JOHN AND MIRIAM
Chapter Twenty-Three
John slowly made his way toward the second
class dining salon. A number of people stared as the bedraggled third class man
wove his way through the second class area of the ship walking a dog from first
class. One woman stopped him. "Sir, how did you manage to survive?"
she asked, half-accusing, half-hopeful, as if his survival both increased the
chances of other men surviving and decreased the chances of women and children
surviving.
"I was rescued from the water some time
after the ship went down," John replied, wearily, wanting only to find
Mary and then rest.
"What of your family?"
John was growing impatient with the nosy
questions, but sensed that the woman needed to talk to someone, and that his
survival gave her hope that her own husband might have survived. "My wife
went down with the ship. My daughter...I don't know. I've been looking for her.
Someone told me that some of the orphaned children were in the second class
dining salon...would you happen to know where it is?"
She nodded. "Go down that hall, turn
left at the end, and it will be the first door on your right."
John nodded, and turned to walk away.
"Sir?"
John turned back around. "Yes?"
"I hope you find your daughter."
His eyes softened. "Thank you." He
headed down the hall, contemplating. A few days ago, the woman wouldn’t have
given him a second glance, considering him to be poor scum, below her lofty
middle class status. Tragedy brought people together. John reached the dining
salon and stepped inside, apprehensively. A quick glance told him that the room
was full of children, along with more than a few parents, some being joyously
reunited with their young ones, other walking around in dejection as yet
another hope was dashed.
Allegro whimpered in fear at the confusion,
and John picked him up, his eyes scanning the room. Groups of children of every
class were scattered about the room, some crying, some taking comfort from
friends and siblings, others walking about, searching for their parents.
John looked carefully at each of the groups,
his heart sinking as Mary did not appear. Then, looking at the last group of
children, sitting at a table in the farthest corner, he saw her--a little girl
with reddish-brown hair sitting next to another child dressed in Arab clothing.
John walked toward them quickly, praying that it was Mary. As he neared the
table, he heard the child's voice, speaking in a garbled British accent around
a mouthful of something. It was Mary! She was talking to the little girl sitting
next to her--Nadia, he realized--trying to cheer her up. As he reached the
table, he saw Mary try to offer Nadia a sip of the concoction she was
drinking--probably hot cocoa.
"Mary," he called.
She whirled around, dropping the cup of hot
cocoa into her bowl of soup. "Daddy!" she screeched, climbing off the
chair and launching herself at him.
As Mary wrapped her arms around his legs, he
set Allegro down and picked her up. Mary clung to him, afraid that he would
disappear. Then the puppy yipped, distracting her. "Puppy!" she
shrieked, trying to get down to pet it.
John set her down. She grabbed the animal,
almost tripping over her long, damp skirt. Allegro yelped as she fell against
him, then jumped up on her, licking her face and wagging his tail furiously.
"My puppy, Daddy?" she asked hopefully.
"Yes, Mary, he's your puppy now. His
name is Allegro."
"Egro," she repeated, hugging the
animal. She looked around. "Where Mommy?"
John hesitated. "She...isn't here,
Mary."
"Where?"
"She's...gone to live with Jesus."
"Oh." Mary contemplated this, not
really understanding. "Mommy come back?"
"No, Mary. Mommy won’t be coming
back."
"Why?"
"Because...when people go to live with
Jesus, it’s forever."
"Nada's mommy go with Jes’ too?"
John remembered that Kiran had been caught
under the falling smokestack. "Yes, Nadia’s mommy is with Him, too."
Mary thought about this for a moment. Her
lower lip began to wobble. "Nada's mommy ina sea. Jes’ ina sea, too?"
John took her in his arms, trying to ignore
the pain of his cracked ribs as she threw her arms around him. "When
people go to live with Jesus, they go up to heaven."
Mary looked at him, finally comprehending, in
her childish way, that Miriam would not be coming back. There would be no
visits, and Mary would not see her again. She burst into tears. "Wan’
Mommy!" she wailed.
John held her tightly, blinking back tears.
"I know, Mary. I wish she was here, too."
After Mary had cried herself out, John picked
her up, intending to take her to the infirmary for a check-up before he found a
place for them to stay for the rest of the trip.
"Daddy, Nada!"
John stopped and looked back. Nadia was
trailing after them, her big, sad eyes watching as John walked away with her
only friend. John stopped, hesitating. Nadia wasn’t his responsibility, and he
would be hard-pressed to care for another child in America, with no money or resources
at his disposal. Still...he turned and took Nadia by the hand. He couldn’t
leave the orphaned child behind. She was all alone now, and, despite his own
worry and grief, John realized that the little girl would be better off with
the one person she knew, than with strangers who would know nothing of what she
had suffered.