Chapter 3. A Delay? Hmm…
Early on the morning of April tenth, a certain member of the Andrews family reluctantly stood still as Edith laced up her corset.
"Its sailing day, miss! You must look perfect!" Edith said as Katie rolled her eyes.
"It'll take a lot longer to get her perfect!"
Edith and Katie looked at each other, unsure of where the comment came from. Katie looked out the door just in time to see Miss Samantha Ismay's dress as she stood up against the hallway wall.
Katie looked back down at her dresser to grab the clip Edith called for. As she looked down, Sam ran to the other side of the doorway, while saying in a raspy voice, "If I had a penny for every penny I had- Aw crap! I messed it up."
Katie shooed Edith away from her long enough to say to Sam, "NICKEL! IT'S A NICKEL!"
"If I had a nickel for every e-mail I got, I would throw them at people in the mall!" Sam giggled, still in the hall.
"Dude! Just come in!" Katie yelled to her hyper friend.
"SAILING DAY!" Sam shouted excitedly. Katie rolled her eyes as she squirmed in her dress. "Ello, Edith!" she said cheerfully. "I think I can handle it from here." Edith nodded respectfully and left them to themselves.
Katie watched intently as the door shut with a click. She quietly tiptoed over to the door and listened to hear the footsteps disappear with distance. "Do you have them?"
Sam stood with a pleased smirk on her face. She reached up under her dress and proudly pulled out a pair of her brother's trousers. The pair of pants was laid down on the bed. "Ah! Thank you!" Katie squealed delightfully embracing the garment. "Wait- you've had them up your dress that whole time?"
Sam shrugged. "It's not like I could carry them or anything. J. Bizzle already gives me funny looks."
"Maybe it's because you call him that," Katie sniggered.
"Well, we were leaving our house and I was waddling like a penguin outside," Sam explained. "There was nothing else I could do."
Katie said, "Whatever. It's pants. That makes me smile." She slipped the pants on underneath her peachy dress as Sam plopped on the bed.
"Dresses started out with the best of intentions," Sam sighed. "'My hips need more room'. Oh, look what they have become…"
"Pants rock," Katie stated as she adjusted her newly acquired layer of clothing. "Dude! We gotta go! We're sailing today!" They held a momentary mini wave celebration before they headed out to the car, packed with what they needed for the trip to New York and the return voyage.
&&&&&&&&
The Southampton dock looked smaller than ever next to the Titanic. Countless trunks were pulled out of the vehicle as Ismay and Andrews told the stewards where they were to go. The door to the car opened as a steward held a hand out to assist the girls. Katie came barreling out of the vehicle, attracting the eyes of many surrounding passengers.
"Please show my daughter to her cabin," Andrews told a nearby White Star Line employee.
Shrieks of excitement escaped from the two girls as they excitedly jumped up and down. It was almost 11 o'clock as they were led to their cabins. "Ms. Ismay, here's your parlor suite, B- 52, 54, and 56," the bellboy said.
"Jack. Pot." Sam simply said as she took in her elaborately decorated room.
"I am totally sleeping over," Katie squealed busily exploring the room, giving extra attention to the bounciness of the beds. "Unless my room is cooler."
The two girls were then assisted to Ms. Katherine Andrews' room on A Deck, cabin 37. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" their steward asked. Both shook their heads then excitedly let the weight of the day sink in.
"Do you have a shirt?" Katie asked. "I wanna just wear these pants but I don't have any shirts."
"Uh, no," came the reply, along with a funny look and a giggle.
Katie sighed. "Maybe Pops has one he won't notice missing."
"Ok, time to get semi-serious," Sam stated, plopping on Katie's lone bed. "We need to try to stop it from sinking."
"How?"
"Well, we shouldn't tell anyone what we know unless it is absolutely necessary," Sam concluded.
Katie scoffed, "Like they would believe us?" She started rummaging through her belongings, placing things around the room, making it more homely. "We should make sure they have binoculars in the crows nest," she suggested.
"Good idea. We can also try to get J. Bizzle not to tell Smith to light the rest of the boilers," Sam thought aloud. "Might have some sort of effect."
"Don't you think it might be easier and less suspicious if we could just like delay it, or get ahead of schedule?" Katie asked. "I mean, five minutes might make a difference. Maybe one of us can go overboard!"
