ODE TO TITANIC
Chapter Five
Rose sat at her vanity dresser,
brushing her hair and listening to her favorite music box, as she got lost in
thoughts of the young man that had saved her life. She’ll be seeing him again
tomorrow. She couldn’t believe it. Of course, she knew it was all a joke to
Cal. An attempt to embarrass, not only the young man, but herself as well. But
she couldn’t wait to look into those wonderful blue eyes again. To be the
object of their attention. Sighing, she placed the brush back on the table and
jumped when Cal spoke up from the doorway.
"I know you’ve been
melancholy. I don’t pretend to know why." He stepped into the room and
leaned over her as he withdrew a long jewelry box from behind his back.
Rose sighed. Another necklace.
She has a thousand necklaces from him already. Couldn’t he give her something
new as a gift? Like a real interest in her thoughts. Maybe even a book?
"I was going to wait to give
you this at the engagement gala, but I see now is the time. I hope this
expresses my feelings for you." He opened the box and Rose gasped in
shock. She had read about this necklace in her history lessons. She had seen it
only once in a museum.
Cal smiled with satisfaction at
Rose’s reaction. He was hoping for that. He lifted the necklace out of the box
and draped it around Rose’s neck.
"It’s Le Coeur de la
Mer!" Rose gasped.
"Yes. The Heart of the
Ocean. From the crown jewels of King Louis XVIII. It’s meant for royalty, Rose,
and we are royalty."
Rose lightly touched the blue
stone, trying to think of ways to tell him that she couldn’t accept it. It was
too much. "It’s overwhelming."
Cal smiled and got down on one
knee. "Ah…open your heart to me, Rose. I can never deny you…if you don’t
deny me."
Being met with silence, Cal got
up as music began to play.
Cal:
You've been dreaming, just one dream
Nearly all your life
Hoping, scheming, just one theme:
Will you be a wife?
Will you be some he-man's property?
Good news! That he-man's me!
This equation, girl plus man
Doesn't help just you
On occasion, women can
Have their uses too
Mainly to extend the family tree
Pumpkin, extend with me!
We'll be raising sons galore.
Rose:
Inconceivable!
Cal:
Each built six foot four!
Rose:
Unbelievable!
Cal:
Each stuffed with every Caledon gene!
Rose:
I'm not hearing this!
Cal:
You'll be keeping house with pride!
Rose:
Just incredible!
Cal:
Oh, so gratified.
Rose:
So unweddable!
Cal:
That you are a part of this idyllic scene
Picture this: A rustic hunting lodge,
My latest kill roasting over the fire,
My little wife massaging my feet, while
The little ones play on the floor with the dogs.
We'll have six or seven!
Rose:
Dogs?
Cal:
No, Rose! Strapping boys...like me!
Rose:
Imagine that!
Cal:
I can see that we will share
All that love implies
We shall be a perfect pair
Rather like my thighs
You are face to face with destiny!
All roads lead to...
The best things in life are...
All's well that ends with me!
Escape me? There's no way
Certain as do re,
Rose, when you marry...
So Rose, what would it be?
Is it yes, or is it oh, yes?
Rose:
I...I just don't deserve you!
Cal:
Who does?
Me!
"Well, think about what you
have to look forward to. I’m expected back in the smoking room. Good night,
sweetpea." Cal pinched her cheek before sweeping out of the room.
Rose rolled her eyes. The last
thing she wanted to do was marry that pompous jerk. There had to be a way out
of this. There just had to be.
Rose:
Is he gone? Oh, can you imagine? He asked me to marry him.
Me, the wife of that boorish, brainless...
Madame Caledon!
Can't you just see it?
Madame Caledon!
His little wife, ugh!
No sir! Not me!
I guarantee it
I want much more than this provincial life!
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned.
Hmm. Someone to understand? To
sympathize and probably help her get out of this gilded cage she’s been trapped
in for so long? Hmm…then she knew. Of course. It made perfect sense. He was, of
course, her knight in shining armor. She just had to find him tomorrow before
they go to dinner. She’ll tell him her plight and perhaps they can come up with
some ideas. Feeling at peace for the first time in months, Rose went to bed and
dreamt of blue eyes and hair of spun gold and a strong, warm hand pulling her
to freedom.
