Chapter three Jack meets Kate
The next morning Kate awoke to the sound of her radio going off. "Hello?" A disembodied voice said on the other end. She rubbed her eyes and picked it up off her night stand. "Who's there?" She asked in a sleepy tone. "It's me, Uncle John, I need you to get up and help me organize the auction for tonight." Every six months or so, the Captain holds an auction of treasures or priceless antiques up for sale to the richest passengers on board. These items ranged from jewelry to antique furniture. The crew hated getting ready for it because the captain strove to make it perfect, but that didn't mean he would lift a finger to make it that way. "Oh man the auction!" She thought to herself. "Hello?" The Captain said impatiently. "Yes sir, I'll be ready in ten minutes." She replied. "Over and out." She got out of her bed and went into her bathroom to begin the long day ahead of her.
When she finished, she left her cabin and headed up to the sailor's lounge to meet up with Michael who had already been called an hour ago. As she walked by him for the coffee table, she popped him on the back of his head with her fist. "Hey you big baby, thanks for screaming like a girl making me think you where being murdered in your bedroom last night." Said Kate, as she poured herself some coffee. "Hey, when your told by the captain there could be maniacs on board, your gonna panic a little." He replied, rubbing the back of his head." Yeah, well, we'll see how you react if a real maniac stops by your window instead of mister Haha the clown."She replied. "Are there any danishes left?" "No, your uncle doesn't want anyone to eat breakfast this morning, he wants everyone to get working in the next minute or so." Michael replied. Kate sat beside him stirring cream and sweetener into her coffee. "You know, I hate it when we have to prepare for this stupid auction in eight hours. There's to much to do and he yells at everybody."Said Kate while taking a sip of her coffee."I mean, why can't he start preparing a day in advance?" "I don't know, he must have his reasons." Michael replied. "Oh you'll defend him against anything for a promotion!" She replied sarcastically. "No! I am only trying to be fair here." He replied. "Yeah, well, if you do ever get promoted, your life and work will suck so bad you'll want to go back to scrubbing out the toilets." Said Kate, taking another sip of her coffee. After their brief argument, the Captain began to speak over the intercom. "All crew members are to report to my office for a complete list of work assigned to each of them. Make haste!" He commanded. Kate and Michael got up and headed for the door. "Well we better hurry or He'll make life a lot harder if we don't start soon." Said Michael. Everyone left for the Captain's office for they're work sheets.
Jack was fast asleep in his bed dreaming about becoming a famous artist, and having his work published to a museum in Italy. "People, people, no autographs please!" Jack said in a cocky tone. Just before he got to shake Leonardo Da Vinci's hand, he was awoken by the sound of Melman's voice.
He opened his eyes and found Melman standing at the side of his bed with a hot tray of food. "Melman?" He said, as he rubbed his eyes. "Hey buddy, I'm really sorry about our little argument yesterday, so I made you some breakfast!" He said happily. Jack sat up and looked down at the hot plate of food Melman prepared for him."Melman, how did you cook this stuff without a stove?" He asked. "Oh I used a microwave I brought with me!" He replied. "Here let me put this on your lap." He lowering it down for his lap. "Uh, Melman, that looks hot don't touch me with it!" Jack cried. "Nonsense! I cooled it a long time ago!" Melman replied placing it down on his lap. The minute it touched Jack's lap, it burned like it was over 400 degree's hot. "Ah!" Jack cried, as he flipped it off onto the floor. "Get that away from me Melman!" He cried angrily. "Well I will now that it's ruined!" Melman replied, picking the food off the ground. "Just let me wake up okay?" Jack said impatiently. "Fine grouchy, but I'll break through that angry wall one of these days!" Melman said, leaving the room for a mop. That's when Eddy came in after having a shower. "Hey Jack," said Eddy. "Hey Eddy, how was your shower?" Asked Jack. "Terrible, the showers down here are about the size of a small toilet stall, and they produce brown cold water." "Well that's what you get when your stuck on the fiesta deck with a guy named Melman." Jack replied, kicking the covers off of his body. "Hey dude, before you get up, tell me what your doing today." Eddy asked while buttoning up his shirt. "Well, I think I'm gonna do some sketching today." Jack replied. "Why?" "you know the boss will want us to plan the heist here soon."Eddy added. "I know, but aren't we allowed some relaxation time first?" Asked Jack, while buttoning up his shirt. "Well sure, but ya know, can't go crazy." Eddy replied. "I'm not, I just want to try to relax a little." Replied Jack. "Alright man, I'll see ya later then. "Said Eddy, leaving the room to steal some breakfast."Okay pal," Jack replied, heading out the door behind him.
