Chapter Three
The next day, Victoria went up on deck to try to find Mr. Jack. The first thing that caught her eye was, not surprisingly, the ocean. That single sight completely dominated her attention. She walked over to the rail and just stood there looking at it.
"Take care you don't fall over the railing," a voice said from behind her. She turned to see Englehorn looking pointedly at her.
"The ocean is breathtaking," she said honestly, turning back to look at it.
"You have a strong stomach to be up on deck when so many of your colleagues are below in the hold," he commented.
"Thank you…By the way, do you know where Jack is?"
"Who?" the captain asked.
"Mr. Driscoll," she clarified.
"Er ist unten im Laderaum mit der Käfion. Er gab keine Kabinen für ihn," Englehorn said as she walked away. (He is below with the cages. There were no cabins left for him.)
"Danke schön, Kapitän," she said as she walked away. (Thank you, Captain.)
A second later, Englehorn realized that she had understood. "Wait! You know German?" he asked, confused.
"Ja. Meine Mutter ist einer Deutscher. Sie hat mir beigebracht," she said in turn. (My mother was German. She taught me.)
He nodded to her, clearly puzzled by this. "Tscuss," he said, walking away. (Bye.)
"Tscuss," (Bye.) she returned, walking back down to the hold.
ooooooooooooooooooo
Victoria entered the hold only to be met with the sight of cages everywhere. There were cages of every size and shape stacked, hung, and piled. That sense was useless.
Next sense: smell. By the looks of this place, Victoria didn't want to breathe through her nose AT ALL down here.
Taste: not bloody likely.
Touch: grime. Dirt. Various forms of animal dung. Again, not likely.
Hearing. Click. Click click click. Click. Typewriter. "Lamb's brains in stewed walnut sauce."
"Oh god," Jack's voice said. Extreme nausea. Sea sickness.
"Jack?" she called, walking forward.
"Here, Tori," he said, quite obviously seasick.
There, near the end of the row of cages. Jack.
She walked over to him and said pityingly yet understandingly, "Sea sickness."
Jack only nodded.
"You'll get used to it. Have you tried sleeping?" she said, walking over to grasp his hands which still rested on Carl's typewriter.
"Yeah. Laying down made it worse," he said, allowing his hands to rest in her grasp, even though his hands were considerably larger than hers. It was always remarkable how quickly she could type with such tiny hands.
"Do you want me to get anything?" she asked kindly.
"No, but thank you," he said, reluctantly pulling his hands from her grasp.
She nodded in understanding and walked back out, unaware that he was staring after her.
ooooooooooooooo
As Victoria was unpacking her other set of clothes, a knock came at the door. "Do you want me to get that for you?" Ann asked.
"Yes, that'd be great," Victoria said, continuing to brush out the wrinkles in the trousers.
Ann answered the door while Victoria continued to look the other way. She heard the first mate, Mr. Hayes, ask, "Can I speak to Miss Magnus, please?"
"I'm here," Victoria said, turning and taking two, long strides over to the door.
"Miss Magnus, Jimmy has something of yours to return," Mr. Hayes said.
Jimmy pulled one of his hands out of his pockets and held a book out to her, Heart of Darkness. He stole it for obvious reasons.
"Jimmy, why don't you keep it? I've read it more than once. It needs to be passed on to someone new," she said, smiling.
Jimmy smiled back hesitantly and said, "Thank you, Miss."
"Call me Victoria," she corrected as he walked away. Then, as Mr. Hayes turned to leave, she said, "You, too, Mr. Hayes."
He turned back to look at her and said, "Will do." He tipped his hat to her before returning to his work.
Victoria walked back over to her newly unpacked clothes and smoothed them out so they wouldn't wrinkle.
"Oh, Tori, Carl wants us to meet Bruce Baxter," Ann said excitedly. She quickly took Victoria's hand and pulled her away from the script. The two women hurried through the ship to the deck. Once there, they hurried over to Carl, Bruce Baxter, and the camera crew.
"Ann! Ann! Victoria! Come meet Bruce!" Carl said, waving them over. "Bruce, this is Ann Darrow. She'll be the female lead. And this is Victoria Magnus. She's Jack's assistant."
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Darrow, Miss Magnus," Bruce said, kissing each woman's right hand.
"Please call me Ann," Ann said. Victoria made no such comment.
"Of course," Bruce said.
"Excuse me," Ann said. She walked away.
"Carl, when do you need the first script?" Victoria asked, turning to look at him.
"Tomorrow. Has Jack finished it yet?"
"Almost. He should be done within the hour," she said, turning to leave.
"Miss Magnus, can I call you Victoria?" Bruce asked, stopping her.
"I don't see why not. Everyone calls me that," she said, not turning. Except Jack.
