Sam went back up on deck with Fabri and Jack, where the sun was glinting off the ocean and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Jack and Fabrizio were so incredibly happy-go-lucky, Sam considered herself happy to befriend them. They were the most real and carefree men she'd ever known. The three of them decided to explore some more before mealtime.

They ran all the way down to the bow of Titanic and on the ropes. Jack leaned over and looked at the water. The ocean was sparkling like the Lake of Shining Waters in Anne of Green Gables.

Jack looked down and saw a group of dolphins. "Hey, look, look, look! Look, look! See it?" he said happily. "There's another one! See 'em? Look at that one! Look at that one! Look at him jump!"

As if to illustrate Jack's point, one of the dolphins executed a spectacular jump. "Cool!" Sam crowed. "Woo-hoo!" yelled Jack. He whooped again happily. Fabrizio pointed to something in the distance. "I can see the Statue of Liberty already. Very small, of course!"

"I'm the king of the world!" Jack shouted, pumping his fist into the air. Sam laughed as the other two whooped and howled like wolves. They were clearly having a ton of fun, and Sam allowed a great big dumb guy smile to creep onto her face too. To win tickets on a ship this nice was sheer dumb luck, even if Titanic was doomed.

The rest of that day was spent exploring the ship, or the parts of it that were allowed to steerage anyway. Sam was amazed at just how big it was. She had read that Titanic was as long as three football fields, but seeing it was a whole other story. She kept getting lost among the veritable maze of steerage corridors. She also met several new friends.

There was Natalia, a Russian woman who spoke heavily accented English, a Spanish woman called Maria who was loads of fun, and Maggie, the mother of two she, Jack and Fabrizio had passed in the hall. Her son John was especially mischievous, but his sister Emily was quiet and sweet and loved Sam's stories about the world of Harry Potter.

Dinner that night was especially scrumptious. Gruel turned out to be some kind of oatmeal that didn't taste half bad, and the bread accompanying it was delicious too. Sam liked playing on the Steinway and she was very fond of the books in her travel bag too.

Samantha slept fitfully that night, despite how comfortable her bed was. She was plagued by dreams of icebergs, screaming and lifeboats. Finally, around five AM, she accepted that sleep had evaded her and went to the wash stand to clean up a bit.

She brought some fresh clothes, a soap cake and a pair of comfortable shoes to the communal third class bathtubs. As she washed and dressed, she felt loads better. She decided to braid her hair rather than put it in a bun. Braids are more useful. She tied it back and brought her book to the dining room to eat and read until the stewards served breakfast.

April 11, 1912

9:00 AM

Breakfast was ham and eggs, potatoes, milk and bread and tripe, which turned out to be some kind of fish. Sam didn't realize just how hungry she was until the steaming hot food was served. She and Helga sat together and got to know one another better, despite the language barrier and Helga's heavy accent. Helga and her family were headed to Minnesota to try and start a dairy farm.

Three hours later, as Titanic was docked in Queenstown, Ireland, Samantha met Jack and Fabrizio on the steerage deck, and the three friends crossed the full length of the ship over by the stern to the steerage deck. Sam was reading a copy of A Little Princess while quietly singing to herself, Jack was sketching a little girl being shown a view of the ocean by her father, and there was a kid and his brother playing with a small ball. Fabri struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to him, a curly haired man in a bowler hat and a brown coat.

"The ship is nice, huh?" he said. "Yeah, it's an Irish ship," Bowler Hat said. Fabrizio was confused. "Is English, no?" Bowler Hat scoffed. "No, it was built in Ireland! Fifteen thousand Irishmen built this ship. Solid as a rock. Big Irish hands," he said with pride toward his country.

He watched as an officer walked two dogs down the deck. Bowler Hat scoffed again. "Ah, now that's typical. First class dogs come down here to take a shite." "Lets us know where we rank in the scheme of things. Bowler Hat gave a sarcastic chuckle. "Like we could forget? I'm Tommy Ryan." "I'm Jack Dawson," Jack said, shaking the Irishman's hand. "Fabrizio," said the Italian. Tommy said hi to him too.