Back on the main deck, everyone was getting ready for the auction, while doing they're daily chores at the same time. Michael, Kate and several other workers, where in the ballroom preparing it for the auction, while other crew members hauled the heavy items up for sale into the back room for storage. The ballroom was large enough for up to 2,500 people and a shocking amount of 1,600 where already invited to come participate. There was so much to do to get ready for the auction, so the captain made specific instructions as to how he wanted the ballroom to look when finished. He first wanted a stage built by carpenters made with oak wood made in front of the storage room, then he wanted there to be red curtains covering up the doors to the storage room to make the stage look grand. He also wanted all the wood flooring replaced with red velvet carpet, and antique rugs that where also going to be up for sale. He wanted a live band to play music, so he hired some musician's who knew how to play the violin, and the cello for the evening. He wanted there to be gourmet food on a table to the far left of the ballroom filled with the finest wine, fish, salad and pasta's. The walls where to have there paintings taken off and replaced with the paintings up for sale, but some of these paintings where a good 15 feet long from top to bottom, so that would take over six grown men to do that job. All in all ,the job was going to need the work of over eighty people to do it.
Kate was hard at work preparing the stage with the curtains. She was standing on a ladder holding a part of the heavy curtain."Okay we need to carefully thread the curtain through the rod, so we need to move at the same time so none of us fall." She commanded. Michael was standing on the other side holding his half, and they began to thread it through. Carpenters where coming in with large stacks of wood and tools to begin building the stage. "Make sure you guys make it so it can hold up to 1,000 pounds!" Kate asked. To a carpenter, that was like asking them to build thirty large bookshelves in over 25 minutes, that could hold heavy books and globes, but that's what they where being paid to do. They quickly began working.
After about three hours, the Captain came into the ballroom to check on his crew. What he saw made him angry. The carpenters just now started building the stage, and Kate and Michael just finished the curtain hanging. This made him angry. "Do you think this is a joke?" Cried the Captain. "Sir, were trying," said Michael, covered in sweat. "No, I'm trying." The captain replied, "I'm not gonna take that kind of excuse from you people! I need you to get this done by eight o clock TONIGHT!" Cried the Captain, storming out of the room. Everyone began to work twice as hard now.
Jack was wearing his disguise, and was walking around on the boat trying to find a decent spot to take his costume off. He found a seating area where a lot of mothers where nursing their babies. He took his costume off and sat on a bench by the boat railing. He saw a woman next to him nursing her one year old baby. He took his drawing pad out of his bag along with his good pencil, and began to draw them. He carefully drew every outline with fine detail occasionally glimpsing at her to get the perfect outline. It took him only ten minutes and he was done. He got up and walked over to her with the picture in his hands. "Excuse me miss," he said quietly. She looked up at him covering herself. "Yes?" She asked. "I couldn't help but notice you nursing your baby, so I drew your portrait for you." He said, handing it over to her. She looked at it for a moment and smiled. "Oh this is beautiful! How much do you want for it? "She asked." Twenty dollars is my minimum," He stated. She gave him a twenty dollar bill and left. He put it in his pocket and sat back down to draw. Then a man in a trench coat came up to him. He taped him on the shoulder and Jack looked up at him. It was Eddy. "Eddy?" Jack whispered. "Hey Jack, wanna go look over the boat together, I can hear humpback whales breaching. "Eddy replied. "Yeah! Let's go!" Jack cried, putting his coat back on. They ran for the front of the boat.