Sam guffawed. "That's all you, buddy." She jumped off the bed and looked out the porthole. Suddenly, she turned to Katie with a grin. "Lightbulb!"
&&&&&&&&
"I can't believe we're doing this!" Katie said concerned as Sam was busily tying a large knot.
"Shh! Keep quiet! We can't attract any attention!" Sam urged. "We caught a break with the bridge being empty, we can't take too many risks." The knot Sam was securing was finally up to her standards as she gave Katie a pat on the head. She smiled widely then scurried out of the bridge to Katie's complaints.
"This was your idea! Why am I the one getting the crappy end of the deal! I'll kill you!" Katie shouted as her friend speedily headed down to A Deck.
&&&&&&&&
"Let me get this straight," the Master-at-Arms said to Katie. "Someone pushed you against the steering wheel, tied you to it, then ran off?" Andrews, Ismay and Smith all listened with interest as Katie told her story.
"They tied me, then ran off," she dramatically explained, sniffing back feigned tears. Theater class was showing its perks.
Andrews stood up appalled. "Who would do such a thing? They must not have been right in the mind." Katie let out a snort of laughter, which she quickly covered with a few sobs.
"I can assure you that we'll be on watch for the man," Smith said before leaving to continue preparations for sailing.
The Master-at-Arms said, "According to your description he was short, but tall, about average height, with dark-ish hair that was almost really short?"
"And," Katie added, "he was wearing a jacket."
"That should narrow it down," Sam said under her breath before Ismay smacked her with his hat.
Ismay replied, "Well, we are not behind schedule, luckily." Katie shot Sam a dirty look at his comment, having gone through all of that for nothing. After all the ruckus of that event died down, Sam and Katie headed to the Grand Staircase at A Deck.
"Wow! We can go see Jack and Fabrizio!" Katie noted after she had concluded her yelling at Sam. "They get on like now!" The two wound through the crowded corridors until they reached their desired elevator.
"'Ello, there, ladies," the attendant said in his heavy Irish accent. "Where can I take you to?"
"Bottom floor, por favor," Sam told him. "Haha that rhymed."
"After this, we should go to the officers quarters to try to see Ioan! I mean, uhhh, Lowe!" Katie suggested.
The lift attendant turned to the girls then turned back to open the doors. "Hey, Bubs, how do you get to the third class entrance gangway thing?" Sam asked him.
"Go down one more flight of stairs, then make your first right, then your second left," he replied.
"Thanks!" Katie told him. "The name's Katherine Andrews." She held her hand out for him to shake.
"Jeffrey O'Sullivan," he responded, shaking her hand. "Andrews? Related to Thomas? His daughter?" Katie nodded. "And are you Samantha Ismay?"
"Guilty as charged," Sam said, shaking his hand. "Heard about us?"
"A little," Jeffrey told them. "Well, I hope ya use my lift again." They all waved goodbye before Katie and Sam ran off to the third class gangway to wait for the one and only Jack Dawson.
Their heels clunked down the buzzing third class hallway. "Hey, what do you say we have a little fun with them?" Katie giggled with a mischievous smile. She stopped abruptly as she recognized Jack's voice at the door they stood near.
"Have you been through the inspection queue?" the officer asked Jack and Fabrizio as they tried to board.
"Of course!" the sandy haired one lied. "Anyway, we don't have any lice. We're American. Both of us."
The officer hesitated. "Right, come aboard." He shut the door with a loud bang and locked it. Jack and Fabrizio headed down the hall.
Katie and Sam jumped in front of them blocking their way. "Excuse us," Jack said, but the two held their ground.
"You're bad," Katie told him.
"He's not American," Sam said, shaking a finger at Fabri, who looked on a bit confused.
Katie said, "And you DO have lice."
"And nice features," Sam added.
Katie turned to her. "Hey, we were supposed to act like we knew everything, not that we think he's hot!"
"But he is!" Sam argued.
"I know he is, but now he thinks we're crazy!"
"You are!" Jack laughed as he watched the two argue. Fabri tapped his arm then signaled to another hallway, allowing them to avoid the pettifogging pair.
"Great, now he ran away!" Sam observed as they headed to their cabin.
"Well, it's your fault!" Katie bickered.
Sam rolled her eyes. "Pssht."
"Screw this. Let's go see Lowe."
