JASMINE
Chapter Six

Jack looks at me in sheer confusion. "Pardon me, Madame, but who is Rose?"

I note that he places a slight accent on the word Rose. I pause. I don’t exactly know how to tell him this.

I muster up my courage and say, "Rose is a phenomenal woman, and one I think you should meet. She is your soulmate!"

Jack looks at me in sheer confusion. He says, "For the time being, I’d like to get to know you."

I sigh to myself in frustration, but I know that his reaction is normal. I know that he can’t possibly get excited about someone whom he has never met. So we discuss certain things briefly. I shall not describe our conversation because we did not talk about anything very important. We were just shooting the breeze. After talking with him for an hour, I feel very sleepy. I begin to feel amazing eyestrain and painful pressure behind and above my eyes, and this is how I know that it is time for me to go to sleep.

*****

I opened my eyes, and it was morning. I know this because when I looked outside, I saw the rays of the sun coming into my window. I could feel the mild heat from the sun as the energy from the rays fell on my skin. When I looked on my arms, I could see that the sun’s rays were illuminating them with a very celestial glow. Now, they looked like honey. I could tell that it was morning because both the intensity of the sun’s rays and the heat from the sun was mild. I heard a noise to the side of me, and I looked around to see that Jack was stirring. He was waking up and he was getting out of bed. We were both getting dressed when the superintendent came into the room.

"Jack, Jasmine, go up to the upper deck and start cleaning. You work together."

I look at the superintendent in amazement and ask him, "Are you also Jack’s boss?"

The superintendent doesn’t even look at me. I guess he is in a hurry. I notice that he completely avoids eye contact me. He looks away from me, and he says in a hurried voice with a rushed tone, "Yes, from now on, you’ll both be working together. Now, go, make sure the wonderful Titanic is all clean before the upper class people get up. You wouldn’t want to inconvenience them by making them stay aboard a dirty ship." Then he turns about face and walks out of the room.

I sigh. Waves of anger just course through my body, and I feel the aftershocks of anger, as well as its origin, which I have always likened to a very hot mound of molten matter that was very red, beginning to rise through the center of my body and soul. I turn to Jack.

"You know," I say. "That’s just it. Why do we have to kill ourselves so that people who have a lot of money can end up parking their rear ends and their feet on clean things? I wish someone cared about our welfare the way we are expected to care about theirs!"

Jack looks me, and he notices that I am flustered. He puts a reassuring hand on my right shoulder and says, "Worry not, Jasmine, some things are just not fair in life. If we try to spend all of our time fuming about things that don’t seem fair, we’ll never get anywhere."

I look at him with a very stunned look on my face. I think, How did he get so wise? I always thought that was my domain. I say, "Do you believe in God?"

He gives me a very startled look, and he says, "Yes. Why do you ask?"

I reply, "Well, I’ve always noticed that people who share your outlook do so because they have undergone some divinely spiritual transformation. What you said was a very wise statement."

Jack smiles, throws his head back in a hearty laugh, and says, "Oh, Jasmine. Don’t start to get so philosophical on me. I just live life one day at a time."

Live life one day at a time, I think to myself. That is a very interesting and prudent way to live life. Perhaps I should adopt that philosophy.

*****

Well, before I tell you about what happened on the upper deck, let me describe some of the trials and tribulations that Rose has begun to undergo. While Jack and I were sleeping on the lower bunks, that part of the ship that is so crowded and uncomfortable that it is nearly impossible to sleep there, Rose was lying on top of her nice bed that’s perfumed and filled with feathers, and she was suffering from insomnia because she was feeling quite miserable. This is quite amazing, because she doesn’t even have any bedbugs in her bed, like we do in ours. In addition, I have often slept on the floor, either next to or underneath my bunk bed, because I found it more comfortable than my own bed was. I have often likened sleeping on my bunk bed to sleeping on hot, hard, and sharp coals. Anyway, when Rose did go to sleep, she had a quite disturbing dream. Let me describe it to you.

The dream took place in the dining hall of the ship. She was wearing her diamond necklace, and she was wearing a nice, low cut dress that was blue and made out of satin. It was a little lighter than the blue diamond was in her necklace, but it complemented her necklace quite nicely. She was sitting next to Cal, and she was sitting at the head of the table. I saw her nervously trying to butter half of a roll.

