MAKING LUCK
Chapter Seven
April 15, 1912
RMS Titanic
Ruthie was careful when she wove
down the hallway, but nevertheless, people still jumped and gasped as she
passed. The corridors were jam-packed with every kind of person imaginable,
many of whom didn’t understand English. As Cal shoved by them, he recognized
the little immigrant girl he had saved all those years ago. Well, perhaps saved
wasn’t quite the right term; used seemed to fit more appropriately. He
hesitated; should he take her now? He couldn’t tell if she was with anyone or
not; everyone seemed to be talking at each other instead of to each other.
Cal finally made up his mind and
picked her up, swinging her up onto his hip. She looked terrified but said
nothing; her eyes went wide and she gaped.
"Cal, what are you
doing?" Rose exclaimed. "You can’t just kidnap someone!"
"I’m not kidnapping her; I’m
saving her!" Cal scoffed. "There is a very distinct difference."
"But what if she has
family?" Rose protested. "Ruthie, tell him he can’t do it!"
But Ruthie shook her head.
"No, Rose; Cal saved her last time. Her family left her behind. She’d die
if it weren’t for him."
Rose was gob smacked. Jack, too,
for that matter. But Cal didn’t have time to relish his small triumph.
"Well, what are you gaping at? This ship is sinking, you know! Come
on!" He pushed on, holding the little girl securely. He never did find out
her name or even if she spoke; he had thrust her at someone when the water
began to rise and never dealt with her again.
Jack made to pause at a locked
gate, but Ruthie shook her head. "It’s no use, Jack; you can’t get out
that way. Come on to the main stairwell; your friends are there and more people
need to get out that way."
"If we can’t get out that
way, what’s the point of heading there?" Cal argued. "Surely it would
be wiser to find an unlocked gate?" He noticed some people staring at him,
no doubt for his attire. "What?" he snapped. They turned away
quickly.
Ruthie heaved a sigh. For a
ghost, she did an awful lot of exhaling. "I’m afraid that not all of the
gates are unlocked. Do you remember last time?"
Cal shifted the girl up higher on
his hip so that she wouldn’t slip off. "I assume you are referring to the
ridiculously high amount of steerage deaths?"
Ruthie nodded. "Yes; not all
of the gates were unlocked. A few, but not many. This is your chance to change
that, Cal."
Cal stared at her before
scoffing. "Oh, now, really! What on earth do you expect me to do about
it?"
Ruthie began to have that
impatient look again. "One man can have a lot of influence. Just…it’ll
come to you. Or at least, it should. Just come on."
Cal let Jack lead the way to the
main stairwell; he knew his way there better than they did. It was actually not
that difficult to find; it was chock-full of people. Men, women, and children
of every nationality and wearing every sort of imaginable clothing were
jostling to get closer to the front. Cal distinctly heard a loud and rather
annoying-sounding steward informing everyone that it wasn’t time to go up to
the boats yet.
Ruthie turned to look at them.
"I can’t go here; there are too many people. It would start a panic. I’ll
meet you up at the boat deck."
"And if we—" Rose
began.
"You’ll get up there,"
Ruthie interrupted. She vanished into thin air.
"Well, now we’re going to
die," Cal remarked dryly.
"Give her some slack; Ruthie
knows what she’s doin’," Jack remarked, starting to push forward.
"You’re only saying that
because she’s your sister," Cal reminded him, following Jack and Rose.
"Tell me somethin’,
Cal." Jack sighed. "Has she gotten you into trouble yet?"
"She made me board this ship
again," Cal replied. "So yes, I would say so."
Jack wisely decided not to
comment. Instead, he turned his attention to the gate. "That sounds like
Tommy…" He craned his neck and, upon recognizing someone, shouted,
"Tommy!"
A man rattling the gates turned
and, after scanning the crowd for a moment, spotted Jack. He turned to glare at
the steward one more time before making his way down to them. "Jack!"
"Tommy, can we get out that
way?" Jack asked.
"Why, yes, Dawson, we can; that’s
why the gates are locked." Cal rolled his eyes. "I don’t have time
for this!"
The man named Tommy stared at
him. Cal realized with a start that he was the same Irishman who had been right
beside him when Murdoch shot him. Fate was truly on his side tonight. Tommy
turned to Jack. "Who’s the swell?"
"My fiancé. I think,"
Rose replied, looking curiously at Cal.
"Jack!"
They turned to see an Italian
pushing towards them. He and Jack embraced like brothers; it was rather
touching. "Fabrizio!"
"The boats are all
gone!" the Italian exclaimed.
"This whole place is
flooding—we’ve gotta get out of here," Jack said.
"There is niente this
way!" the Italian named Fabrizio said loudly, trying to be heard over the
crowd.
"All right; let’s go this
way—" Jack began, trying to move the group along.
"Oh, honestly! You people
can’t get anything done! Here!" Cal thrust the little girl at Rose, who
accepted her, surprised. He shoved his way forward, ignoring the protests from
other passengers. They would thank him in a moment.
