Written
by Derry
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.
After they had hauled the red-haired girl
into the boat, Fifth Officer Lowe turned his attention back to the silent
water. Nothing but death out there.
But it had seemed that way before he'd heard
the shrill whistle that had led them to one more survivor. He stared out at the
water, almost as if he could will one more life from it. It had taken so many,
surely it could relinquish just one more.
Nothing. No sounds, except the lapping of the
waves against the side of the boat and the muttering from the people already
safe within it.
"No, please." He didn't know whom
he was pleading with, but there had to be more, even if it was only one more.
Then his torch brushed over a body and it
seemed to move. Almost disbelievingly, he looked again, and it was true. A man
in a lifebelt, half-draped over a large piece of timber. But it wasn't the man
that moved. It was something else, something that he had covered with his body.
"Over there!" Lowe shouted. He'd
found them. He'd found his one more!
As they drew nearer, he realized that beneath
the lifebelt the man was wearing the uniform of an officer of the White Star
Line. One of those brave enough to stay behind on the ship, Lowe realized. Once
again, he felt the stab of shame at being safely aboard a lifeboat when the
mighty ship went down.
This man hadn't. He'd stayed aboard, trying
to help those left behind. And he had saved one! For as the boat
approached, the small face of a child peaked out from behind him on the piece
of timber. She let out a small squeak of might have been fear or joy and, in
her excitement, lost her balance and tumbled into the water.
"Quickly, men, quickly! We've got to get
to her!"
The men rowed faster and with less caution.
In less than a minute, they were alongside the timber, and Lowe was dragging a
wet, freezing, frightened six-year-old girl from the water.
"It's all right, love. You're safe
now." He looked up and saw one of the men ready with a blanket to wrap
around the child. "Here, love, go to Mr. Matthews there. He'll make sure
you're warmed up." He passed the child across and turned back to the
frozen body that had probably saved her life.
He reached out of the boat to turn the body
over, even as one of the men said, "‘E's probably dead, sir."
It was true, but nonetheless, Lowe reached
out. The man deserved better than to be left here without anyone even looking
to see if he could be saved. Lowe managed to turn the body far enough to see
the face, and gave a small gasp.
"Kennedy!"
For it was Archie Kennedy, last seen on deck
earlier that afternoon. Last seen laughing, as usual.
And dead or alive, he was now coming into the
boat. Dead or alive, he wasn’t going to be left in the icy, wet graveyard.
"Help me here, Styles!"
"Sir?" The seaman was a little
confused, but still came across to lend a hand hauling the frozen form into the
boat.
Lowe searched frantically for a pulse or
breath, but it was impossible to detect either in the cold sea air. Refusing to
give up, he began to slap Kennedy's face.
"C'mon, man! Don't give up now. We've
got you. C'mon back to us."
And the corpse-like figure finally stirred.
The eyes blinked open for the merest fraction of a second, but Lowe's heart
leapt with joy.
"That's it!" He turned to the men.
"Another blanket here, quickly."
Even as he wrapped it around Kennedy's body,
the latter murmured again.
"Girl?"
"We've have her. We have you both."
And for the first time in that entire
damnable night, Fifth Officer Lowe smiled. They had them both. Not just one
more, but two. And one of them a friend that he'd despaired of ever seeing
again.
Even if he never had another prayer answered
again in his entire life, he would be content with this. He would be content
until the end of his days.
The End.
