CAL’S PLAN
Chapter Three
The last boat to reach the
Carpathia was the one that had gone back to look for survivors. For someone
looking from the ship, it might have seemed almost empty, but most of its
passengers were lying in the bottom of it, covered with blankets. Most of them had
already woken up by the time they got to the ship, but others had to be
awakened so they could get off.
The officer in charge of taking
the names of the survivors went to the last person to get out of the boat. It
was a tall blond man. His face was as white as a ghost. His blue eyes seemed to
be looking for something.
"May I take your name,
please?"
"Rose DeWitt Bukater,"
the man said.
"Excuse me, but I can’t
believe that your name is that, sir."
"It’s my girlfriend’s name.
Please tell me if she is alive."
"Let me see. DeWitt Bukater.
DeWitt Bukater. Mmm…I don’t think so. Oh, wait, here is Ruth DeWitt Bukater."
"No. Rose DeWitt Bukater.
She must be there."
"Sorry, sir. The only DeWitt
Bukater I have is Ruth. Now, may I have your name, please, sir?"
"This can’t be right. She
was in a boat. I saw her. Check under Dawson."
"We don’t have anyone under
that name, sir. I’m sorry."
"But…" the man started,
but he couldn’t finish. What had happened? She was safe inside a boat. He
himself had watched the boat going away. Maybe they had returned to look for
survivors and they had sank. That couldn’t be possible, either, because he had
heard the officers in his boat saying that they were the only ones coming back.
He heard the officer talking to him.
"Sir, you’d better go to the
infirmary. You don’t look good. You’ll give me your name later."
"That’s what I’ll do. Thank
you."
Poor people, the officer thought as he watched the man
leaving. Thank God I wasn’t on the Titanic.