"So, Rose, how are you?" asked Mrs. James, who was one of the robber baron’s wives. Her husband had struck it rich, along with the Rockefellers and the Morgans, by building America’s vast railroad network.

I noticed that Cal was staring at Rose with such intensity that I thought he had x-ray eye sight, and was actually trying to take x-ray pictures of her body with his eyes.

Rose looked and felt quite uncomfortable, as she stumbled, "Well, I am just fine." And she demurely stared, and began to nibble at her roll. She really felt like saying, I hate this place, and I hate being with my fiancé. He doesn’t love me, and he’s a monster. No, I hate being a rich girl, and I hate being a DeWitt Bukater. I don’t want to represent my family, or any of these rich people. I hate these stupid parties where you have to act so perfect, and have to look so made up, and can’t have any of the problems that real people have. Why can’t I act like a normal person? Why do I have to act so fake?

In spite of her trying to act according to the customs of the upper classes, I sense Cal’s gaze on her intensifying, and him giving her a look as though he wished to kill her. I sense that Rose feels very nervous when she’s with Cal. She always seems as though she’s just ready to step out of her skin and either run away or die. She senses that somehow he wishes to control her until her spirit is dead. You see, Cal can sense that Rose has a real spirit, that she has a strong and spunky spirit. Somehow, Rose can see the essence and reality of life and people, and she isn’t blinded by status or illusions, nor is she impressed by either, and Cal hates her for this. Also, he hates the people who wish to help Rose soul search, and help her find out who she really is. I see now that Rose has already started the process of soul searching. I realize that she had begun this process even before she boarded the Titanic, and she is just crying out for someone to unleash her by helping her finish this process. I guess that’s what mine and Jack’s roles are, and I think that’s why Cal hates me, and I predict that this is why he will hate Jack. You see, Cal is a very evil and controlling man, who wishes to deprive people of the ability to access their souls, because he realizes that the minute you have access to your soul, that minute you can come under the influence of God, and so start the long soul searching and soul liberation process. Cal does not like God, and he despises those who do.

*****

Well, anyway, it is now time for me to return to our present situation. Jack and I grab a single pail from the bunk room, and we drag it up to the upper level of the deck. Jack and I take turns dipping the two mops that we have, and sliding them across the floor. It must have been noon, because when I looked up at the sun, I noticed that it was in the middle of the sky, when I noticed Rose coming up towards us.

She saw me, and she smiled. "Hello, Jasmine. How are you doing, and how is your lovely friend?"

Jack stood up to look at Rose, and as he did so, his mind flashed back to the previous night, when he was conversing with me, and I said, "No, you need to meet Rose."

He smiles, extends his hand, and says, "Hello. You must be Rose. My name is Jack. How are you doing?"

Rose looks at Jack and their eyes meet, and I guess something clicks in the spiritual realm, because Rose’s eyes become lost in Jack’s, and her blue eyes meld with his blue eyes, and I notice a spiritual aura emanating from both of their eyes.

"Well," I say to Jack. "I say it’s time we took a break."

Jack puts his mop to the side, and says, "Jasmine, that’s a wonderful idea. Do you want to know how to spit lugees?"

I cringe because that’s a practice that, for centuries, has disgusted me tremendously. I know some people like it, but, for me, it has been a tremendous turn off. Jack gags, and produces saliva, which he expels from his mouth forcefully. Rose follows suit, and in the process of doing so, she spits on Cal’s eye, as he is walking by. Cal is not impressed. He seems quite upset as he ignores us, especially Rose, and he walks away. I sense that Cal is not impressed by Rose. Rose doesn’t realize this, but she is skating on thin ice. She assumes that Cal will want to marry her because she is rich, but what she doesn’t realize is that in order for her engagement to hold, she must act like an upper class lady, because that is what Cal expects! But, when I saw Rose and Jack hocking lugees, I noted that that was the first time I ever saw Rose happy with herself. She was totally at ease with herself, and she was enjoying herself. What’s more, she appeared to be enjoying herself in the presence of Jack.

Well, I guess Rose realized that she would be in trouble, because she said, "I’d best go now."

