The hours passed on Titanic pretty quickly. The brunette of Hope Valley had taken a nap during the afternoon, fed Josephine a bit more and then slept for a bit longer before waking up for dinner. It was soup, brown gravy, sweet corn, boiled potatoes, sweet sauce, fruit, cheese, pickles, rice and plum pudding. It looked pretty good, but Clara wasn't too hungry at all. Maybe a bite or two of the soup and plum pudding but that was it really.
She sat outside the rest of the night looking up into the skyline. There was no moon, but the stars were shining more brightly than ever before. The weather was fairly clear with little dark misty clouds covering a bit of the scenery. The wind was pretty calm too.
"It's chilly as hell out here, Miss Clara."
"Carl, quit stalking me." Clara said. "You stalk more than work."
"Apple?" He held it out to her. "I actually was suppose to be modeling."
"Modeling?"
"Yes. For a woman painting on the ship," Carl said. "I was suppose to wear a skirt and petticoat." He laughed.
"I'd rather see you in a wedding dress I had to wear. The one I wore for the Pennington wedding." Clara laughed.
"Why?"
"That thing was so itchy! I swear if I had scratched all the itches I would not have any skin left to keep my body warm or cool." She continued. "Carl, I don't think you ever told me what you plan on doing after we dock in New York."
"Didn't I?" He asked. "I didn't?" She nodded. "Huh, I could of sworn I did. Well, my mother and father live in Boston and so I'm going there to visit for a bit before finding work again."
"What happened in England?"
"Oh, a friend of mine from Boston was going there for his father's work business and brought me along. My plans were to stay there for a month and head home. A month for me turned into two years." Carl smiled. "I found a job around the area we lived with some friends, upper east of London, and stayed put. The second my stomached craved my mother's food I knew I had to come home."
"You like to travel much for work."
"Of course. I like traveling a lot but I do like the idea of settling down for some time. I'm heading to the thirties, no joked intended."
"Heading to the thirties?"
"Yeah. I'm sure I'll still be alive by the nineteen thirties. Hence, I'm heading to the thirties." Carl explained. "Sounds better in my head. But, there are a couple of places I'd like to visit too."
"Where else is left?"
"California first. Los Angeles first and then head over to this place called Santa Monica Pier that a friend of mine told me about when she was visiting London for a bit. Then head back to New York for a bit before going up to Canada."
"Where in Canada?"
"Hope Valley, silly!" Carl laughed. "After what you told me I have to go visit there now."
"You have such a bright character that even Rosemary would be amazed by your positive outlook on life." The green eyed girl giggled. "And all the women would enjoy your manners."
"Oh, so do I teach the men to be kind then?" Carl laughed. "I can do that. Mama taught best."
Clara and Carl kept talking about her friends of Hope Valley. Carl told her that he really needed to come visit her as soon as possible to meet her friends. Carl spoke of his friends too back home in the Boston area and in other cities too. He also told Clara of his different travels around most of America and some places in Europe. Clara admired his stories. He reminded her of Nellie Bly.
As the ship continued it's destiny to New York, the hours of midnight were coming to a close. Clara woke up to someone shaking her shoulder and turned upwards to find Carl smiling at her. "You fell asleep for a good hour, you know."
"Oh, I did?" She yawned.
"Sure did. Miss Josephine did after I picked her up before you might of possibly dropped her." He explained, showing her the sleeping baby in his left arm. "I'll escort you back Miss Clara."
"Okay." She said and followed by a yawn.
The two young adults stood up and began their walk back to where the stairs would lead them back to the third class. Clara pulled the blanket around her some more and tightened the blanket around Josephine to keep her warm. It had to be almost twenty degrees tonight. "It's freezing. It's like swimming in a tin bucket of ice cubes."
"No kidding." Carl commented.
The duo then heard the sound of a bell ringing and two men should above them. Peering up, they saw two men on the look out pier above them. Curious, the two kept silent and listed to what the men were shouting very loudly. But due to the distance they were unable to hear anything that the men were shouting.
"What do you think the problem is, Carl?" Clara asked.
"I don't know," Carl said with a linger in his voice. "Wait right here."
Clara watched as Carl walked quickly to the side of the ship and looked forward in the direction the men above them were shouting. She saw Carl nearly jump back and faint when he saw whatever it was. She also heard him cuss loudly. Clara found herself walking to where Carl was standing.
"What is it?" She asked and peered over. Her vision might be a bit blurry but she had a gut feeling she knew what was she facing. "Carl?"
"Holy Lord of almighty!" Carl shouted. "What the hell are they doing downstairs!?"
A few seconds passed as they face what could possibly face death of some sort. They both felt the ship vibrating as it began to steer to the side, beginning it's avoidance with the object in front of them. Clara assumed they were just going to miss it. But there was a weird vibrational movement on the ship that had herself guessing twice.
Clara felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and begin to drag her backwards. "Look out!" Carl shouted as he pulled her back. Just in the nick of time too.
Titanic had just skimmed roughly against the monstrous size iceberg, causing the ship to vibrate more violently than it was just before and pieces of the monster falling down; nearly crushing Clara, Josephine and Carl to death. The ship continued to vibrate violently for another second or two before the ship was no longer attached to the iceberg.
"Goodness, that was very close." Clara said. Her eyes and heart were still shaken from impact. She started to sooth a suddenly frightened Josephine who began wailing loudly when Carl had pulled them both back from the falling ice. Clara rocked her little girl and turned to Carl. "That could have been one huge of a mess."
Carl, however, stood still as ice. Just barely breathing and unable to think for a moment or two. Carl ran over to the side of the ship, slipping on some ice, before peering over the ship and staying there for a moment. He was studying the impact of the hit.
"Carl?"
Carl stood back up from studying down and turned to Clara. His face was weak and pale.
"Carl?"
"Miss Clara," He said. His eyes were still wide and large with fright. "Go back to your room."
"Pardon me?"
"Go back to your room and stay put." He said. "Stay put and keep alert." He said rather quickly. Then in a harsh whisper he said, "If you can carry things into a bag, place them in there quickly and stay alert."
"Okay." She said, but was not sure why he told her this. "Is everything okay?"
"I hope so, Miss. Clara. I really do hope so."
Uh oh.
