THE DIARY OF MRS. TOMY RYAN
Chapter Eleven
As soon as I had gotten the door shut, a
steward came in. "We need everyone to dress warmly and be ready to get
into the lifeboats. The boats are being made ready now. Here are your
lifebelts," he said as we saw him go and get them. He was talking and
moving very fast.
"Yes. Yes. Now leave us."
He left. Cal walked over to Rose and looked
her in the eye. He brought his hand up to slap her, but Jack stepped in and
caught his hand. Without saying a word, he lowered Cal's hand and let it go. He
took Rose's arm and led her towards the door.
"Where are you going? With him? To be a
whore to a gutter rat?"
"Don’t you dare think you can leave,
Rose," Ruth said. Everyone had forgotten she was in the room.
Rose turned and looked from Cal to her
mother. "I’d rather be his whore than your wife. Good-bye, Mother."
Tommy opened the door, and I walked through.
Jack and Rose followed. The door was shut, but as we walked away we could hear
Cal screaming, "No."
We ran out onto the deck and could see that
they were indeed getting the lifeboats ready to launch. I suddenly noticed
something. The deck should have been tilting forward, towards the bow. Even
though it had only been about an hour since we hit the iceberg, a tilt should
have been noticeable.
Mr. Andrews came out on deck and talked to
Officer Lightoller, and then he started to walk right past us.
"Mr. Andrews," Rose said, and he
stopped. "Please. I saw the iceberg and I see it in your eyes. Please tell
me the truth."
"This ship will sink. We’ve opened up
the watertight doors, and are using the pumps. But in about four hours, all
this will be at the bottom of the ocean."
"Four hours?" I asked. "That
long?"
"That isn’t a long time,
Katherine." And with that he turned and walked into the main staircase.
The four of us looked at each other. We all looked like we had just woken up
from a nightmare. Only I knew it was no nightmare, and that the three people I
was standing with were suppose to die tonight.
Some of the third class passengers were out
on deck, and we went to see if we could find anyone we knew. Jack seemed
especially worried about Fabrizio. We were looking at these frightened faces,
but all I could think about was that I had changed history. All these people might
still die, but at least out here on the deck I thought they had a better
chance. We were looking for Fabrizio, but first we found Cora and her father.
They were looking over the rail. It seemed as though they were playing a silly
game, the kind parents would play with small children to keep them from being
afraid. Jack started to walk up to them, but I put my hand out and stopped him.
"He knows how bad it is, Jack. Look how he’s trying to distract her. Let’s
look for Fabrizio."
Jack nodded and we turned around. After
looking for him and not finding him, Jack said, "He must still be
downstairs."
"Yeah," Tommy said. He started to
say something else, but was interrupted by an officer blowing his whistle. We
turned towards the sound, and I saw Officer Murdoch standing at the upper rail.
Everyone quieted down and waited for him to speak.
"A ship has reported that they are on
their way," he shouted. "They are only ten miles away and should get
here in half an hour. We are going to load the women and children into the
lifeboats. Those boats will go to this ship and they will transfer them and
come back for more. I need all the women and children to come up onto the boat
deck." I saw several ship’s men with him, and knew that they were there to
help. "What ship is coming?" I yelled, loudly, trying to be heard
over everyone else.
"The Californian. Now, please, we’d like
all the woman and children to calmly come up to the boat deck."
A few started up, but many stood, saying
good-bye to their husbands. I turned and looked at Tommy. I noticed Jack and
Rose were also talking.
"You have to go get in a boat,
Katie."
"No," I said, and I grabbed him.
"I won’t leave."
"Katie, you have to go get into a boat.
I’ll be fine."
"No."
"Don’t be so stubborn, lass."
"I won’t leave you." My heart was
telling me that if I left him, I would never see him again.
"Oh, Katie. You have to listen to me.
You’ll get on the boat and I'll get on one as soon as I can."
"No. I want to stay with you."
Jack interrupted us. "I’m taking Rose up
to a lifeboat. Are you guys coming with us?"
"Yes," Tommy said.
"All right," I said. We moved over
and got in the line to go up to the boat deck. They were loading the port side
boats with the third class and the starboard with the other two. When we got up
on deck, all but two of the boats had been launched. We were crowded towards
one of the boats.
Too soon it was Rose and my turn to get in
the boats. Rose was balking. She kept saying, "Not without you."
I turned so I could look at Tommy. I reached
up and ran my hand down the side of his face. I moved closer to him and turned
my head and kissed him. He deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around me. I
felt us get pushed into the rail. I wasn’t ready for the kiss to stop. He
pulled back. "Get in the boat, Katie," he said.
I thought long and hard. I stared at his face
while I thought. I wanted to memorize it. A rocket went off. It was suddenly
brighter for a few seconds. I was vaguely aware of Rose getting picked up by an
officer and put in the boat. Then I felt someone lift me up and swing me into
the boat next to her. We stood there, both of us looking into the eyes of the
man who had brought us here.
They started to lower the boat. I saw Tommy
standing by the rail. Jack was right next to him. I reached over and took
Rose’s hand. We looked at each other briefly and shared a small smile. We
continued to hold hands as we were being lowered, looking up at the men we were
leaving behind, until suddenly Rose let mine drop and I looked over at her. She
was jumping back onto Titanic! I could hear Jack shouting, but I couldn’t make
out what he said. I saw that she made it okay. I looked up at Tommy, and saw
him saying something. I looked back at the ship, and we were almost past the
opening onto the deck. I took a deep breath and jumped back on.