The next noon I sat under deck with Jack, Tommy and a little girl named Cora. Jack showed Cora how to draw. I tried to sketch Jack and Cora, while Tommy was looking at our drawings.
"Very good", Tommy said, "Very, very good."
"Thanks", Jack and I said.
Then Cora's parents came. "Cora, we have to go now. Say goodbye to Uncle Jack and Aunt Kathy."
"Bye, Uncle Jack. Bye, Aunt Kathy", she said.
"Bye, Cora", we said with one voice and we waved her.
I eyed my drawing again and I was trying to get Jack's face right. Wasn't easy, I thought so. Suddenly Fabrizio tapped Jack and pointed at something behind Jack. I looked up too and the something turned out as somebody. Rose, the girl Jack rescued the night before, was walking right to Jack. As soon as she spotted him, she smiled at him. Everyone under deck was looking at Rose, probably wondering what a first-class girl was doing at third-class. Jack stood up. They smiled at each other.
"Hello, Mr. Dawson", Rose said.
"Hello again", Jack responded.
Rose looked at me and smiled, so did I. Then she turned back to Jack. "May I speak with you?"
"Yeah", he answered.
Tommy, Fabrizio, Helga - a Norwegian girl Fab was talking to currently - and I grinned at them. Jack wanted to sit down, to speak with Rose but she stopped him. "In private", she added.
Jack hesitated a second and said: "Yes, of course." Then he picked up his drawing folder from the bench. Jack slapped me lightly with his folder, because I smirked stupidly. Then Jack and Rose walked up on deck. Fab and Tommy looked at each other in an astonished way. Then I looked at the two men, they looked at me and we laughed. A few seconds later I eyed my drawing again and kept drawing a few minutes.
After half an hour I stood up and told Fab and Tommy that I'd take a walk on deck. I took my wax crayon, which was extremely small and my drawing folder with one empty paper in it. I stepped up the stairs and opened the gate. It was sunny so I was kind of happy that I didn't take my jacket.
I walked around a corner when I bumped into somebody. "Whoa, careful, Ma'am", the man I bumped into said.
I looked up and recognized 5th Officer Lowe. As soon as he recognized me, he smiled at me. "Oh, Miss Dawson. Nice to see you", he said.
"I think so too, Mr. Lowe."
Next to him, there was another Officer. He looked at me in a non-understanding way. He looked from Mr. Lowe to me, more than once.
"Oh, uhm", Mr. Lowe began, "Mr. Moody this is Miss Kathy Dawson. I met her yesterday when I was off duty. She's a very talented artist."
Officer Moody smiled at me. "Nice to meet you, I'm 6th Officer James Moody." We shook hands. He didn't go as formally with me as Officer Lowe did last night, but I didn't care. Officer Moody said good-bye to both of us and walked off.
"I'm off duty now", Mr. Lowe said, and we went to the railing on bridge deck. I leaned on it, so did Officer Lowe.
"I really like this ship, you know", I said.
"It's overwhelming, yeah. I guess this is because of the size of the ship. It's the biggest yet."
"Right. Mr. Lowe?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think you could do me a favor?"
"I guess, yeah. Depends on what", he said smirking.
"Would you maybe model for one of my drawings?"
"I think I can do you this favor, Miss Dawson", he said.
I sat on the bench, took out my pencil and the empty paper. "Just act like you'd look at the horizon."
He turned around and braced his arms on the railing. I started sketching the men, the railing, the bow of Titanic, the water and the sun. The sketch was done fast. I looked up from the sketch on the paper and looked at Mr. Lowe. I think, he's not just looking at the ocean to stand model for me. I think he's in love with the sea and he's really enjoying it.
"Okay, Mr. Lowe. You can stop to stand model for the drawing if you want", I said.
He turned around and leaned on the railing with his back. "Already done?"
"No, just the sketch. But I have a photographic memory, so it'll be easy for me to finish the drawing", I chuckled.
He smiled and sat next to me. "Do you need a new pencil? Yours kind of tiny, Miss."
"If you have one, I'd take it", I said.
He searched for a pencil in the pocket of his uniform jacket and handed it to me. I took it and thanked him. "Do you also have a craving tool? I forgot mine", I said.
