ODE TO TITANIC
Chapter Eight
While Jack was busy exploring the
wonderland known as Rose, Cal and Lovejoy were in the smoking lounge. Lovejoy
had just finished telling Cal how Rose and Jack escaped him. Angry, Cal threw
his glass of brandy against the wall and sat down to sulk. He had been made a
fool of, and that was something he couldn’t forgive.
Cal:
Who does she think she is?
That girl has tangled with the wrong man!
Lovejoy:
Darn right.
Cal:
No one says no to Caledon!
Dismissed! Rejected!
Publicly humiliated! Why, it's more than I can bear.
Lovejoy:
More brandy, sir?
Cal:
What for? Nothing helps. I'm disgraced.
Lovejoy:
Who, you? Never! Sir, you've got to pull yourself together.
Music begins to play.
Lovejoy:
Gosh it disturbs me to see you,
Looking so down in the dumps
Every guy here'd love to be you, Caledon
Even when taking your lumps
There's no man in town as admired as you
You're everyone’s favorite guy
Everyone’s awed and inspired by you
And it's not very hard to see why
No one's slick as Caledon
No one's quick as Caledon
No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Caledon's
For there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon!
You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on.
Lovejoy and Chorus:
No one's been like Caledon
A kingpin like Caledon.
Lovejoy:
No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Caledon.
Cal:
As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating!
Lovejoy and Chorus:
My what a guy, that Caledon!
Give five hurrahs!
Give twelve hip-hips!
Lovejoy:
Caledon is the best
And the rest is all drips.
Chorus:
No one fights like Caledon
Douses lights like Caledon.
Lovejoy:
In a wrestling match nobody bites like Caledon!
First Class Women:
For there's no one as burly and brawny.
Cal:
As you see I've got biceps to spare.
Lovejoy:
Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny.
Cal:
That's right! And every last inch of me's covered with hair.
Chorus:
No one hits like Caledon
Matches wits like Caledon.
Lovejoy:
In a spitting match nobody spits like Caledon.
Cal:
I'm especially good at expectorating!
Ptoooie!
Chorus:
Ten points for Caledon!
Cal:
When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs
Every morning to help me get large
And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs
So I'm roughly the size of a barge!
Chorus:
Oh, ah, wow!
My what a guy, that Caledon!
No one shoots like Caledon
Makes those beauts like Caledon.
Lovejoy:
Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Caledon.
Cal:
I use antlers in all of my decorating!
Chorus:
My what a guy, Caledon!
*****
Laughing, Rose and Jack run out
onto the deck. They had just escaped being captured and were in high spirits.
They practically fell into each other’s arms, trying their best to calm down.
Rose’s laughter finally died down as she looked into Jack’s eyes. A realization
hit her. She couldn’t return to her first class world. She just couldn’t. Not
when she was so in love with Jack. She couldn’t bear to be without him. So that
only left her with one choice. Now silent, she placed a finger on Jack’s
smiling lips, entranced by the lapis lazuli color of his eyes. So blue…she had
never seen eyes so deep a blue and so piercing.
"When the ship docks…I’m
getting off with you," she stated, searching his face for any negative
emotion he may have. What if he didn’t want her to come with him? What if this
was just a fling for him? A making it count moment?
Jack couldn’t believe his ears.
She wanted to come with him…leave her world behind once and for all and live in
glorious poverty with him. Was she insane? Had she lost her mind in the midst
of their lovemaking? He hoped not. He hoped that Rose truly wanted this.
"This is crazy."
Rose laughed, relieved at the
pure joy in Jack’s eyes, only dimmed by a bit of hesitancy. "I know.
That’s why I trust it."
In love and oblivious to the blow
fate was about to deal them, Jack and Rose drowned in each other, getting lost
in kisses and hugs. Unbeknownst to them, they were about to be dealt a bad hand
in the poker game of life.
Fleet, the lookout, and a few
crewmembers smiled as they noticed the young lovers, wishing that they had the
same youthful thrill of true love. Rubbing his hands, Fleet looked straight
ahead, wondering how he was going to spot anything remotely dangerous to the
ship when there was no moon and no wind and no binoculars. All he had was
starlight.
Jack and Rose pulled away from
their kiss for a second. Rose looked up in Jack’s eyes.
"What’s wrong?" Jack
asked.
"I feel like singing."
Jack laughed. "Well, do you
know a song?
Rose smiled and nodded as music
began to play.
Rose:
Autumn
Shall we all meet in the autumn?
