember ever seeing so many reporters and photographers in
one place. Everything had been a blur as she’d gotten off the ship, and all she
could really remember were people yelling questions and camera flashes. The
press had all been kept behind special barriers that had been set up, and
almost as soon as they finished walking down the gangplank and onto the docks,
Rose had found a car waiting for her and Jack, so she had bundled them both in
and sped away, praying that no one had noticed them.
Now, she and Jack were holing up
in a youth hostel. Jack was sleeping, still recovering from the night of the
sinking. Rose also felt exhausted, but she was too worried about her next move
to rest properly.
In the morning, Rose planned to
find a phone and call Information so she could check where her aunt was. She
knew her aunt’s address, but Rose didn’t want to just rush over to Santa Monica
when there was a good chance Jessica might not even live there anymore. So
she’d phone and check first. If Jessica wasn’t there, maybe she had left a
forwarding address. It was all she had to go on.
Rose also knew that she and Jack
needed some more clothes, so she’d also go to the nearest thrift store the next
day and see what she could find. While Molly had given her two thousand
dollars, Rose knew that the money would be gone in a flash if she wasn’t
careful, so she’d just buy a few essential items.
Rose still couldn’t get over how
much Molly had done for her. She hated that she likely wouldn’t be able to pay
Molly back the money, but at the same time she knew that without it, she and
Jack would be in dire straits. This way, at least they had a temporary roof
over their heads and a means to travel wherever they wanted.
Rose sat down in the chair that
was near the window and looked around the room. It was small and in serious
need of repair and redecoration, but she’d stayed in worse places. Anyway,
hopefully they’d be out by the end of the week at the latest. With a yawn, Rose
reluctantly laid her head down on the armrest and got some much needed rest.
*****
The next morning, leaving Jack to
hide out in their room, Rose went down the street to Starbucks and bought two
large cups of coffee and some little cakes, which she took back to the hostel.
"After this, I’ll go out
again and get us some clothes," Rose told Jack as he eagerly wolfed down
the cake and coffee. He sat on the bed, wearing his suit shirt and pants. They
were all dirty and ruined from being in the water, but for now they were better
than the vest and other pants Rose had gotten from the Carpathia donation box.
"I also want to get a
newspaper. I heard someone in Starbucks saying the Post had printed a survivor
list," Rose continued.
"You do know that Parker and
Mandy probably won’t be on it?"
"They could be! Maybe they
were picked up by a different boat, or we just didn’t see them, or…" Rose
knew she was grasping at straws, but she still had a little hope. She
swallowed. "I want to see if we’re listed, too. If we’re not, it means
we’ve got away with all this. So far."
"What about when we get to
your aunt’s? What if she recognizes me?" Jack asked.
"That could be a
problem," admitted Rose. "But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to
it."
*****
It was early afternoon when Rose
went downstairs to the lobby of the hostel, where she knew there was a
payphone. She took some change with her and went up to the reception desk.
"Excuse me; do you have a
phone book or Yellow Pages or anything? And maybe a pen and a bit of
paper?" Rose asked the young girl behind the desk.
"Yeah, sure," the
gum-chewing girl replied, bending down and pulling out a phonebook from one of
the shelves. She handed it to Rose. "Bring the book back when you’re
done."
"Okay," Rose agreed.
Taking the heavy book, Rose went over to the payphone. She opened the book and
scanned the Bs, seeing that there were four pages of Burkes listed for North
America and still many for Santa Monica alone. There were five J. Burkes in
Santa Monica, and Rose knew the only option was to try all of them until she
got her aunt.
She tried the first three, and
none of them were Jessica. Two were men, and one was an elderly sounding lady
called Jennifer. By the fourth attempt, Rose was getting desperate.
"Hello. I’m sorry to bother
you, but does Jessica Burke live here?" Rose asked.
"I’m sorry. No. She did, but
she left six months ago," the woman replied.
"Oh." Rose felt her
heart begin to sink. "Did she leave a forwarding address?"
"I think she did," said
the woman. "Hold on a moment and I’ll fetch it for you. Are you a
relative?"
"I’m her niece," Rose
answered, her disappointment instantly replaced by relief.
The other end of the line went
silent, and Rose waited a few minutes before the woman returned. "Hello,
dear. I have her address…ready?"
As the lady reeled off Jessica’s
new address, Rose scribbled down the information and then thanked her and hung
up. She handed the book back to the receptionist and then went upstairs again.
"I found her!" Rose
said. "She doesn’t live in Santa Monica anymore; she’s in Cedar Rapids in
Iowa now."