He searched again in his pockets and handed me one, so, I thanked him again.
He looked at me while I drew. It felt like after I'd have finished the drawing, he'd know every inch of my face. I slowly turned my head to him. "What?", I asked ginning.
"Nothing."
"There must be something, otherwise you wouldn't look at me all the time."
He smiled and looked at his feet. "It's just, you're beautiful."
I felt how my cheeks turned red. No one ever said that I'm beautiful, no one even said that I'm pretty. Well, Jack did, but that's not the same.
Of course, he noticed that I blushed, and he chuckled. "Would you tell me a bit about yourself, Miss Dawson?"
I already was drawing his back, I really tried on the details. Not so easy, but I think I managed it quite good. "I was born in 1893 in the near of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I have a one-year older brother, his name is Jack."
"Is he also on the ship?"
I nodded. "We won our tickets, because of his lucky hand in poker."
"Poker. Now that's impressive", he laughed, so did I, "how was it in Wisconsin? I never was in America."
"It was cold, for sure. They have one of the coldest winters around. As a kid, I sometimes went ice-fishing on the Lake Wissota with my father and my brother. My brother fell through some thin ice once. First, I laughed but I quickly realized that it wasn't funny at all. I realized it when I fell through it too."
"I bet that was cold", he laughed.
"It was. It felt like 1000 knives were stabbing me all over my body. I couldn't breath and I couldn't think of anything. My father pulled me out, and after that day, my mother never allowed me to go to the lake with them again", I laughed, now I was detailing Titanic's bow.
"Your brother still was allowed?"
"Yeah", I said, "want to hear more?"
"Sure."
"Well, my parents died when I was 14. Jack was 15, and we had to take care of ourselves. Jack would have done anything for me, and he still would do anything for me. So do I."
"I'm sorry for the loss of your parents", Mr. Lowe said calmly.
"Yeah, well, we went to Monterey and we worked on a squid boat. I cut my hair short and I wore Jack's clothes. Obviously, I still do. I just didn't want to spend money on uncomfortable dresses, and Jack had no problem with giving me some of his clothes. Anyway, at that time I looked like a guy and they let me work on the boat."
"I heard that Quartermaster Rowe thought you were a man last night."
"So, you've heard about the incident?"
He nodded.
"Okay. Well, a few years later Jack and I went to Los Angeles and we worked on the Santa Monica pier. Jack drew portraits for 10 cents apiece I was the cashier", I chuckled, "with the money we shipped over to Italy where we met our friend Fabrizio, he's on the ship too by the way. Well, later we three went to Paris. We spent some time there before we came to England", I said, "the night before we came on Titanic we slept under a bridge."
"You got around much for someone with less money", Mr. Lowe said.
"That's true. I owe my life to Jack. He was just a year older than me, but he took great care of me."
Meanwhile, I was drawing the ocean. Mr. Lowe was still looking at me, he hasn't taken his eyes of me the whole time. He inhaled. "I was born in Wales in 1882. My father wanted me to do an apprenticeship with a successful businessman. But I preferred sea, so I ran away from home at age 14. I joined the White Star Line in 1911 after several years of training in the merchant navy. Before the Titanic I've never done a transatlantic voyage."
I realized that he wasn't quite my age, but honestly, I didn't care. What do eleven years of age difference do? Nothing. He was anyway a very good-looking man. While he told me his story, I finished the drawing.
I took it out of the folder and showed it to him. "This is outstanding, Miss."
"You can call me Kathy, Officer."
"It's outstanding, Kathy", he said calmly.
"Thank you, Sir."
"You can call me Harold, Kathy."
I smiled at him, so he did. I handed him his pencil and his craving tool, but he said I could keep both supplies, saying he had a second one from both tools.
We kept talking about the weather and the Titanic when we got interrupted by another Officer. "Mr. Lowe, Captain Smith says you should go on duty now."
"Okay. Thank you, Mr. Lightoller", Harold said, "see you around, Kathy."
"See you, Harold", I smiled. Then Officer Lightoller and Officer Lowe walked off.
I packed my stuff together and searched for Jack. I saw him with Rose, leaning on a railing on promenade deck, chatting and looking at the sunset. As I came closer, I understood what they were talking about.