Golden and glowing by autumn
Shall we still be best of friends?
Best of friends...
All through each languorous season
We ebb and flow
Romance, defying all reason
Will come, then go.
Jack:
Still, perhaps this autumn
Love won't retreat in the autumn
All that we have won't be past
Won't be past
Let breezes blow
And turn cold
As we continue growing old
This autumn
Love newly found
May yet last.
Unbeknownst to Jack and Rose,
Fleet is still having trouble seeing anything in the dark night. One of the
stokers out on break leans against the rail with a lit cigarette, also
oblivious to the danger ahead. But Fleet…he had a terrible sense of foreboding going
on. He didn’t like the feel of the night. It was all so…sinister.
Fleet:
Ahead we plow
Into the darkening night
Can't see the bow
How then the search
With only starlight?
No moon.
Jack and Rose:
Autumn.
Fleet:
No wind.
Jack and Rose:
Shall we all meet in the…
Fleet:
Nothing to spy things.
Jack and Rose:
Autumn? By golden and glowing.
Fleet:
By. No wave.
Jack and Rose:
Autumn.
Fleet:
No swell.
Jack and Rose:
Shall we still be best of friends?
Fleet:
No line where sea.
Jack and Rose:
Best of friends?
Fleet:
Meets sky.
Jack and Rose:
Best of friends...
Fleet:
No wind.
Fleet, Jack, and Rose:
Stillness, darkness
Can't see a thing, says I
No reflection
Not a shadow
Not a glint of light
Meets the eye
And we go sailing
See how calm it is
Sailing
Smooth as polished glass
Ever westward
Ah…the open sea, on the sea, we go...
Feel the bite in the air
Sailing
Ah…the open sea
Sailing
Smooth as polished glass.
Everyone:
Ever on go we...
Fleet:
No moon
No wind...
Everyone:
No moon
No wind
No moon
No wind.
Fleet:
Dear mother of God--
Iceberg right ahead!
The ship shook violently as it
scraped against the huge mountain of ice. Rose and Jack broke away from the
kiss. Their eyes grew wide and round at the site of the iceberg. Curious, they
went and investigated some more. They stepped up the stairs from the well deck,
just when Captain Smith, Mr. Andrews, and the carpenter rounded the corner,
talking tensely, not noticing Jack and Rose staring at them. It was not hard to
catch what the conversation was about. Someone mentioned the boiler room, which
was underwater already, and then they stepped down the stairs and were gone.
"This is bad." Jack
spoke to Rose in a low voice and Rose just nodded, frowning.
"We should tell Mother and
Cal," she said, and a few minutes later they were on their way back into
first class. Entering the B-Deck corridor, they spotted Lovejoy, who was
waiting for them right in front of the suite.
"We’ve been looking for you,
miss." A disgusting smirk spread across his face, but Jack and Rose just ignored
him. They passed him, heading for the suite entrance, when Lovejoy carefully
moved right behind Jack, slipping the Heart of the Ocean into the pocket of his
coat.
Cal was sitting on the couch,
holding Rose’s sketch tightly in his hands and smoking a cigarette. Ruth was
pacing the room nervously. The Master-at-Arms and two stewards were watching
them.
They fell silent and each of them
looked up when Jack and Rose entered the suite, Rose holding onto Jack’s hand.
"Something serious has
happened," Rose stated very matter-of-factly, breaking the menacing
silence.
Cal stood up and moved closer to
them, his face clearly showing anger and devastation.
"That’s right." He
looked from Rose to Jack and back at Rose again. "Two things dear to me
have disappeared this evening. Now that one is back, I have a pretty good idea
where to find the other. Search him!"
The Master-at-Arms stepped up to
Jack, pulling his coat off while Lovejoy searched the pockets.
"Hey, what’s this
shit?" Jack demanded to know and Rose kept on staring at Cal, completely
confused.
"Cal, what are you doing?
We’re in the middle of an emergency. What’s going on here?"
"Is this it?" Lovejoy
held up the necklace, not at all surprised, of course.
Jack perplexedly stared at the
object in front of him. So did Rose.
"What the hell…" he
began, looking back at Rose, whose gaze had suddenly changed. The expression on
her face revealed what she was feeling at that very moment. It was a mixture of
confusion, despair, and disappointment.
Jack sensed her emotions.
"Don’t you believe it, Rose!
Don’t!" he begged her, but the Master-at-Arms was already beginning to
handcuff him.
"He couldn’t have,"
Rose stated, yet with an uncertain tone of voice, and she never took her eyes
off him.
