The airport shuttle couldn't move through the crowd at the docks. Its windows showed hats and overcoats and suitcases and little kids sitting on their parents' shoulders. Rose DeWitt Bukater sat,
alone, in the bus's last seat. Her orange hair spilled over one shoulder. She wore a white dress she'd found in Paris, and a big purple hat.
"Everybody out!" the driver shouted, and the engine stilled. "What, we have to walk?" Maddie Astor asked. In the front seats, Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith gathered their bags.
Rose pulled her purse strap over one shoulder and waited while the bus's door slid open and everyone climbed out. She pulled herself up by the seat in front of her, made her way to the steps, and hopped to the
ground. The sun was in her face, and she pulled her hat tightly onto her head.
Looking above the crowd, she saw the ship. She looked one way, then the other, but couldn't see its two ends. Its smoke stacks puffed into the sky.
"Wow," said Lucy Carter. "What a big boat."
Everyone laughed, and Mrs. Beckwith said, "You can be blase about some things, girls, but not about Titanic."
"At least we know we'll be safe," said her husband. "God himself could not sink this ship."
Rose closed her eyes and let the salty fresh air blow into her face.
"Come along," said Mrs. Beckwith. "This way."
Rose followed through the crowd. A woman stepped in front of her, walking two giant, long-haired dogs. They reached the wooden ramp, and Rose climbed aboard.
A scream from the crowd turned her head. She looked over the sea of thousands of people, and saw a woman clutching at a man's arm. Rose barely heard her hysterical words: "It's going to sink! That ship is going to sink! Save them! Save them!" The man pulled the woman away.
Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith had their own room, and across the hall was a four-room suite. The parlor was paneled in mahogany, and smelled of fresh paint and new furniture. There were two bedrooms, and a private, sunny promenade deck.
The porters carried in dozens of suitcases. Maddie, Lucy, and Ida ran to the windows and jumped onto the sofas. Rose laid her hat and purse on a chair. "We need a little color in this room," she said.
Ida looked at her with a moronic face. "You need to stop talking to yourself." Maddie and Lucy laughed.
The ship sailed at noon. The next stop was Cherbourg. Rose stood in a corridor with Maddie, Lucy, Ida, and the Beckwiths, waiting for an elevator.
"I hear that vulgar Brown woman has come aboard," Mrs. Beckwith said.
"Tres nouveau," proclaimed Maddie.
"What makes her vulgar?" asked Rose.
"She's from Missouri." Ida laughed.
"Her husband won the lottery," Maddie said. "Her money isn't earned."
"Exactly," said Mrs. Beckwith. "Coming into money without the smarts to know how to use it is...well, it's vulgar."
The elevator doors opened, and the Beckwiths stepped inside. Maddie, Lucy and Ida followed.
"Sorry, Miss," the operator said, pulling a cage-like door closed in her face. "You'll have to catch the next one."
Maddie and Ida laughed. The elevator descended, leaving Rose alone.