SAVE ALL WHO DARE THE EAGLE’S FLIGHT
Epilogue
O Spirit, whom the Father sent
To spread across the firmament
O wind of heaven, by Thy might
Save all who dare the eagle’s flight…
TITANIC SURVIVOR DIES AT 71
Angelica Ryan (nee Marshall)
died this morning at the age of seventy-one in her Monterey home. Mrs. Ryan is
reported to have died in her sleep from heart complications.
"I think I can speak for
the whole family when I say that our main consolation is that she felt no
pain," Thomas Ryan, eldest son of the deceased, said today.
Mrs. Ryan is a survivor of the
famous Titanic accident; coincidentally, her death is the fifty-fifth
anniversary of the sinking. She was the only lady to have gotten aboard
Collapsible B. Mrs. Ryan was sixteen at the time and declined to speak to
reporters about the incident. Mrs. Ryan married Gabriel Ryan in 1925;
incidentally, he was the brother of a victim of the sinking that it is believed
Mrs. Ryan was acquainted with. Mr. Ryan passed on in 1964. Mrs. Ryan is
survived by three sons, a daughter, two daughters-in-law, one son-in-law, and
four grandchildren, with a fifth on the way.
"If it’s a girl, we’re
naming her after Mama," Cora James (nee Ryan) announced of her unborn
child.
April 20, 1967
I am not Angie Marshall; I am her
son, Tommy Ryan. My mother died five days ago. She told me on her deathbed
about this trunk in the attic, the trunk that held hundreds of articles and
pictures about the RMS Titanic. I found this at the top, along with a note that
this was first and foremost for my eyes; after that, I could do with it as I
wished. I have decided to preserve this and show it to my children when they
come of age.
Growing up with Mama, you would
never know that she had ever been through something so traumatic. She used to
pinch us when we were in a sour mood; she said life was too short to waste on
sulking. And it really is. Dad, Uncle Lights, Eugene, Maggie, Bertha, and Harry
(Bride) are all dead; I suppose it was only a matter of time before Mama would
follow them.
Mama didn’t tell me until I was
sixteen that she had been on the Titanic. I was stunned, to say the least. She
didn’t go into much detail; all she would say was that she had been a steerage
passenger and that she had been aboard Collapsible B. She admitted that Uncle
Lights, Eugene, Maggie, Bertha, and Harry were also survivors, which was how
she knew them in the first place. Dad later told me privately that her friends
had died that night, along with his brother, whom she had also known. I was
also asked to never bring it up if I could help it.
On her deathbed, Mama kept
talking about the Titanic. She would grasp at the bed sheets and mumble
something about the ship. I could not for the life of me interpret these hazy
moments; after reading her story, I can now. She died in peace—although the
doctors have confirmed it was heart complications, she never awoke and was
never aware of what was going on. In fact, she had a serene expression on her
face.
I write this in the back of her
story because I feel that it is only right for her descendants to know how she
died and to appreciate the woman that she was. I never realized it until it was
too late.
I know now that she is in a far
better place than earth, that now she is with all those whom she lost
fifty-five years ago. May all of them rest in peace.
*****
I am floating down to the
Titanic once again—something tells me this is the last time I shall ever do so.
This is more vivid, more real than my dreams. The clutching in my heart has
stopped; I feel completely painless now. I feel as if I am floating. The ship
is reassembling itself; it’s completely unrecognizable from the wreck it was.
I’m gliding down the first class deck—why does it seem so familiar to me? I am
going without thinking; there is something pulling me. But even so, I want to
go.
I come to a stop at familiar
glass doors. I catch a fleeting glimpse at my reflection in the glass; I am
sixteen again. Before this can register well in my mind, the doors are opened
by uniformed stewards.
"We’ve been expecting
you, miss," one says.
I smile at him and glide
through; are my feet even touching the ground? But as I fully enter the room, I
know that they are not; I am finally here forever now. I move past a blend of
faces, some familiar and others not. I see the Cartmells; I try to apologize,
but they all shake their heads, beaming.
"Don’t blame yourself,
Angie," they tell me.
The Gunderson cousins dip
their heads at me, smiling. The McFarlands are waving at me; I wave back. They
won’t let me apologize either.
Fabrizio and Helga are still
where they were before; it is as if they have never moved from their places.
Jack is still on the stairs, looking at the clock. Tommy—the first one—steps
out from the throng and beams. He looks so handsome without a cigarette in his
mouth; he’s glowing.
"Can I stay here forever
now, Tommy?" I ask. The years have washed away. I am no longer an old
woman of seventy-one; I’m fresh and young at sixteen again.
Tommy nods, still beaming and
glowing. All of them are glowing. I’m glowing, too. "Aye, lass; it’s your
time."
I kiss his cheek and move to
Helga and Fabrizio; I am the happiest I have ever been and also the calmest.
Fabrizio grasps my hands and kisses both my cheeks while Helga welcomes me
"home;" I can understand her Norwegian now. Is she even speaking
Norwegian? Are we even speaking English? We seem to understand each other
without even needing to speak. Finally, I move up to Jack.
"Where’s Rose?" I
ask him as he turns. I am not jealous or upset; I want to see her.
He shakes his blond head,
smiling just as contentedly as everyone else. "It’s not her time yet. But
she’ll come soon."
He kisses my forehead; I love
him, but I am no longer in love with him. Everything is as it should be.
"Welcome back to Titanic,
Angie," he says, squeezing my hand. Everyone applauds as I turn to look at
them.
I am home. I am home.
The End.