ODE TO TITANIC
Chapter Three

Rose walked out onto the deck. It was an interesting scene inside the Parisian Cafe. She had just made a one liner about Freud to Bruce Ismay and she chuckled as the older man asked if the famous doctor was a passenger. Ah…the stupidity of the upper class men. Leaning against the railing, sighing, she looked down below in steerage. She yawned, thinking about the interesting people that must be down there. Heck, maybe even someone who knew who Dr. Freud was.

Suddenly she felt a pair of eyes on her, studying her seriously. Looking to her right, down in steerage, her eyes met the bluest eyes she’s ever seen in her life. They belonged a blonde young man below, not much older than her. He was incredibly handsome and his eyes just held her. Sighing, she wondered what it must be like to be with him. To be free of rules and responsibility. Of money and respectability. It must be wonderful.

Rose: Careful, girl. You could fall in love with the pretty baby and you don’t even know him. Sighing wistfully, still studying the young man we know as Jack Dawson, she begins to sing.

Stars live in the evening
But the very young need the sun, uh-huh
Pretty baby, you look so heavenly
A neo-nebular form under the sun
I was forming, some say I had my chance
The boys were falling like an avalanche
Ya ya baby
La Dolce Vita is a magic dance
No one was listening
Pretty baby, un petite ingénue
A teenage starlet, I fell in love with you
You, you with the comb
You look OK in every way
Ah, I should have known
You'd look at me and look away
Pretty baby, you look so heavenly
A neo-nebular form under the sun
Eyes that tell me incense and peppermints
Your looks are larger than life, long live innocence
Petite ingénue, I fell in love with you
Pretty baby, I fell in love with you, whoa oh
Pretty baby, oh oh
Pretty baby, whoa oh, I fell in love with you.

Cal suddenly comes up and grabs Rose’s arm. "I hope you’re proud of yourself," he snapped angrily. Rose just rolled her eyes at her fiancé and walked away, a bit sad that she didn’t have more time to look at the handsome young man in steerage. Looking completely exasperated, Cal followed her, leaving Tommy, Fabrizio, and Jack alone below.

"Snap out of it, man," Tommy hissed to the entranced Jack, who was still in his own little world, viewing the ghost of the beauty that had been there just a few moments ago. "You’re not being logical."

"Amore is never logical." Fabrizio shook his head. To both of their astonishment, Jack began to sing.

Jack:

If I had castles built on high
I'd find a million ways
To write your name
Against the sky
Just to let you know,
You've caught my eye
And if I had more than
Wealth could buy
I'd sell it all and start again
For just a chance with you
Girl, I'd give my all to win your love
And I would be rich
And I would build all
My world around you
Just to show you
How you take my breath away
And you would find love, sweet lady
Nobody else this side of heaven knows
How you take my breath away
If I could turn the day to night
If I had faith to walk on water
Maybe you would see,
The reason I thank God for miracles
‘Cause baby when you walked into sight
You turned an ordinary man like me
Into a king
I would do anything to win your love
And I would be rich
And I would build all
My world around you
Just to show you
How you take my breath away
And you would find love, sweet lady
Nobody else this side of heaven knows
How you take my breath away
I think there's something
Here worth saying
I don't want to scare you
So let me make my wish
And hope that you believe
In simple love, like I do
Say that it's true, baby
‘Cause you've got me shaking
My breath has now been taken
I've got to overcome this aching
To win your love
And I would be rich
And I would build all
My world around you
Just to show you
How you take my breath away
And you would find love, sweet lady
Nobody else this side of heaven knows
How you take my breath away.

Sighing dreamily, Jack got up and walked away to be alone. He didn’t need to hear any of Fabri and Tommy’s heckling about him being in love and being illogical to fall in love with a first class girl.

*****

It was night. Hasty footsteps could be heard and all of a sudden, Rose appeared from the dark, running across the deserted deck towards the stern. Her face was tear-stained and she was still sobbing when she turned her gaze to the sky. Nevertheless, her voice was clear and beautiful when she started to sing.

Rose:

I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
And I live it all out to find, but I'm not the only person with these things in mind
But all that they can see the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I got left to feel
Just stuck, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long
Erase all the pain ‘til it's gone
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
And I've got nothing to say
I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face
Look at everywhere only to find
It is not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
What do I have but negativity
‘Cause I can't justify the way everyone is looking at me
Nothing to gain, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long
Erase all the pain ‘til it's gone
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
I will never know myself until I do this on my own
‘Cause I will never feel anything else until my wounds are healed
I will never be anything ‘til I break away from me
I will break away, I'll find myself today
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long
Erase all the pain ‘til it's gone
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, like I'm somewhere, somewhere I belong...
I wanna heal, I wanna feel, like I'm somewhere, somewhere I belong...
Somewhere I belong...

Jack was lying on a bench up on deck, smoking a cigarette and gazing at the stars so far above him. His mind was still filled with thoughts of the awesome first class girl. If only she had really heard the song he had sung for her. Or had she even? He wasn’t quite sure. Everything seemed so surreal to him anyway, yet she seized his complete mind.

Jack:

What more can I do, there’s nothing I haven’t tried
Still it’s so hard for her to notice
I’ve tried hard to be straight
There’s nothing left I can say
If only she would look my way
She don’t know me, she don’t know
She don’t see me, she don’t care
She can’t hear me, can’t hear
Can not help me, she don’t want
She don’t want me like I want her
Like I want her got to tell her
Got to tell her that I love her
That I love her
She doesn’t even know my name
I dream of when she’ll be mine
I dream of crossing that line
And holding her so tender
Dreaming it could come true
So many things I would do
If only you’d give me a chance…

Suddenly Jack was interrupted by rushing footsteps and a person ran right past him. Jack could hear several sobs and, still quite confused, he felt the urge to get up and follow the shadow that was heading right towards the stern. He stood up and carefully followed the stranger.

Chapter Four
Stories