*****
The next morning. The sun was
shining brightly above Jack and Rose, who were walking around the first class deck,
deeply absorbed in conversation. Rose had sought Jack out since she truly owed
him a thank you. She hadn’t even come to thank him last night. But now, she was
listening attentively to Jack, who was telling her about how he had grown up
and left home.
"Well, I’ve been on my own
since I’ve been fifteen, since my folks died," he went on, grabbing the
sketchbook he carried around tightly in his hand. "I didn’t have any
brothers or sisters or close kin in that part of the country. So I lit on out
of there and I haven’t been back since. I guess you could call me a tumbleweed
blowing in the wind." He grinned and Rose lightly laughed at that
expression. Jack cleared his throat and ran his hand through his hair.
"Well, Rose," he began again, "we’ve walked about a mile around
this boat deck and chewed over how great the weather’s been and how I grew up,
but…I reckon that’s not why you came to talk to me, is it?"
Rose fumbled with her fingers,
suddenly nervous at what she was going to say.
"Mr. Dawson, I…"
"Jack," he interrupted
her, calming her nervousness down a bit.
"Jack…I want to thank you
for what you did. Not just for…for pulling me back, but for your
discretion."
"You’re welcome." Jack
nodded understandingly, making it impossible for Rose to keep back what she
really wanted to tell him.
"Look…I know what you must
be thinking," she suddenly burst out, surprised at her own directness.
"Poor little rich girl. What does she know about misery?"
Jack stopped walking and looked
at her seriously. "No, no, that’s not what I was thinking," he
replied honestly, making Rose frown slightly. "What I was thinking was
what could have happened to this girl to make her think she had no way
out?"
Rose looked at him, not bothering
to keep her emotions at bay.
"Well, it was everything,"
she admitted frankly, putting her hands on the railing, letting her eyes survey
the ocean. "My whole life and all the people in it. And the inertia in my
life, me plunging ahead, powerless to stop it." She showed him her
engagement ring and Jack let out a slight laugh.
"God, look at that thing!
You would have gone straight to the bottom."
Rose went on, not being confused
by his remark.
"Five hundred invitations
have gone out. All of Philadelphia society will be there. And all the while I
feel like I’m standing in the middle of a crowded room, screaming at the top of
my lungs, and no one even looks up."
She turned to face him again,
looking straight into his eyes.
Soft piano music was played.
Rose:
You look at me and see the girl
Who lives inside the golden world
But don't believe
That's all there is to see
You'll never know the real me
She smiles through a thousand tears
And harbors adolescent fears
She dreams of all
That she can never be
She wades in insecurity
Don't say
She takes it all for granted
I'm well aware of all I have
Don't think that I am disenchanted
Please understand
It seems as though I've always been
Somebody outside looking in
Well here I am
For all of them to bleed
But they can't take my heart from me
And they can't bring me to my knees
They'll never know the real me.
Jack looked at her for some time.
"Do you love him?" he
suddenly asked her, and Rose just stared at him, perplexed.
"Pardon me?" she
gasped.
"Do you love him?" Jack
casually repeated his question. Rose let out a slight laugh.
"You’re being very
rude," she answered him, unable to believe the obvious impudence behind
this question. "You shouldn’t be asking me this."
"Well, it’s a simple
question. Do you love the guy or not?" Jack urged to know, making Rose
gasp again. Jack’s straightforwardness was way too much for her.
"This is absurd!" Rose
simply replied, trying to avoid the question. "You don’t know me and I
don’t know you and we are not having this conversation at all. You are rude,
uncouth, and presumptuous and I am leaving now." She was now almost
laughing hysterically and shook Jack’s hand firmly in an attempt to say
good-bye, but Jack just kept on smiling at her. "Jack, Mr. Dawson,"
she began again, "it’s been a pleasure. I sought you out to thank you, and
now I have thanked you…"
"And you’ve insulted
me," Jack interrupted her, and Rose held her breath.
"Well…you deserved it,"
she stated.
