A smile played at the corners of Linette's naturally full lips. The might air was invigorating and reminded her much of the small northern country in Europe where she lived as child. Beside her stood James. His untrimmed hair danced across his furrowed brow.
"What's the matter?" Linette asked, using her playful French accent. James didn't even turn to her.
"Where is Logan?" He asked, continuing to concentrate on whatever had caught his attention. Linette saw Monique, escorted by Logan, coming toward them. Once she caught her sister's eye, she waved for them to come over.
"Is something wrong?" Logan asked, seeing James' expression. Without saying a word, James slowly pointed into the distance. After following the direction of his friend's finger, Logan saw what it was that had caught James' eye. An iceberg. And it seemed that the ship would be coming awfully close to it.
"We should warn the captain." Logan said hurriedly. Judging by the mass of the ship, the time it would take to turn away from the direction it was going, just enough to escape the iceberg, would be about twenty-five minutes. And, because as of that moment all engines were in use, the distance between the iceberg and the ship could be covered in maybe a half-hour.
"James, what is wrong?" Monique asked. She tried to get her fiancé's friend to answer her, but only succeeded in an abrupt, 'Don't worry'. And then the two men were off. Logan knew the captain fairly well, so he was surprised when the captain paid no heed to his warning.
"This ship is the Titanic. She can plow down all the iceberg there are in these seas." He said calmly as He fr;ehnguj;renjgugbrhebghlwbgujerlHe reassured as he sipped his tea.
"But, sir. I've already gone through the math. Wouldn't it be better to be safe than sorry?" Logan tried again. Again he was metaphorically pushed aside. Finally he gave up and tried to push the iceberg out of his mind. James also tried to. But it kept nagging at him. Even as he tried to finish his evening with Linette, he couldn't get it out of his mind. He tried desperately to think about anything else, but a horrible foreboding took hold.
A half-hour later, James and Linette had gone beneath the deck to their quarters. Linette was just beginning to untie her corset strings when she heard a long horrible screech. The sound of something scratching metal.
"What was that?" She asked worriedly. James threw her bathrobe to her. In his heart he knew the worst had happened.
"James!" Linette demanded as he drug her up the stairway. In no time they were on the deck and the answer to Linette's question was right in front of them. A massive iceberg was scraping alongside the Titanic. Blocks of ice fell onto the deck right at Linette's feet.
"Holy Mary, mother of God, help us." She muttered, her grip on James' hand tightened. He nodded.
"Amen."