A/N: I know that this is not really happened, and I know why/where Titanic was built, OK? Good. I'm sorry if there's any historical inaccuracies, I don't know every little detail about Andrews or what his office looked like or what he ate for dinner the night before or anything, k? (And for the sake of my sanity, I have to make Shoeless Joe on the Cleveland Naps team in 1908 instead of 1910. Also, Andrews daughter, Elizabeth, who was only a few months old at the time, will be about the same age as Kevin Costner's daughter in "Field of Dreams.")
Oh em gee y'know what's scary—The name of the movie is "Field of Dreams" and the nickname for Titanic was "Ship of Dreams". Whoa.
Disclaimer: I don't own "Field of Dreams", "Titanic", the RMS Titanic, Thomas Andrews, or anything else that isn't mine. (And if you don't know who Fletcher Christian is, watch Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable. Or go here: (because I don't feel like typing a biography, but, in short, he started the mutiny on the HMS Bounty in, like, 1789.) --- I don't own that either.
PART I: 'IF YOU BUILD IT, HE WILL COME'
Thomas Andrews had just gotten to work on December 17, 1908. He set his books down and sat behind his desk. He wondered what he should build now, since the remodeling of the White Star ship, the Oceanic II. He turned to look out the window for inspiration, but before he did he heard something:
"If you build it, he will come."
Thomas looked around, "Hello?"
Nothing.
He sat at his desk, thinking it was just someone talking outside the hall. He looked out the window again.
"If you build it, he will come."
"All right!" Andrews through up his fists in frustration, "If I build what, who will come?"
There still was no answer.
Andrews decided that he was starting to get sick, so he left his office and went outside to get some fresh air.
While he was walking, he stopped to chat with some of the workers.
"Do you ever hear voices, because I heard that some people who are in the business of ship building do?" Andrews asked a worker.
"No. Are you?" the worker replied.
"Oh, um, no, of course not! I was just wondering of I was doing something wrong…"
"Hey, Jim, whatcha talkin' about?" another worker said as he walked toward Andrews and Worker #1, aka Jim.
"Tom's hearin' voices!" Jim smiled.
"No, I'm not!"
The workers looked at Andrews.
"Well, I guess I'll be on my way…" Andrews smiled and walked back to his office.
Thomas lied in bed, and he had just finally gotten to sleep.
"If you build it, he will come."
"Not now, I'm tryin' to sleep," Andrews moaned.
"If you build it, he will come."
After a couple of minutes, Andrews got out of bed and walked towards the window.
"If you build it, he will come."
Some weird music played in the background.
"What do I have to build?" Andrews asked.
The shipyards of Harland and Wolff appeared in his backyard with a humongous ship.
"Who will come?"
Kevin Costner appeared on the bow with the girl who played his wife in the movie, Amy Madigan. They're in the Jack and Rose position! (LAWL!)
"What?"
"Sorry."
Fletcher Christian appeared.
"Wow. My father talked about him a lot…"
The vision disappeared and Andrews went over to his wife.
"HELEN!"
"Hmm?" she murmured.
"I'm going to build a ship."
"That's great, Tom. Isn't that your job?" she replied.
"Yes, but this one's gonna be huge," Andrews stated.
"All right, go back to sleep…"
The next day, Andrews went to present to the idea to his boss, J. Bruce Ismay.
"That sounds fantastic! Let's start building right away," Ismay said excitedly.
"Sir, we have to build it in my yard."
"Excuse me?"
"We have to build it—"
"I know what you said, Andrews! That's just so ridiculous, we got all the supplies here!"
"We have to, sir. You must believe me," Thomas tried again.
The two men quarreled in the drawing room for about an hour. Amazingly, Andrews finally persuaded Ismay to let the ship be built in his backyard, but only the bridge (that's where the wheel is and all that ship navigation things are).
It took quite a few weeks to transport the shipbuilding materials to Thomas's home. The day after that, the workers started to build the grand ship which Andrews called Titanic. It wasn't until early 1912 that the ship was finally completed.