"Ride on the roller coaster until we throw up", Jack said, she laughed, "We'll ride horses on the beach, in the surf. But you have to do it like a real cowboy. No sidesaddle stuffs."
"You mean with one leg on each side?", she asked insecure.
"Yeah."
"Can you show me?"
"Sure, if you like."
"Teach me to ride like a man", she said.
"Chew tobacco like a man."
She laughed, I think she really likes him, even though she's engaged. "And spit like a man."
"You didn't learn in finishing school?", Jack asked.
"No", Rose laughed.
I wanted to go to them and be part of their conversation, but I decided not to. They looked happy together and you could see that both were having fun. It's funny that they haven't seen me already, but that's okay. I sat on a bench and started to draw the sunset on the backside of one drawing.
A few seconds later I looked up and they were gone. I looked around on the ship, I also stood up and looked. Suddenly I spotted them a few miles away on deck. They leaned over the railing and laughed. I chuckled quiet when I saw Jack getting ready to spit in the water. I watched it. It was disgusting. Then I saw Rose, looking around, making sure nobody would see her and she spit in the water. That was pitiful, I thought. Jack did it again and described her how to do it. Disgusting. I decided to walk to them. "Hey there."
They turned around. "Hi", they said with one voice.
"We haven't officially met", I said to Rose, "Kathy Dawson, nice to meet you."
We shook hands. She smiled. "Jack already told me about you. I'm Rose."
"I know, he told me about you too", I said smiling.
Jack cleared his throat. "Yeah, so, Kathy do you want to show Rose how to spit like a man?"
I rolled my eyes. "Sure." I went to the railing I hawked it back and spit. Then I wiped my lips and my chin with my hand.
"That's how it's done, Rose", Jack said, and he did it again. Rose tried it to do as Jack and I did when we got interrupted by some first-class women. Jack was just about to spit again when he cancelled his try and turned around to the women.
Rose looked at them a bit upset. "Mother." She went to the woman with red hair, who was obviously her mother. "May I introduce Jack and Kathy Dawson?"
Jack smiled and her mother said: "Charmed, I'm sure." She said it unimpressed and she looked up and down us before she turned back to Rose.
I saw that Jack had saliva on his chin, so I tapped at his arm and gave to understand to wipe it away with a quick gesture. He got it and did it. Rose told the women about what Jack has done the last night and I noticed that her mother looked at him like he was an insect.
"Sounds like you're a good man to have around in a sticky spot", the smallest, but chubbiest woman said.
I nodded affirmatively and Jack smiled. Then someone played the trumpet what means in first-class that it's time for dinner.
"Why do they always insist on announcing dinner like a damn cavalry charge?", the small woman asked annoyed.
Rose laughed a fake laughed but mine was real. Rose looked at her mother: "Shall we go dress, Mother?" And Rose pulled her mother away.
"See you at dinner, guys", Rose said for a goodbye. Jack waved her and watched her, he didn't notice that the woman, Mrs. Brown as I got to know asked us something.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?", she asked.
"Not really", Jack said.
"I bet that's why you demanded that I'll come too, right?", I asked.
"Maybe", he said.
"You're about to go into the snake pit", she said, while she looked up and down on me and my brother, "What are you going to wear?"
With a gesture we gave her to know that we thought we will wear our clothes, well, to be exact I'd have gone in his clothes.
She laughed and sighed. "I figured. Come on."
She linked her left arm with Jack and her right arm with me and we went to her suite.
She picked out a suit and shoes for Jack and a dress and heels for me. I had to practice walking in them, and I learned it fast. She helped Jack into a smoking. "I was right. You and my son are just about the same size."
"Pretty close", Jack said, watching himself in the mirror. Then Molly turned to me. "Here I was right too. You've just about the same size as my daughter."
"Nearly", I said. The dress was black and a bit tighter on the waist. I had to wear a corset, but Molly didn't tie it to tight, which I was happy about. There was some glitter on the seam. It was the most beautiful dress I ever saw and would've liked to keep it, but it didn't belong to me.
"You both shine up like a new penny", Molly said. For the last step she gelled Jack's hair back and she tried to pin my hair up. That wasn't so easy, my hair was just on collarbone-length.