There was a silence, and Sam realized that Tommy was looking at her. "And who might you be, lass?" he asked quietly. Sam set aside her book and smirked. "I'm nobody. Who are you? Are you nobody too?"

Tommy let out a great barklike laugh. "Then there's a pair of us - don't tell! They'd banish - you know!"

"How dreary to be somebody!

How public like a frog

To tell one's name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!"

"Goddamn, you are something else," said Sam when they were done laughing. "Don't judge a book by its cover," he warned smilingly. "Come now, you must have a name."

"I'm Samantha Miller, but most folk call me Sam," she said. She set down her book and saw that Tommy was kind of cute with his babyish face and seafoam eyes. And any guy that can quote Emily Dickinson from memory is okay by me!

Tommy turned back to Jack. "Do you make any money with your drawings?" But the steerage artist wasn't paying attention. Jack was staring at a beautiful redhead on A deck, completely lovestruck. Fabrizio waved his hand, but it didn't work and he laughed. "Ah, forget it, boyo. You're as like have angels fly out of your arse as gettin' next to the likes of her!"

"Tommy's right, Jack, you've not got an chance in hell with her," Sam pointed out. Jack snapped out of it and grinned. "Hey, a guy can dream!" Jack and Fabrizio went down to the general room to kill some time before lunch, leaving Samantha and Tommy to their own devices. Sam decided to break the resulting awkward silence. "So Tommy, what's your story?"

"I'm from Belfast, but my mother and father moved us from there to Queenstown when I was sixteen. I'm 21 now. My father and I worked in a coal yard to pay for my ticket aboard the Titanic. Took damn near a year!" he said. "And what's yours?"

Sam had once read that to tell a convincing lie you had to stay as close to the truth as you possibly could. "I was born and raised in the heart of New York City. My parents died in a car crash along with my brother. I moved to Southampton when I was sixteen and I've lived there ever since until Jack, Fabrizio and I boarded. Jack and Fabrizio found me in a pub and won us our tickets in a poker game off some Swedish idiots who were drunk off their asses. Jack and I are going back home and Fabrizio is going to America for the first time," she explained.

She was surprised to remember that save for the part about living in Southampton for a long time, her family really perished in that car crash. Stick to the truth, indeed! Sam was starting to feel a bit bored and uncomfortable, so she politely excused herself and went back the general room.

Entertainment options for third class weren't as sparse as she had originally assumed. The general room had benches where one could sit and read, smoke, chat, play cards or play music on the plain but pretty Steinway piano in the corner. There were children running around and playing with dolls, spinning tops, and other toys. Young girls played hand clap games with their parents closely watching. Olaf Dahl, Helga's father, sat reading a Norwegian newspaper he had brought along for the trip. Helga was sitting next to him doing some needlepoint and her mother was sewing handkerchiefs. Jack was sitting at one of the tables sketching away.

Sam looked at the paper and was amazed. Jack was an extremely talented artist. He had drawn a man who sat a couple of benches over drinking some water. He had managed to capture nearly every detail, and she had to admire his work. "Hey, you're really good. How'd you learn to draw like that?" she asked.

"I don't really remember. I've been drawing since I was thirteen," he told her. "Jack is'a good artist!" Fabrizio said, clapping his American friend on the back. A little girl of about six or seven came running over. "Hi!" she said. "My name's Cora. I saw you sketching me and my daddy today."

"Hi there Cora!" said Jack. "These are my friends Fabrizio and Sam." Cora perched herself on the spot next to him. "Can I draw something?" Jack nodded. He tore a sheet out of his sketchbook and gave it to Cora. Samantha gave her one of the pencils she kept in her skirt pocket. The little girl set her gorgeous doll aside and began to scribble away happily.

Leaving the three of them to their own devices, Samantha went back to her cabin in search of a decent book. One of her suitcases was filled with them. There was Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Ambassadors by Henry James, Howards End by E. M. Forster, When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Net by Rex Beach, Pride and Prejudice, A Little Princess, Wuthering Heights, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. She became lost in the worlds of the books and became completely oblivious to her surroundings for the next two hours.