Michael was directing the movers where to put the furniture in the back room, and while he did this job, Kate was doing another. She was on the phone with one of the restaurant's of the ship, to see if she could order the food the Captain wanted. "What do you mean your booked up? This is the Captain's niece! You have to listen to me it's legal!" Kate cried. Michael over heard her and made a comment, "it's not legal," he commented. "Shut up Mike!" She replied. "Please cater tonight, he wants your gourmet food!" but the restaurant hung up on her. She threw her cell phone on the ground in frustration. "I've had it!" She cried. "No one will approach the auction tonight!" "What are we gonna do?" Asked Michael. She looked at Michael and remembered he had cooking skills. "Mike, you can cook tonight and I'll get some workers to help serve." she suggested. Michael protested the idea. "No, if I cook, your uncle will promote me to chef and I don't want that remember!" Michael replied. "but Mike, were gonna have serious problems if you don't, please would you do this for me at least?" She pleaded. Michael was a good guy, so he couldn't say no. "but it's thousands of people!" He cried. "So, I'll get some people together to help you. It'll be a snap!" She replied snapping her fingers. Michael began to feel guilty and agreed to do it. "Fine, but you owe me for this!" Said Michael storming off. "Thanks bro!" Kate replied happily. "Well that's one ship sailed." She said with satisfaction. "Now to hire some maids!" She said dialing numbers on her cell phone.
Michael went around the boat to see if he could find a closed restaurant that would let him use their kitchen. He finally found a Mexican place that was closed for the day due to the severe toilet clogs in the bathrooms. He didn't want to have to work in there because of the horrible smell, but he knew he had no other choice. "I hate you Kate!" He whispered angrily to himself. He opened the locked doors and instantly could smell the bathroom from the entrance. "Oh dang! All day I have to be here!" He cried covering his nose. He bravely walked in turning on the air conditioner.
Jack and Eddy had been watching the humpback whales breach for over two hours now. It was very relaxing, beautiful and peaceful.
"Look at that one!" Jack cried, as one breached right in front of the ship. They both began to cheer and applaud the gentle giants for the show they where putting on for them. One of the smaller ones stuck it's entire head out of the water and was looking up at Jack and Eddy. They reached they're hands down and where able to touch it on the tip of it's mouth. It felt rough, bumpy, yet soft in a way. It got back in the water and swam off with the rest of the herd. "That was some experience wasn't it?" Said Jack still thrilled from his experience. "You bet!" Eddy replied. "Well, I think I'm gonna take a nap for a couple of hours, then maybe we can steal some bread for dinner tonight." Said Eddy, as he was walking back to his cabin. "See ya!" Jack replied. Jack began to make his way back to his seating area to draw some more, but on the way over, he could see a dozen officers coming his way. It looked like they where looking for someone. "Oh no!" He cried. He dashed for the storage room of the ship where they kept the unused food, cleaning supplies and that was also where the heater and the ships electrical power came from, so it was a very dangerous place to be. He opened the heavy door and ran inside. He hid behind a generator and stayed there for a while.
Kate was now being consumed by the amount of work she was doing. She was on the phone with the auctioneer who was refusing to come due to the Captain's attitude, she also instructing the carpenters on how to make the stage look with it's decorative carvings according to the Captain's requested, and she was trying to help one of the workers sew up a rip in one of the $2,000 dollar tablecloths. "Sir, please help us tonight, this is what your being paid to do!" She cried. "No! You must raise my salary to at least $200 dollars an hour!" He replied in an angry tone. "But I can't afford to pay you that much in one night! Can't I pay you in installments?" She asked. "No! If you don't have the money now, I will not do it!" and with that, he hung up on her. She threw her phone down on the ground again, this time stomping all over it in anger and frustration. "AAAAHHHH!" She screamed. "I can't do it anymore!" That's when her radio went off. She picked it up and pressed the green response button on it's side. "What!" She cried. "Kate, stop freaking out and get to the storage room. There are some problems with the lighting in the ballroom I found this morning, and I need you to check in on it. "Captain John replied. "Fine!" She cried hanging up. She stormed out of the ballroom and crossed the deck to the storage room.