Jack gave Rose a look of longing in his eyes, as he said, "Okay."

I meditated on the scene. What had happened? Well, I knew for a fact that by spitting on Cal, Rose had insulted him, and had told him, I really don’t think that you’re important, and not only do I not respect you, I don’t wish to be bossed around by you.

I knew that this had been quite upsetting for Cal, and this did not go down with him well. I knew that this had left quite an impression on him, and had informed him that he had better keep a closer eye on Rose, which is what I knew he would do. To a passer-by, the event may have seemed harmless enough, but I knew that Cal could sense that there was love blossoming between Jack and Rose, if only the beginnings of love. And this was quite disturbing for him.

Jack turned to me. and he said, "So, what do you think?"

I turned to Jack, and replied, "What do I think about what?"

Jack said, "You know, what just happened."

I muttered under my breath, "I say, be careful."

Jack turned to me, and said, "You must be special."

I reply, "Why do you say that?"

"Well," said Jack, "because you knew about Rose before I met her."

"Jack," I coolly reply, "I also knew Rose before you met her."

Jack says, "Jasmine, you’re missing the point. What I’m trying to say is that you knew that there was some reason that I should meet Rose, and you told me so."

I bite my tongue bitterly, and I can feel some pain when I do so. That’s right, I think to myself. I did tell Jack that he should meet Rose. Darn it. I slipped up. I say, "I am special in my own way."

Jack turns to me, and he says, "I think you are wise."

I say, "I think we should get back to mopping the floor before our boss catches us lazing around."

Jack picks up his mop and resumes, with me, in mopping the floor.

That night, I went down to my bunk bed, with Jack, and I lay awake trying to meditate. Jack, noticing that I was not going to sleep, walked over to my bunk bed, where I lay on my back, with my eyes open.

"Jasmine," he said. "What are you doing?"

I said, "I am meditating."

Jack looked at me with big, wide, and curious eyes, he asked, "How do you do that?"

I replied, "Well, I close my eyes, and I think deeply on a situation."

Jack responded, quite innocently, "Do you think you could meditate on Rose? I mean, where is she? What is she doing?"

"Jack, that’s exactly what I was going to do," I say. I close my eyes, and I say, "Well, I see Rose in her room. Cal is not there. She is wearing that Hope diamond necklace, and though she looks quite pretty, what with being in a white satin night dress that catches the glow of the lights in the room, and reflects it in the mirror, she is really quite miserable. Every time I see the Hope diamond necklace, I am quite blinded by it. It might make her look like a queen, but I am quite convinced that it is cursed. When she looks in the mirror, she sees the phenomenal reflection it gives back. I mean, every facet of every diamond catches the reflection from the lights in the room, and reflects it back, until it gleams and gleams so that it blinds anyone who looks at the reflection in the mirror. She looks in the mirror, and far from seeing herself, she sees a very lonely and distraught girl, with a very sad look on her face. The essence of the reflection from the necklace begins to dim, until its very charm is lost on her. Disappointed, she puts the necklace back in the case, and then, her hands finger the case, with the necklace that I gave her. She puts it on her neck, and suddenly, I see her face brighten. In addition, the reflection in the mirror begins to change. I see her looking into the mirror, and she is looking at a very happy and self-confident Rose as she is standing on a prairie on a hot summer day. She is wearing the necklace, and the sun makes the pure gold beads gleam with a natural gleam, almost as though she was looking at the sun itself. She is wearing a white, starched, and stiff cotton shirt, and an off-white long cotton skirt, and she has a white, woven cotton hat on her head. Her reflection turns in the mirror, until it is looking straight at her, and it smiles. She takes off her hat, and throws it towards the wind. Now, the picture in the mirror changes. I see her wearing a coral-colored chunia cholle--an outfit that is composed of a short, short sleeved blouse, and a long skirt--and she is sitting by a table in a domed building. I see a window by her side, and it is domed. I see it is night, and the moonlight, as well as the night sky, is coming in through the window. She is wearing the necklace, and she looks quite happy. I notice that her chunia cholle serves to bring out the natural glow in her skin. She smiles, and she looks quite radiant."

Jack looks at me, quite amazed, and he says, "Wow! We have to do something for such a special lady!"

Chapter Seven
Stories