A FATHER'S RESCUE
Prologue
Rose was walking aimlessly down a street in
the city, one that at the moment she couldn't even remember the name of. She
had never felt so alone in all her life. Her mother was alive somewhere, she
knew, but she couldn't go to her. And, of course, Jack was gone too, and here
Rose was, in New York City all by herself. As she walked, getting totally
drenched, her mind turned to the last thing she could ever have expected.
Daddy.
Rose stopped in her tracks. A passerby nearly
bumped into her, then walked around her, muttering under his breath. She didn't
notice. She had just thought of the one person who may be able to help her now.
Daddy.
Rose found a bench and lowered her worn-out
body into it, ignoring the downpour for a moment. She was stunned, excited, and
frightened all at once. How long had it been since he vanished, nine, ten
months? Almost a year now without a word.
Rose realized in that moment that she very
much wanted to find her father, wherever he was. But the beginning of that
quest would have to wait for another day. A day when Rose felt rested...and
most of all, warm. She was starting to shiver now, and knew she needed to get
inside. But where? Rose got up from the bench and began walking again, looking
for anywhere at all she could sleep that was indoors.
She walked slowly, groaning as her body
reminded her of the beating it had taken during the sinking, and in the days afterward,
sleeping among the other steerage passengers aboard the Carpathia. It would
take forever for all those aches and pains to disappear. She needed a
comfortable bed, but where?
Normally, when they came to New York, her
family stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria or one of the other luxury hotels in
Manhattan. But imagine her trying to take a suite in the Waldorf now, in her
bedraggled state!
Accepting that the Waldorf was one place she
couldn't go, Rose looked carefully around at the buildings on the street she
was currently walking down. She was so tired...her body wanted to collapse
where she stood. She knew that the first place she came upon was where she
would have to stay.
About fifteen minutes later, Rose came upon a
dark, rundown building that proclaimed with a small sign that it was a boarding
house. Rose mounted the steps wearily, not having much hope that anyone would
answer at such an hour as this.
Rose approached the door slowly, cautiously.
Just then a window opened above her head. She heard a hacking cough, then the
disgusting sound of a man spitting--and at that moment, a wad of phlegm just
missed striking her in the head!
"Sorry, miss," a hoarse voice
giggled, not sounding sorry at all, and Rose looked up in time to see that it
wasn't a man. Before she could speak, the window slammed shut. Rose stared at
it for a moment, then shuddered and pressed forward.
A little plaque beside the door listed a set
of names. Beside each name was a buzzer. Rose searched for one reading,
"Landlord," but there was none. "Oh, dear, why couldn't they
teach apartment hunting in finishing school?" she wondered aloud, as she
pushed a buzzer at random. Nothing happened. She waited almost a full minute
before pressing the button again. And again. Then she pressed her ear to the
door to see if anyone was approaching. The din from inside was nearly
deafening--people arguing, someone pounding away on a piano, a dog howling as
if in pain. But no one came to answer the door.
"Excuse me! You're blocking the
doorway!" came an indignant bark from behind her. Rose nearly leaped out
of her skin at the sound.
Rose was so startled, she offered no apology,
just moved out of the way to allow the other person to enter. To her surprise,
the man paused in the doorway, turned around, and studied her face.
"I've never seen you around here before,
miss. Are you lost?"
Rose just shook her head.
"Looking for a bed then, I suppose.
C'mon in, there's a couple beds free right now, head on up and take your pick.
The lady that runs this place is sleeping now, like most people. You're lucky I
came along. You can talk to her in the morning. Just tell her Sam let you
in."
Rose stepped inside the doorway and peered
hesitantly up the stairs. Just then, Sam slammed the door behind them and the
hallway was plunged into blackness. Rose let out a startled gasp as the sloppy
man brushed against her on the way to his room upstairs. "Watch your
step," he muttered.
Rose grasped the wooden banister and shuffled
up behind him, one step at a time. Each stair seemed to emit a creak. At one
point she tripped on the edge of her evening dress and almost fell to her
knees. The whole way she had to breathe through her mouth. The stench was
unbearable.
For as much as this place was beginning to
disgust her, Rose felt far too tired to go back outside and look for another.
She was cold and tired; all she wanted right now was collapse into a bed and
sleep.
After at last making her way up the
treacherous staircase, Rose went down the hall slowly, trying each door. The
first two were locked. The third was closed, but unlocked. Rose went slowly
inside. The room smelled like the rest of the building, of course, but the bed
was all made up and looked terribly inviting.
She slowly removed Cal's overcoat and slipped
out of her high heels for the first time in four days, and was surprised at how
good it felt. The exhaustion was overpowering. She made her way over to the bed
and stretched out on the mattress with the coat for cover, ignoring the foul
odor that greeted her. And she closed her eyes...and reopened them with a cry.
A creature of origins unknown scurried over
her foot. All Rose saw was a long tail trailing it into the shadows of the
empty room. She sat up, screaming in horror.
After a moment or two, Rose forced herself to
lie down again and try to rest. She wasn't sure what that...thing was that she
had seen. She didn't want to know either. She just lay still, trying not to
think about it, and soon she was asleep.