Kate made it to the door and reached in her pocket for the key. But when she tried to unlock the door, she found it had already been opened. "Why is it open?" She wondered. She thought no more of it and ventured inside for the power generator. She walked all the way to the end where the big gears turned to give the ship electrical power. She reached over on gear that was rotating out of the ground for a power box that was placed above it. As she reached over, she began to lose her balance. She tripped over the gear and landed on the other side. She sat back up and shook her head. "Oh man, that hurt!" She said loudly. When she tried to stand back up, she felt her right foot stuck in something. She saw it was the gear that was jammed up because of her pantihose. She tried to pull it out but no luck. "Oh no!" She cried. Then she could see a shadow of something huge hovering over her. She looked up and saw a huge claw that was coming down to pick the gear up. She gasped in horror as it slowly began to lower itself down. "Help me!" She screamed, as she struggled to get out. Jack who was on the other side of the room, could hear her screams through the sounds of the loud generator. He peeked behind it and saw her struggling to get free. He looked up and could see the claw coming down. If it picked her up, it was going to crush her body and kill her. He hesitated to come out, but he reluctantly came out from his hiding place and made his way to her. Kate was in a state of desperation doing anything she had to to get her foot free. She tried to remove her shoe, but the heel was wedged in deeply. "Help me!" She desperately cried again, but no one still couldn't hear her. It was like being alone in a haunted house and screaming for help but no one can hear you. As she whirled her head around frantically searching for a way to get out, she noticed a young man in suspenders walking slowly over to her. She looked at him for a moment and immediately realized it was Jack Dawson! He began to reach his hand out for her like he was going to kill her. Her eyes widened as she began to scream with terror. "AAHHH!" She screamed. Jack flinched and knew that if someone outside could hear her, they would come in and find him. He moved closer over to her more quickly. She closed her eyes prepared for impact, but to her surprise, she felt a tug at her stuck foot. She opened her eyes and found him pulling her foot free, right as the machine came down nearly crushing it to bits. She shook her foot out of his hands and stepped back. They stared at each other blankly like they had never seen another person of the opposite sex before. She had to bring herself to reality before she could handle the fact that the man in front of her was a dangerous criminal.
Jack didn't know how to handle the situation he now had put himself into. He didn't want to scare her or she would go get the guards, but he didn't want her to stick around him in case someone had heard her screams. He reached his hand out to shake her's, but she hoped back beginning to breathe heavily. He began to slowly approach her as he began to try to talk her down to a calm level, but she jumped back and shouted before he could say a word, "stay away from me! I know who you are!" She cried in fear. Jack reached his hand out and talked in a slow and calming tone. "Miss, please don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you." She looked down at his hand. and then up looking in the eyes of the man that saved her. All she could see at that moment was fear. She darted right past him and ran out of the room. She looked back briefly at him and saw him standing there with his hands in his pockets, and a sad look on his face. She stopped for a moment and said something that surprised him. "Thank you," she said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear her. Then she ran away. Jack was still standing in the room scared she was gonna get some guards to detain him. "I better disappear!" He cried as he ran out of the room.