"Of course he could."
Cal stepped up behind her. "Easy enough for a professional."
Rose tried to ignore his words,
stepping closer to Jack. "But I was with him the whole time. This is
absurd."
"Maybe he did it while you
were putting your clothes back on." Cal lowered his voice so that just
Rose could hear him. Nevertheless, Jack was able to catch his words.
"Really clever. Rose, they
put it in my pocket," he whispered to her, but was interrupted by Lovejoy,
who was holding up the coat.
"It’s not even your coat,
right, son? Property of AL Ryerson." He read the label, and the
Master-at-Arms took the coat from him.
"This was reported stolen
today," he stated.
Jack bent over to Rose, looking
her straight in the eyes.
"I was going to return it,
Rose," he began, but Rose silently took a few steps back. She felt
betrayed and confused and helplessly watched Lovejoy and the Master-at-Arms,
who dragged him out into the corridor.
"Rose, don’t listen to
them!" Jack kept shouting to her. "I didn’t do this! You know I didn’t!
You know it!"
All of a sudden, he was gone,
leaving Rose behind, who was fighting her tears. She just didn’t want to
believe all this, but she couldn’t help herself. Her mother left the room, and
Cal and Rose remained alone. He laid a hand on her shoulder, a relieved and
triumphant smile on his face.
Cal:
Hello. Did you miss me?
I know I'm hard to resist
Y'all can come and help me pick the sweet corn out of this
It's hard to be humble
When you're so fucking big
Did you ever meet a sexier male chauvinist pig?
I'm gonna milk it ‘til I turn it into cheese
Tell your babes in arms and OAP's
Come take a piece of me
If you drop me I'll fall to pieces on ya
If you don't see me I don't exist
It's nice to meet you
Now let me go and wash my hands
‘Cause you just met the world's most handsome man
The world's most handsome man
Y'all know who I am
I'm still the boy next door
That's if you're Lord Litchfield and Roger Moore
Have I gone up in the world
Or has the world gone down on me
I'm the one who put the Brits in celebrity
Give in and love it
What's the point in hating me?
You can't argue with popularity
Well you could
But you'd be wrong
If you drop me I'll fall to pieces on you
If you don't need me I don't exist
You voted for me
Now let me see a show of hands
Here before you stands…
Can you make me laugh and sign this autograph
Though it's not for me
Grip a grin, shake a fake, name a shame
Then I'm out of here
It's not very complicated
I'm just young and overrated whoa
Please don't drop me I'll fall to pieces on ya
If you don't see me I don't exist
It's nice to meet you
Now let me go and wash my hands
Here before you stands…
Please don't drop me I'll fall to pieces on you
If you don't need me I don't exist
It's nice to meet you
Now let me see a show of hands
‘Cause you just met the world's most handsome man
The world's most handsome man
The world's most handsome man
The world's most handsome man.
Rose tried her best not to pay
attention to his self-loving song. The world’s most handsome man? What’s the
point in hating him? How the hell could he think that he could convince with
one ridiculous song? This was all so typical of him. So very much convinced of
himself and self-absorbed.
Her mind was filled with thoughts
about Jack anyway. When Cal noticed that Rose didn’t react and just kept on
staring into the direction where Jack had gone, he took a few steps back.
"I’ll deal with you
later," he stated in a dark tone of voice and entered the suite next door.
Rose was standing in the middle
of the room, unmoving and still staring at the door where Jack had disappeared
out of her life.
With a sad voice, she began to
sing.
Rose:
How can I just let you walk away
Just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here taking
Every breath with you
You're the only one
Who really knew me at all
How can you just walk away from me
When all I can do is watch you leave
‘Cause we've shared the laughter and the pain
And even shared the tears
You're the only one
Who really knew me at all
So take a look at me now
Oh there's just an empty space
And there's nothing left here to
Remind me
Just the memory of your face
Take a look at me now
'Cause there's just an empty space
And you coming back to me is against all odds
And that's what I've got to face
I wish I could just make you turn around
Turn around and see me cry
There's so much I need to say to you
So many reasons why
You're the only one
Who really knew me at all
So take a look at me now
Oh there's just an empty space
And there's nothing left here to
Remind me
Just the memory of your face
Take a look at me now
'Cause there's just an empty space
But to wait for you is
All I can do
And that's what I've got to face
Take a good look at me now
'Cause I'll still be standing here
And you coming back to me is against all odds
That's the chance I've got to take a look at me now…