The night after the building was done, Thomas and his wife Helen were discussing prices while their daughter, Elizabeth, was playing with her dolls.
"Daddy."
"In a minute, Liz," Andrews replied.
"Tom, this has cost so much with all these ship parts and things. Ismay is only paying for half of it, you know," Helen said.
"I know," was Andrews's reply.
"Daddy."
"Elizabeth!"
"The value of our property is going down because of all the damage to our yard. We might have to sell it."
"Daddy…"
"Elizabeth, I'm busy!" Andrews snapped.
"There's a man on your ship…" Elizabeth stated.
"What…?"
Andrews walked out of the parlor and his house and to his yard. There was a man on the ship, all right. He was on the bridge, playing with the ship's wheel.
"Hello?" Andrews called.
"Hello."
Andrews walked toward the ship and went to the bridge.
"You know about ships?" said the man.
"I think I do…"
The man made him name all the parts of a ship and sailor stuff like that.
"I'm Thomas Andrews, sir."
"Fletcher Christian."
"Hello."
"Having a mutiny was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that mutineers would stay together on some island and marry the native girls. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of a ship in my nose, the hard of the wooden boards on my feet... The thrill of navigating… It's been one hundred and twenty three years, Thomas, that's quite a log time to not be on a ship…"
The two men talked for a long time about the Titanic and how modern she was.
"Tom." Helen called. She was with Elizabeth.
"This is my family… My wife, Helen…"
"Hello…"
"And my daughter, Elizabeth." Andrews finished.
Christian smiled.
"Are you a ghost?" Elizabeth asked.
"Do I look like one to you?"
"Not at all, you look real to me."
"Well then, I guess I'm real." Fletcher smiled at Andrews, and then at Elizabeth.
"Would you like to come inside for some tea or something?" Helen asked politely.
"I—" Christian looked at his feet, and knew if he crossed over the vicinity where the bridge was, he could never come back, "No, thank you."
"Can I come back again, Thomas?" Christian asked.
"Sure, anytime."
"Thank you," Fletcher turns to run back into the tall grass. He is almost at the edge when he hollers, "Say, is this heaven?"
"No," Andrews smiles, "It's Ireland."
Fletcher nods and smiles, then runs into the grass. "We are keeping this here," Andrews says.
"If you keep it here, then you will have to build another one to actually go on the ship. Oh, Tom, this so odd. It takes up half of our yard, and besides, Ismay doesn't want to spend the money to build another bridge," Helen tries to convince him.
"We're keeping the bridge here."
The next day was Sunday, and Thomas Andrews got the day off. Ismay and his wife had come over for lunch.
"Thomas, you're going to have to let that bridge be put on the ship. It will cost quite a lot of money to have to build another one," Ismay sits back in his chair.
"So, I'll pay for it," Thomas responds.
"Tom!" Helen cries.
"Daddy, there's people on the bridge again!" Elizabeth says excitedly as she runs into the room.
"Excuse me," Andrews pushes his chair in and leaves with his daughter.
When Thomas is outside, he stands there and sees some 18th century sailors emerge from the tall grass near the bridge. Some of them stared at the telemotors; others were trying to figure out how the telephones worked.
"My God…" Thomas said in disbelief.
Thomas and Elizabeth watched the sailors on the bridge and how they didn't have a clue how to work it, including the fact that there was no ship beneath it.
"Tom! What are you looking at?" Ismay asked.
"Them." He answered.
"Who?"
"Them. Can't you see? They're all on the bridge," Thomas pointed.
"This really isn't funny. Elizabeth, do you see them?" Ismay asked.
"Yes, Mr. Ismay."
"What do you see?"
"Sailor men, sir."
Ismay sighed, "I'll give you a week to give me the bridge back, all right?"
"I'll think about it," Andrews replied.
Ismay walked away with his wife and shook his head.
All the sailors were now gone.
Helen and Elizabeth had just gotten inside. Thomas had been staring at the bridge, and started to leave.
"Ease his pain."
Yeah, that's it. Chapter 2 is coming really soon!! Please review and NO FLAMES!!