"It isn’t time to go up to
the boats yet," the steward informed him thoughtlessly.
Cal gave the gates one almighty
shake. "Do you have any idea who I am, you sniveling moron? I am Caledon
Hockley! There are several thousand pounds of my family’s steel in this ship!
Now, if you value your pathetic job with the White Star Line, I suggest you
open this damned gate and let these people through at once!"
The man was flabbergasted and
utterly unsure of what to do. "I...sir, I…oh, God. I can let you through,
sir, but—"
"No, no, it isn’t a question
of simply letting me through," Cal corrected him. "Let all of these
people out! Now! Or I shall sue the White Star Line, but particularly
you!"
The man glanced around at his
fellow stewards, nervous. "I…"
"Now!" Cal roared,
giving one more almighty shake.
The man fumbled with the keys
before unlocking the gate. Cal stood to the side, waiting for Rose, Jack,
Tommy, Fabrizio, and the immigrant girl, who was now riding contentedly on
Tommy’s back.
"That was…impressive,"
Jack said approvingly as Cal fell into step with them.
"Try ordering around
incompetent apes for a living; you’d get used to it," Cal remarked, not
untruthfully. "And you’d better come this way; they won’t let men on the
other side," Cal added.
Tommy gave him a strange look.
"How does he…?"
"It’s a long story,"
Jack said quickly. "We’ll explain it later."
Cal led the way to the starboard
side, hoping that they weren’t too late. They weren’t; Murdoch was still
loading a boat with men clambering aboard.
"You did it."
Cal turned and saw Ruthie. He
felt the others turning, too. She was actually smiling. And at him. "You
changed things. You saved a lot of people tonight, Cal. You’ve done what you
were sent to do."
"So…ah…" Cal licked his
lips. "I…am I still…?"
"You’ll live a good, long
life," Ruthie assured him. "But hurry."
"Yes; of course." Cal
ushered Rose towards the boat and, seeing that she was wrapped only in a
blanket, whipped off his coat and put it around her shoulders.
She smiled genuinely at him.
"Thank you." Rose accepted the crewmember’s help and climbed into the
boat. Tommy hoisted the little girl in next--she had miraculously remained
silent this whole time--and Rose settled her on her lap. Tommy climbed in after
her and, while Fabrizio was urging a blonde girl to get on, Cal turned and saw
Ruthie and Jack talking. Deciding that some things were best left alone, he
followed Fabrizio into the boat.
Jack scrambled in just before it
was lowered, moving to sit beside Rose. He slid an arm around her shoulders and
turned to Cal. "Ruthie told me to…to tell you that…you did a good thing.
And that whatever guilt you might feel later…you don’t deserve it."
Cal smiled the smallest bit. The
truth was, even after everything…he did feel slightly guilty. He knew that
many, many women and children went down on the Titanic. What right did he have
to live when so many died? In a way, he almost wished he had stayed on the ship
and given his place to someone else. Someone who needed it more than him. He
turned to look at the inky black sky. Ruthie was a messenger from God, he
supposed, and if she said he didn’t deserve to feel the guilt, well…perhaps she
was right.
The boat hit the water with a
splash. Cal had felt the ship tilting a bit, but it was distinctly noticeable
when actually looking at it. The bow was completely submerged, lights from
below eerily lighting up the water seeping over it. People were pushing and
shoving above, swarming like bees around the edges and trying to find a way off
of the ship. Cal shut his eyes, unable to watch the stricken terror in their
faces. He shouldn’t be here and he knew it.
Some of the crewmembers were
unable to row; they had only lied and said they could to save themselves.
Therefore, all of the men were asked to row. Cal took to his task readily; his
body was only thirty and much more fit. Tommy took the oar nearest him,
maneuvering the oar with no problem. A few people in the water grappled for the
boat; they helped a few clamber aboard. The boat was weighing down now, so they
picked up the oars again and paddled away as hard as they could.
Although they were rowing as fast
as possible, they could never get far enough away from the noise. The ship
creaked and groaned as it gradually tipped, slanting into the ocean and
pointing its great stern towards the sky. The screams grew louder and louder.
People slipped and slid down the deck and over the hull, dropping into the
freezing water below. The lights flickered and shut off. Cal relied on the
glistening hull for light, watching as the ship suddenly tore in two down the
center and the stern end sailed towards the surface. The screams that rose up
gave Cal chills.
"It sounds like a baseball
game," someone in the boat said in awe.
The ship looked as if it might
right itself, but Cal knew it would not be so. After only a few moments, the
ship headed upwards again, forming a perfectly straight line. A moment’s
pause—and the ship began to slide downwards into the ocean. It rumbled faintly,
but the screams had stopped. Cal watched in horrified fascination as the ship
disappeared into the black of the ocean, leaving human debris in its wake.
The Titanic was gone.