TITANIC: A STORY TOLD
Chapter Thirteen
The mooring lines, as big around as a man's
arm, were dropped into the water. A cheer went up on the pier as seven tugs
pulled the Titanic away from the quay.
Jack and Fabrizio burst through a door onto
the aft well deck. They ran across the deck and up the steel stairs to the poop
deck. They got to the rail and Jack started to yell and wave to the crowd on
the deck.
"You know somebody?"
"Of course not. That's not the
point." Jack shouted to the crowd. "Good-bye! Good-bye! I'll miss
you!"
Grinning, Fabrizio joined in, adding his
voice to the swell of voices, feeling the exhilaration of the moment.
"Good-bye! I will never forget
you!"
The crowd of cheering well-wishers waved
heartily as a black wall of metal moved past them. Impossibly tiny figures
waved back from the ship's rails. Titanic gathered speed.
The lead tug was dwarfed by the prow of
Titanic. The bow wave spread before the mighty plow of the liner's hull as it
moved down the River Test toward the English Channel.