"Iowa? Hmm. Never been
there," Jack said thoughtfully. "And it’s sure not the sort of place
my family would ever go to."
"It seems safer than Santa
Monica. In Santa Monica, there would’ve been a ridiculously high chance of our
cover being blown before we’d barely gotten off the plane," Rose agreed.
"So, are you gonna call
her?" Jack asked. "She should know we’re coming."
Rose shook her head. "I
don’t usually like to be so rude, but with Jessica, I think it’s best if we
just turn up. Any warning and she might turn us away. She still could, but I
think the shock of an unexpected appearance from her niece might work to our
advantage. I think we’re gonna have to get the train…our passports were lost in
the sinking. Later on, I’ll see about getting some new IDs made up with your
new name…"
"Rose, you can’t do that.
That’s fraud! Do you know how many years we could get for that?" Jack was
horrified at the suggestion.
"Unfortunately, if you want
to keep playing dead, it’s a risk we’ll have to take. Unless you want to go
back to your folks?"
"God, no!" Jack sighed.
"This is the best way. But damn, we’d better not get caught. And do you
even know where to go for fake IDs?"
"I’ll find out," said
Rose, determined. "For now, though, clothes. I won’t be long…stay here,
okay?"
"I knew this wouldn’t be
fun, but I’m getting really bored of just me and these walls," moaned
Jack.
"We’ll be out of here
soon," Rose promised, crossing to the bed and taking his hand. "Until
then, just hang in there. It’s not fun for me, either."
"Yeah, I know…don’t worry
about me. I’ll be fine," Jack said. Rose kissed him before getting up and
leaving the room.
*****
Rose spent quite a bit of time at
the thrift store. Usually, when she’d had the money, she’d found shopping a
pleasure, but not this time. She was too worried about the future and still
suffering the effects of the sinking too much to enjoy herself at all.
She’d found some nice things for
herself, though. A few pairs of jeans, a dress, a skirt and blouse, some tops,
and a couple of pairs of shoes. She knew that along with whatever she bought
for Jack, the items could come to a few hundred dollars, but it was okay. They
needed this stuff.
It was harder shopping for Jack.
There wasn’t as much choice for men as there was for women, but she did find
him a few pairs of good pants, a couple of shirts, and some T-shirts. She also
found one pair of sneakers and some other fancier shoes. She knew it wasn’t the
sort of stuff he’d be used to dressing in, but that was the point. And for what
it was, it was okay.
Rose took all of her items to the
counter, where they were packed into bags for her as she paid. She thanked the
cashier, then left, wanting to get back to Jack. She didn’t like leaving him on
his own.
On the way back, she stopped off
at a newsstand and bought a copy of the Post. Then she rushed back to the
hostel as quickly as she could, desperately needing to read the survivors’
list. She still had a glimmer of hope for Mandy and Parker. Believing them dead
just hurt too much.
Once back, she gave Jack his new
clothes, which he didn’t seem to mind or protest against. He went to the
hostel’s main bathroom to grab a much-needed shower, while Rose sat on the bed
and opened the newspaper, bracing herself as she turned to the page with the
passenger list. A list that wasn’t nearly as long as it should be. She scanned
it. Three times she scanned it, and three times neither Amanda Phillips nor
Parker DeWitt-Bukater’s names were there. She swallowed, not wanting to cry.
Rose didn’t like crying. She then looked for her and Jack, and their names
weren’t there, either. Then she turned the page, and there was a huge spread
that made her heart turn.
Socialite Bachelor Jack
DeWitt-Bukater and Sister Parker Missing; Both Feared Dead After Titanic
Sinking
Accompanying the headline were
recent pictures of Jack and Parker and the family, with a short blurb and a
quote from George about how they hadn’t given up hope, and urging others who
had missing loved ones to keep faith. For once, the quote sounded sincere.
Maybe George Bukater was human after all.
"Find anything?" Jack
asked as he came back from the shower, wrapped in a towel.
"They think you’re dead, and
I’m not on the survivor list. So far, the plan’s working," Rose said.
"W-what about Parker?"
Rose felt more sadness. So Jack
had been hoping…he’d been acting so sure since the sinking that Parker was
dead, but he’d secretly been hoping himself all the time. Rose further fought
the urge to cry and silently showed him the full page spread about him and his
sister.
"Mandy?" Jack asked,
though he sounded like he knew already.
"Gone." Rose did cry
then, letting out a choked sob. She couldn’t hold it all in any longer and,
tired of being the strong one, collapsed against Jack as she wallowed in her
grief. Soon, Jack was crying, too, and together, they both mourned their
losses.