TITANIC ROSE
Chapter Seven
Thomas walked past the slums where he had
found Rose. He had to go to work every day through them, and every day
remembered the poverty he had once lived in. His past was tortured, as well as
Rose's. He knew something had happened to her, although exactly what, he was
uncertain. He just wanted her to be happy again, and get back on her feet.
"She could be something," he told
himself as he silently passed the back of Maddie. He dared not talk to her, for
if she knew anything she would convince Rose to come back to the street. Thomas
couldn't bear seeing Rose having to sell herself to live. It was too grotesque.
The shelter stood on the corner of the street
where Thomas worked. He promised himself he would visit Rose every time he
passed by. Her life could change, and that was how he wanted it to be.
"There's Mr. Calvert, now," the
nurse told Rose as she wrote on her clipboard. "I'll leave you two alone.
I see a future for you."
"Oh dear, no." Rose laughed it off.
"No, he's only helping me."
"Are you blind?" Miss Campen asked
as she left the bedside.
"What was she saying?" Thomas asked
Rose as he sat next to her.
"Nothing of importance, really,"
Rose replied. "Just that I'm getting a little better day by day. But once
I'm better, what will I do?"
"Get a job?"
"I don't know how to do anything,"
Rose told him. "Except sew, and I don't want to work in a sewing factory
making clothes. I was wealthy once. Now look at me, wandering aimlessly in a
world where you should know where you're going."
"What happened to you, Rose?"
Rose gulped and adjusted herself. In her
hand, she held the diamond. She gripped it so Thomas wouldn't see. "I
hated my life. So I ran."
"That's how it's usually like,"
Thomas said. "But you're just fortunate enough that people like you and so
you make friends easily. I mean, I've known Maddie for some time, and I hate
her. You're lucky I like you."
"Or else I'd be dead now. I promised
someone very special to me that I would live, through thick and thin. I think
I've done well, so far."
"Get a job. Sewing or not. You need the
money to live. I won't see you turn into a scoundrel like Maddie."
"I said a long time ago I wouldn't. I
will survive without having to--well--never mind. I'm sure you used to see it
all the time. So, anyway, why me?"
"Hmm?"
"Why, of all the dirty homeless on the
streets, did you pick me to try and save?"
"Because you seem the sort of person who
would just love to make something out of her life. That's why."
"Are you everyone's savior?" Rose
asked with a smile. "Or just mine?"
"I've never gone this far with anyone
I've helped," Thomas answered, grinning back. "Usually, I just give
people a quarter or so, not drag them to the shelter because they're
dying."
"That makes me feel special," Rose
joked. "Of course, I do have one belonging I could sell. I could live from
it for years."
"What is it?"
"You'll see, if I decide to sell it. Of
course, if a certain person finds out, I'll be in a lot of trouble. And then
I'll have to go home. I've gotten myself into quite a predicament."
"I see. That's never good. I can tell
you."
"I can tell myself," Rose said.
"So, what made you run away and live on your own--poorly, that is?"
"Felt wedged between a rock and a hard
place," Thomas replied. "So I left to get free. Otherwise, I would
have been pounded into an uncaring nothing of a human."
"Sounds familiar to a person I
know," Rose told him. "It sound like myself." She felt the
imprint of the diamond in her skin as she held it tighter. "I sometimes
want to just break down and cry over all my troubles. But then where would I
be? Just a poor woman who cries an awful lot."
"You must be strong." You must
be strong, Rose. Jack's words echoed in Rose's mind, as Thomas was saying
the exact phrase.
"Rose, are you all right? You're just
staring into space there."
"I'm fine. Just thinking. Ever hear of
the Titanic?"
"Who hasn't?" Thomas asked, and
then noticing Rose blink a tear away, he added, "What's wrong, Rose?"
"I was on Titanic, Thomas," Rose
said. "It was awful. That's why I'm here, with no place to go. My family
is here somewhere, and I don't ever want to find them. But I'm alone because of
that damn ship!"
Thomas hugged Rose as she burst into tears.
They ran down her cheeks in waterfalls. She hadn't cried so hard in weeks.
"I can only imagine what being on that
ship must have been like." Thomas held her close, while Rose squeezed her
necklace. "I heard about it from newspapers, but I think a personal
experience must be more tragic than the papers make it seem."
"And I lost everyone dear to me. I miss
him--them," she corrected, so as not to give anything about her past away.
She wanted no one to know about Jack.
"It's all right. Everything will be all
right."
Rose continued to cry on his shoulder. She
hated this. She hated everything. If only she could go back to that night
months ago. If only she were still with Jack. If she would have known what life
would be like now, she would have died on that night six months ago.