India Rose & The Eternals - The Fountain Of Youth Chronicles Vol. 1

Chapter 5 - The Poor and Huddled Masses

The docks of Dublin, Ireland, 1907, 9:30 A.M, 68th Day of Spring

From where Finnegan sat, his black steamer trunk beneath him and a few suitcases at his feet, he could see the great shipyards of Dublin spread out before him. The skeletons of great ocean liners lay before him, swarming with workers welding and measuring and climbing up and down the great ribs of the iron beasts. Fascinated, Finn had his sketch pad out and was busy capturing the scene before him when The Station Master approached him from out of the great crowd massed on the pier, waiting for entry onto the freighter tied up there.

"It's a good thing we have friends in high places, Lad," said The Station Master, taking a seat next to Finn on the steamer trunk. "With this great mass of folks waiting for the next available ship, we would never have gotten passage on this fine lady here if we had not had help."

Both were quiet as they looked over the multitude in front of them. Whole families, some with as many as seven or eight children, gathered together in small clumps all along the waterfront, huddled together against the strong May wind that was blowing cold off the Irish Sea. Here and there a baby was crying in the cold, and mothers and older siblings were trying to quiet them. Many families had fantastically large piles of goods on wagons or, strapped to suitcases with think cords of twine twisted many times around the bundles, as to create the appearance of rope. Many of the people had patched together clothing and wore makeshift shoes.

"Master Leo," Finn said slowly, tucking away his sketch pad. "This crowd, these people; is this a normal gathering of folks waiting to go to America? We have been tucked away so long now that I feel as if I have missed something tremendously important happening."

The Station Master was a few moments in replying.

"Yes, Lad, there are great forces on the move at present. I, too, have been quite shocked to see the scope of things since last I was in circulation. It is one thing to read the newspapers every day, and it's quite another to see the crowds for yourself; to see and smell and hear the great masses of folks on the move."

"And there are more than Irishmen here, Master, I have heard folks speaking Norwegian and Polish and a few other languages. Is the whole continent on the move? I even heard one family speaking my first language. It was all I could do not to chime in on the conversation."

The Station Master smiled. "I've heard some original Italian, too. Folks from quite near my village if I'm not mistaken. I'd recognize that dialect anywhere. But we can not join in conversation, Finn, as much as we might want to. We are traveling amongst these folks in order to best disguise the true nature of our quest. Those who are looking for us could not possibly find us among the throngs of folks making their way west across the ocean just now. Aye, the whole world seems on the move these days. Our time in a quiet corner of it is over. Now we ride the wave."

Finn took a long look at the multitudes in front of him before he spoke again.

"Master, may I ask you one final question today?"

The Station Master smiled.

"I believe you just did, Lad."

Finn smiled at the old word game they used to play in the long hours in the train station.

"What do you think about what The Sweeper, Master Louis, said of hiding our gifts? His statement sits in my brain like honey, and I can't help but think that the gift we hide, and the gifts it brings, could be used to help these people. Why are we hiding amongst them when we should be helping them?"

The Station Master took a deep breath before answering. He took up Finn's sketchbook and looked at it as he spoke.

"Do you see these ships in the shipyard over there that you've been drawing? I've spent my free time the last couple of days crawling up and down the skeletons of the great iron beasts. You know of my great love for tinkering and exploring. I can't believe how much has changed since I was last out. The ships they're building these days are said to be "unsinkable." If you think that one over there is gigantic, the construction men tell me that up the coast in Belfast, they're planning to build one almost twice that size. It will be the biggest ship ever built, and they're going to call it "The Titanic." Imagine a ship so big that some days you don't even realize that you are out in the ocean. And in New York, where we are going, there are buildings so high that the tops are obscured by clouds.