Kate was in a state of panic. She frantically ran through the crowd looking for Michael. She ran back into the Mexican diner and found him working in the kitchen wearing a gas mask. "Michael! I have some bone chilling news!" She cried. Michael saw her and threw her a mask. "Kate! Put this on if you want to breathe in here!" He replied while chopping carrots. At that point, she didn't care about the smell from the bathrooms let alone notice it in her state of panic. "Michael, I need to tell you something important!" She cried again. "Kate, I have no time to talk, I have to get this salad on the floor in twenty minutes, and I still have the Pasta and cheese stuffed mushroom caps to make before tonight." He replied cutting her off. "Michael this is a matter of life or death!" She cried once more. "The only life threatening thing I'm dealing with now is cooking in this toxic box!" He replied. "Now I'll talk to you later but right now I need to work. "He said, as he pushed her out the exit. "But Mike!" He slammed the door in her face before he heard her protest. "I need to get the guards!" She cried as she ran for the security office. Once she got there, she found that no one was in there. They where all working on the auction for the captain. (Now you see how bad the captain was on auction night.) "No wonder dangerous criminals get on the ship, security sucks!" She cried. "Will no one help me!" She slowly opened the exit door, and peaked her head out looking carefully around to see if Jack had followed her by chance. No one was around in sight, but she still was hesitant to leave the room so she stayed until she was calmed down. She sat down under one of the officers desks and tried to talk herself back into reality. "Okay Kate, don't panic! Panicking isn't going to do anything to help you." She closed her eyes and began to rest after her ordeal with the machine and Jack. Her mind slowly drifted back to the moment when the machine was about ready to come down and kill her. She remembered the horror she felt and how much of life she had not yet lived. She could remember thinking about her sister who lived in Alaska, and her friend Lance, who she hadn't seen in a long time since he lived back in San Diego. She also thought about how she had never had a relationship with anyone since most of the men she would meet where jerks or perverts. She thought about how her career had not yet been launched, and how she had never had the chance to even work in a doctors office. Not even as a receptionist. "My life has been a waste!" She remembered thinking to herself, but then she remembered the feeling of her leg being gently pulled from the grim reapers trap. She remembered seeing Jack pulling her free from certain death, and how gentle his hands and eyes where. She opened her eyes as her heart began to race. "He...saved my life." But the question that kept running through her mind was "Why did he?"
The auction began after the sun went down. Thousands of the ships wealthiest people where invited to buy some of the nicest furniture and jewelry the ship had to offer. As the crowd was pouring in, Michael was busy setting up the tables with his food. As he did this, the captain approached him looking around for his niece. "Michael, where is Kate?" He asked impatiently. "I don't know sir, but I hope she gets here soon." He replied. The captain didn't want any of his workers to slack off, especially on the auction night. His ships reputation was very important to him, and he didn't want it shattered. He dialed his phone to see if Kate would answer, but no one picked up. "She cannot let me down on a night like this!" He called one of his guards to go and look for her as quickly as possible. The guard ran off searching for her.
Kate was still under the desk thinking about what had happened between her and Jack. The same question of why he decided to save her kept replaying in her head like a broken CD. She couldn't stop thinking about his face when he was looking at her after he rescued her.
It was a confusing, scared, yet somehow, a non threatening feeling she had about him."Why am I feeling this way?" She wondered. She looked at her cell phone and saw that her uncle had tried to call her. Then she could see the clock on the screen, and by what it read, it told her the auction had been going on for twelve minutes already. "Oh no!" She cried. She came out from her hiding place and quickly exited the building. She found a security guard approaching her. She wondered if they had heard her cry earlier from the storage room or if they where coming to tell her that Jack had been detained. "Kate, your uncle has sent me to get you." He said extending a hand to her. What he said surprised her but also relieved her in a way. "Oh, yes, the auction... I'm sorry I made you come out here to get me, let's get back." She replied, trying not to sound nervous. "Alright then," he replied, taking her by the hand. As they walked back, she noticed a man in a trench coat standing by the railing of the ship watching her walk by. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that it was Jack. She quickly looked away still not sure what to think of him.
After the auction had ended, Kate completely avoided Michael and went straight to her room to sleep. As she lied in her bed wide awake, she couldn't get Jack out of her head. Her confusion was driving her crazy. "I wonder what would have happened if I didn't run away so quickly." She said out loud. Then a voice in her heart said: "Maybe he isn't what people claim him to be." She shook her head and buried it in her pillow trying to sleep it off, but she couldn't sleep a wink, not with what she was thinking about. She wanted some closure on her questions about him. She decided the only way to do that was to find him the next morning, and talk to him. It was a risky idea, one that was driven by impulsive thinking, but she wanted to know more about him. "I better not tell anyone about what happened yet until I see him again." With that she turned over and fell asleep with her mind finally at ease.