A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Nine
At approximately 12:10, Jack Dawson received
a knock on his door. As rapidly as possible, he opened it, and rejoiced to see
Rose in the hallway.
"Oh! Thank God!" Jack said, leading
Rose into the apartment. "I thought you'd never come!"
Rose looked around Jack's place. It was
small, but cozy. Jack's bed was in the corner with a modest fireplace beside
it. A table with two chairs sat across the room. On top of them sat Jack's new
sketchbook along with a few pictures next to it. Next to the table was an
enormous window with a beautiful view of a crowded street below. Rose looked
out the window to see a bunch of unusual characters lurking around outside.
Jack laughed. "Let's not start comparing
your place to mine, okay? It's not exactly the Taj Mahal, but the rent's good
and it'll do for now."
"Jack, it's beautiful!" said Rose
in awe.
Jack shrugged. "If ya like it."
Jack sat down at the table and motioned for
Rose to join him.
Rose sat down, smiling at Jack. "Jack,
I'm really sorry I'm so late! I forgot about church, and then I had to blow off
a luncheon. At least I made it. It's such a beautiful day today!"
Jack nodded, disliking the small talk.
Rose smiled, taking Jack's hand. "Come
on. I'll buy you some lunch."
Twenty minutes later, the two found
themselves picnicking in a nearby park. Jack laughed, looking at Rose.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You've never once in your life tried a
hot dog?"
Rose cracked up laughing. "No. Is there
something completely abnormal about that?"
"Yeah!" Jack replied. "You're
American! God! What kind of sick, sad childhood did you have?"
Rose looked down at the grass sadly.
"When my father was alive, he tried to give me as good of a childhood as I
could have. Of course, Mother never approved of it. What was a well-born young
lady of society like me doing in playing with the 'common' children? As often
as he could, whenever my mother was out of town, he'd take me to the zoo, or
the circus, or occasionally to see an afternoon nickelodeon. My mother was
appalled whenever she found out about our trips. After he died, I never had the
chance to do those sort of things again."
Jack looked at Rose sadly, but then gave her
a smile. "Well, I'd say we have a lot of catching up to do!"
Rose smiled as Jack led her out of the park.
Jack and Rose were in a mess of laughs after
seeing a whole afternoon of nickelodeons.
"So, what do you think?" Jack asked
Rose.
Rose continued to laugh, despite the crowds
of people around her. "I liked the first one all right. It was diverting!
The second one seemed to be lacking a plot, though."
"Yeah, I know what you mean!" Jack
smiled at Rose. "I felt like I had seen it a million times before! The
whole robbery on a train thing is getting kind of old!"
Rose laughed along, not bothering to be in
the least bit composed.
"Couldn't they think of another
topic?" Jack replied. "I mean, even a nickelodeon about us would be
more interesting!"
Let's not go too far!" Rose replied.
"Thank you so much, Jack! I don't think I've had this much fun in a long
time."
Jack nodded, and smiled sweetly. "You're
welcome. Come again tomorrow, and maybe we'll go to the zoo!"
Rose laughed and the two kissed each other
passionately. In the distance, Rose heard a clock strike three.
Rose gave Jack a frightened look. "Oh,
my God. I'll never beat my mother home."
Jack kissed Rose on the cheek. "Same
time, same place tomorrow. Try to come, Rosie, please. You'd better
hurry."
Rose nodded and halfway ran down the street
knowing she'd never make it on time.