A DIFFERENT TALE
Chapter Two
Jack and I spent most of the
morning unpacking our stuff and looking around the ship. It was mostly filled
with snobbish rich people, but there were some of our own kind as well. Later
that night, Jack wanted to go above decks.
"Okay. Let’s go."
He led the way up to the decks
and we lay down on our backs on some benches. The stars were out and they were
very bright. Constellations could be seen everywhere. Jack pulled out a
cigarette and lit it. He puffed the smoke and it blew into my face.
"Could you not blow that
crap in my face?" I asked with a smile, pulling the cigarette from his
lips and flicking it into the ocean.
He shrugged and pulled out
another one. Suddenly, a woman ran past us, sounding hysterical. I sat up.
"Jack, do you think we should
follow her?" I asked.
He sat up and puffed out more
smoke.
"Probably," he
answered.
We got up and followed her to the
end of the ship. She was standing on the other side of the railing. She looked
determined, but at the same time, terrified.
"Miss?" Jack
questioned.
She spun around. She was
pretty--long red hair, slim figure, and medium height.
"Go away!" she ordered
shrilly. "Don’t come any closer."
Jack took a step forward and
gestured to the cigarette. He tossed it in the water.
"I said don’t come any
closer. Go away!" she said again.
"You see, I can’t do that.
Because now I’m involved, and I can’t walk away until I know you’re safe,"
Jack said.
"I’ll jump!" she
warned.
"No, you won’t. Because you
would have already. See, when I was little, I went ice fishing. Ice fishing
is…" Jack began.
"I know what ice fishing
is!" she snapped.
"Okay…okay. Anyway, when I
went with my father, I accidentally fell through the ice. Do you know how cold
it is?"
Jack began to take off his jacket
and began to unlace his boots.
"H-how cold?" she
stammered.
"Freezing. It’s like a
thousand knives stabbing you all at one time," I said, taking off my
jacket as well.
"That’s right. Now, I don’t
want to go in there after you, but if you jump, I jump," Jack said again,
now staring at her.
The woman stared at the water
again, and seemed to be thinking over her options.
"All right," she
finally answered.
We approached her slowly and each
took a hand to help her back over.
"My name is Rose DeWitt
Bukater."
"Jack Dawson."
"Marie Kelp."
Just as she was almost over, she
slipped, hanging above the propellers. She began to scream frantically.
"Help me!"
"Listen to me, Rose. We are
not going to let you fall," Jack said through gritted teeth.
Slowly, we pulled her aboard. She
lay on the deck, sprawled out, shaking, and with a look of pure terror all over
her face. Jack knelt down next to her when suddenly a crewman came.
"Oh, damn," I muttered.
A man came, and the crewman put
cuffs on Jack.
"It wasn’t what it looked
like!" I yelled at them. "Just a big misunderstanding!"
"Cal, it wasn’t. See, I was
leaning over the railing to look at the…um…the…" Rose began.
"Propellers?" the man
named Cal asked.
"Yes, the propellers. And I
leaned a little too far and I just…slipped," Rose finished.
"Is this true?" the man
asked Jack.
Jack seemed to be thinking over
his response.
"Yes," he finally
answered.
"Well, then, the boy’s a
hero! Uncuff him," another gentleman ordered.
The cuffs were taken off of him
and Jack took a step back.
"Give a reward to this
gentleman for saving my fiancée’s life," Cal ordered.
They were about to hand him
twenty dollars when Rose said, "Or how about the two of them join us for
dinner tomorrow evening?"
It was settled. Rose left and so
did the men. Jack pulled out another cigarette and pulled on his coat.
"Weird evening, huh?" I
asked.
"Yeah," Jack answered.
But he was thinking about
something else.
*****
Jack was in the other room and
I was in this room, sketching a picture of a man wearing a tall hat. He was
fully clothed, one of the rich men, and asked every few seconds if I was
finished.
"Hold still, for crying
out loud," I said.
The man stayed quiet until I
had finished the drawing. He handed me my dime and left the room, talking about
how handsome he was in the picture. Jack walked in at that moment, smiling as
he, too, had completed his artwork.
"It’s getting late.
Shouldn’t we be heading back?" I asked.
"No way. There are still
plenty of people who will pay money to be sketched," Jack responded.
"All right, Jack. We’ll
do it that way."
We walked out of the house and
down a street. Jack stopped to look at some new clothes in one of the store
windows and I stared at my reflection. Brown wavy hair that reached the center
of my back. Milk chocolate eyes and pale white skin. Tall--around the same
height as Jack. Very slim.
"Ready to go?" I
asked.
"Ready," he
answered.
Suddenly, he ran down the
street, laughing and calling me after him. I laughed and raced after him.
*****
"Marie? Come on. It’s
getting really cold," Jack said, nudging me towards the inside of the
ship.
I sighed and followed him inside.