BEHIND THE CAPTAIN
Chapter One
The wind whipped around violently
in the outside darkness. A tall but slightly petite woman peered out of her
townhouse window and sighed, something Anji did a lot of. She was a very tired
woman, lonely at most points. Living alone could do that to a person. She
wasn’t very easy on the eyes, either. Brown, untamed hair which must have been
short at some point in time topped off her appearance, which included
mud-colored eyes with deep, round circles underneath. Anji worked very
hard…often late into the night.
Tonight, Anji had tried to groom
herself up to human standards. Her hair was still untamed, but it had been
shampooed, and mostly hidden under a hat. The brim of the hat even covered her
not-so-pretty eyes. She was going out to meet someone. Not a special someone or
anything like that. That would be unimaginable for Anji! She was actually going
out to interview someone. She was a journalist, a fairly decent one, in fact.
She always got the best inside scoops. That was probably because Anji’s
favorite part of the job was interviewing, so she did a lot of it.
She sighed once more, pulled an
umbrella from the closet next to her, and solemnly walked out the door.
*****
It was almost quarter to seven by
the time Anji reached her destination. She had arrived at the Smith residence,
where a man named Captain E.J. Smith resided. She knocked on the door, and an
older man opened it almost instantly.
"Are you that reporter who’s
going to interview me?" asked the man grumpily.
"Yes, if you’re Captain
Smith," said Anji, acting more cheerful than she really felt inside.
Captain Smith had no expression.
He might have even been frowning. "Come in," he said as Anji shuffled
inside nervously. Smith directed them towards what was apparently his parlor.
"All right, sir," said
Anji to a grumpy Captain Smith. "This is how it works. I take this
notebook and write a few things for future reference when I start my article.
Then I’ll start asking you questions. I need you to speak clearly so I can
understand you. Shall we start?"
The captain just stared at her
blankly.
"Captain?"
He blinked into focus.
"Yeah, sure."
"All right. Let’s
begin." Anji opened the notebook. Today is February 1, 1912. I’m here
with Captain Smith of the Titanic. "Sir, could you tell me about your
upcoming voyage?" Anji held her pen over the notebook. Smith grunted.
"It’s just a regular voyage,
nothing special about it."
Anji really didn’t like that
answer. "I see. How many people will be on board?"
"Two thousand, two hundred
one."
Anji had been hoping the captain
would make a remark about that number, but alas, he did not. "Is that an
unusual amount?"
"No," Captain Smith
said meekly.
Anji closed the notebook.
"Look, Captain Smith. I’ve got an important article to write. Front page,
sir. Don’t you have anything interesting to say?"
To Anji’s surprise, the captain
seemed slightly offended. "No, not really. Aren’t you the one who’s
supposed to have note cards or fancy questions that get interesting answers no
matter who it is that answers them?"
Anji said nothing, just glared at
a smirking Smith as she opened the notebook again.
"Are you excited to see old
friends and/or meet new people on the trip?" Anji knew it was a lame
question, but she desperately needed Smith to talk. Surprisingly, he did.
"Well, I’ll see Thomas
Andrews."
This was something. Not much. In
fact, not anything resembling what a journalist should be interested in. But it
was somewhat amazing that the captain had made a remark like that. It was the
first one Anji had heard him say.
"Do you enjoy being in
charge of that many people?" she asked.
"Yes, actually." The
captain smiled. "It’s quite fun. I feel a nice power over everyone on
board."
Anji smiled back. "That must
be a nice feeling."
"Yes, it is."
Anji took a moment to stop and
think. Maybe she could write about how much Captain Smith enjoyed his job…no!
What was she thinking? That would make a terrible article! There must be
something here worth writing about.
"So, is the Titanic safe for
this large number of people?"
"Yes! Of course!" said
the captain. "In order for a tragedy to occur, the Titanic would have to
capsize, or sink. That would only happen if the ship crashed into something
enormous, like another ship, or an iceberg. And that’s virtually impossible! We
always know where the other ships are, and we’re notified if an area is
particularly icy. So, yes, the Titanic is the safest ship anyone can
imagine."
Anji thought for a minute.
"Yes, of course," she said, "but what if it did sink? Could
there be a safe evacuation?"
Captain Smith grunted.
"Ma’am, there’s no way the Titanic will sink! Let’s not use such crazy
talk about my beloved ship!"
"Of course, sir! I know the
Titanic is safe, but what if some useless wireless operator didn’t inform you
or the rest of the crew if there was a chance of a collision?" Anji asked
nervously. Maybe she could write about his extreme belief that the Titanic was
immortal.
"Then…the ship would sink,
and over a thousand people would go straight to Davy Jones’ locker!"
Anji gasped. "That’s
horrible! What about lifeboats? There’s no reason for all those people to
perish!" This was actually getting somewhere. So close…what could Anji
write about? What did the public need to know?
Captain Smith froze. He looked up
at Anji and said, "Because of all the dining tables and games…we only have
enough lifeboats for one thousand, one hundred seventy-eight people…"
Ah ha.