"Right."
"Right."
When Rose still didn’t leave, he
reminded her, still smiling mischievously.
"I thought you were
leaving." He grinned.
"I am." Rose laughed,
turning around to leave, but suddenly stood still again. She turned to Jack.
"Wait! This is my part of
the ship. You leave!" she exclaimed, but Jack just laughed loudly.
"Well, well, well…now who’s
being rude?"
Rose stared at him, wide-eyed,
not knowing what to say. Her gaze suddenly turned to Jack’s sketchbook.
"What is this stupid thing
you’re carrying around?" she hissed, grabbing the book and sitting down on
one of the deck chairs. "So, what are you, an artist or something?"
She opened it and gasped when she glanced at the first drawing.
"Well…these are rather good," she said, and Jack sat down next to
her. He ran his hand through his hair while Rose was looking through the other
sketches. "These are very good, actually. Jack, this is exquisite
work."
"Well, they didn’t think too
much of them in old Paree," he replied, looking down at his work.
"Paris?" Rose was
perplexed and Jack simply nodded. "Well, you do get around. For a
poor…well…a person of…limited means," she stuttered, trying to stay calm
despite the nude drawings in front of her. And after all, she didn’t mean to
appear too forward, but Jack just kept up his enchanting smile.
"Come on, a poor guy, you
can say it," he casually replied.
Rose continued looking at the
drawings, completely absorbed in their gorgeousness. "And these were drawn
from life?" she wanted to know, indicating to some other nude girls
drawings, and Jack just grinned again.
"Well, that’s one of the
good things about Paris. Lots of girls willing to take their clothes off."
Rose let out a slight laugh again
and looked back at Jack.
"You have a gift,
Jack," she told him, sighing lightly. "You do. You see people."
"I see you," he said,
his eyes piercing her.
Rose smiled broadly and lifted
her head proudly. "And?"
"You wouldn’t have
jumped."
Rose’s smile broke down and she
stared at him, being perplexed once again. She finally realized that he was
right.
*****
Some time later. Jack and Rose
were standing at the railing, surveying the ocean. Jack was telling her
everything about his earlier life.
"…so I went down to Los
Angeles to the pier at Santa Monica and sketched portraits there for ten cents
apiece."
Rose let her eyes travel over the
ocean, sighing lightly, almost seeming absentminded.
"Why can’t I be like you,
Jack? Just head out for the horizon whenever I feel like it." She pointed
to the horizon, which seemed so far away, and Jack glanced at her, his eyes
sparkling.
"All right, we're
going," he simply stated, making Rose laugh lightly. "We'll drink
cheap beer and ride on the roller coaster until we throw up, and we'll ride
horses on the beach... right in the surf. But you have to ride like a cowboy,
none of that sidesaddle stuff."
Rose looked at him, quite
uncertain. "You mean…one leg on each side? Can you show me?"
"Sure, if you like," he
replied, his eyes sparkling even more.
"You’ll teach how to ride
like a man," Rose went on, barely controlling her amusement.
"And how to chew tobacco
like a man," Jack added.
"And…how to spit like a
man!" Rose laughed, receiving one of Jack’s perplexed looks.
"They didn’t show you that
in finishing school?" He seemed to be seriously surprised, and he just
grabbed her hand, dragging her towards the railing.
Jack and Rose:
We are taking it easy
Bright and breezy
We are living it up
Just fine and dandy
We are caught in a haze
On the lazy summer days
Spending all of our nights just
A-laughing and kissing, yeah
And it really doesn't matter if we don't eat
And it really doesn't matter if we never sleep
No it really doesn't matter, really doesn’t matter at all
‘Cause we are so young now
We are so young, so young now
And when tomorrow comes
We'll just do it all again
We are chasing the moon
Just running wild and free
We are following through
Every dream and every need
And it really doesn't matter if we don't eat
And it really doesn't matter if we get no sleep
No it really doesn't matter, really doesn’t matter at all
‘Cause we are so young now
We are so young, so young now
And when tomorrow comes
We'll just do it all again
We are so young now
We are so young, so young now
And when tomorrow comes
We’ll just do it all again…