LIFE AFTER JACK
Chapter Eight
Rose and Jack went back into the
apartment after they threw Cal into the trash pile. When they got back inside,
Opal was crying. Rose went into the kitchen to get a bottle, and she also got
herself a glass of milk.
"Jack, would you like a
glass of milk?"
"No, thank you,"
replied Jack, knowing milk always hurt his stomach.
Rose walked back into the parlor
with the milk. She had something else in the palm of her hand. Jack asked what
it was. Rose replied, "I want you to draw me like one of your French
girls," and tossed a dime into Jack’s hand. Jack remembered the night on
the Titanic. Rose had said the same words as she had three years ago.
"Okay," Jack said, his
voice trembling. "Lay on the couch."
Rose lay down on the couch and
tried to get into the same position she had the night on the ship. Jack told
her when she was just right. As Jack drew Rose nude for the second time in his
life, he could not help but think about the night the Titanic sank. He could
not believe that he had almost lost the love of his life.
Jack did not know it, but Rose
was thinking the same thing he was. She was still in shock that Jack had
survived, unlike what she had thought. She could not keep from smiling, even
though Jack told her to try to stay still.
It did not take Jack long to
finish the drawing. When he was finished, Rose walked over to him and looked at
the drawing.
"Oh, Jack, I can’t believe
how much it looks like the first one," Rose said, smiling.
"Maybe this one won’t sink
to the bottom of the ocean!" Jack said, laughing.
"I am never letting go of
this, Jack! I am never letting go of it!" Rose said.
Rose asked Jack if he was ready
to go to bed. Jack replied, "I would go anywhere with you."
Jack and Rose walked into the
bedroom, taking their clothes off again. They heard a crash outside the window.
Jack walked over to see what it was.
"Cal got out of the trash
heap and he is covered in garbage!" Jack said, laughing and falling back
onto the bed.
Rose fell on top of him, and they
had another special night together.