Chapter six the golden pen
The next day, Kate was once again up bright and early to get through her work as soon as she could. As she sat down at her vanity table after her shower to fix her hair and make-up, she began to stare at her face blankly in a deep state of thought. "What am I doing!" She thought, as she touched her cheeks with her cold hands. "I need to be realistic, what if he's a bad guy? I can't let my guard diwn for a second."
The plan was to see him one last time then tell Michael about him being on board. She wanted Michael to know so if he caught him, he wouldn't arrest him. Though convincing him Jack was safe to be around was going to be easier said than done, especially after almost wetting the bed over a shadow he could see through his window. Seeing Jack in the flesh was a guaranteed stroke. But never the less, he needed to know andone way or another he was going to know.
She hurried and got herself ready for the day and left her cabin.
Making her way for the staff lounge, she couldn't help but stare at every man that passed by wearing a trench coat. Even if they had wives wioth them, she couldn't help but look. "Stop! People are gonna get suspicious!" She thought, taking her eeys off of a passer byer. She pushed the doors of the lounge aside and went straight for the refridgerator for the apple juice the ship usually was stocked with. Michael was sitting at the breakfast table eating some cookies and having some coffee. "Hey," he said with a full mouth. "Hi, how are you this morning?" She asked, pouring herself some juice and grabbing an apple from a bowl. "I'm tired, work was way to long yesterday, I can't believe the snow owl ball is coming up in two days! I can't push myself to work on that after the stupid auction!" Kate totally forgot the ball was coming up, now she definitely needed to tell him about Jack since she probably couldn't see him while preparing for the event, it would be nice to have some help hiding him away until they got to England. She looked at her pale and tired friend trying to fight the urge to tell him now. He saw her staring and said in a sleepy tone, "why are you looking at me? I know I look terrible," "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'm not staring at you because of your looks, which by the way aren't terrible, I just feel bad that your so tired. I don't want to deal with the snow owl ball now either."
Michael nodded his head in agreement. "Well, we have to whether we like it or not, which is why I need to go start work now so hopefully I can have my break at my usual time." Michael said, getting up and tossing his paper cup into a garbage can. "You coming?" He asked, halfway out the door. "No, I need to eat a little, then I'll join you in the ballroom." She replied. "Okay, see ya." He left her all alone in the lounge, though she didn't mind it. She needed time to think about her situation. "He could just completely freak out if I introduce him to Jack," she thought, carefully examining the problem from every angle. "But he needs to know, it's not like I have a better chance telling anybody else. He may be my only hope to getting Jack to England safely."
Jack was awake in his room still in bed, but sitting up. Sleep was absent to him since his nightmare, but he did manage to fall back asleep after a good dour hour talk with Eddy about his messed up childhood.
Jack never liked to talk about his childhood, since it brought back dreadful memories of the abuse and torment he recieved, but who can you trust in if you can't trust the only friend and family you have? Jack had lost contact with his parents a long time ago, and has yet to make any effort to reach out to them. His dad was a bitter drunk and his mom was always running around on his dad. He himself grew up to be a troublemaker in school, and a thug in secret. He didn't share to much of his past with anyone, not even Eddy was permitted to know the really dark secrets he kept locked away in the chambers of his heart. The only thing he would tell Eddy was that he left to be 'free from it all'.
Eddy had left to shower a few minutes before Jack woke up, and Melman was absent due to unknown reasons. But Jack didn;t care where Melman was as long as he stopped wearing short shorts.
He could see clearly out his window from where he was. It looked like there was a shark swimming in the distance. Some highly adaptable sharks can live in the cold oceans like the Atlantic. The one he was looking at was a Greenland shark. Greenland sharks can live in frigide cold water and hunt just as fast and brutal as their cousins living in warmer climates. Jack had a fear of sharks, but also a very big fascination. He hoped to his feet and hurried over to the window to see the passing by shark. Greenland sharks grow to be around 21 feet, and like to hunt the traditional animals any other meat eating shark with sharp teeth would want. Though the shars aren't supposed to be agrressive towads humans., Jack still knew that a shark was a shark, and instincts where gonna be ;istened to before the anything else. As the shark approached the window, Jack began to step back as he looked up at the massive body.
Eddy came in quietly thinking Jack was asleep, but was happy to fin hims awake and watching the water. "Good, maybe sleep helped him out a but." He thought, walking over happily to his friend. Jack didn't hear him come in though, he was to caught up in the size of the fast approaching shark. "Whoa," he said, staring blankly at the huge creature. Eddy didn't notice the shark swimming over to the window until he looked up. "Ah!" He cried, juming back from surprise. " Ah!" Jack screamed, quickly looking around to see what the source of the shouts where. "Eddy!" He cried, "your such a loser! You almost gave me a heartattack!" "Sorry, I didn;t know you where looking at a shark man!" Eddy replied. Jack looked back at the winow and saw that the shark had passed on by. "Scary death machines!" He stated.
"Glad to see you up and about man, I was afraid of your mental health." Eddy said with a sigh of relief. "Yeah well I need to be up and ready for today." He replied, going back over to his bubk to make it. "Where is melman?" He asked, as he straightened out the loose and wrinkled covers "He is eating breakfast with some seniors in a diner right now, I think he's been there since three in the morning." "Can't afford a six o clock in the morning meal?" "No, he's like us, poor and willing to do whatever you have to to get food!" Eddy said with a laugh. "When are you meeting the girl?" "I'm meeting her around the same time as yesterday, and in the same place. I'm going to show her some of my work." "That's cool bro," Eddy replied.
Jack went back to his bunk and fixed the bed. He and Eddy both decided not to let room service in for identity security, so they where stuck cleaning their own space. It was hard to move around though, due to all of Melman''s luggae lying everywhere in an already small room no bigger than thirty square feet. "You know what?" Said Jack, as he struggled to walk around Melman's stuff. "Melman is a woman! He has to have all his stuff with him." "It's probably to fix his hair and make-up!" Eddy replied with a laugh. Right then, Melman came back and smelled really bad. "Oh!" Eddy cried, hopping back after smelling Melman. "Why do you smell like garbage!" Melman smelled his shirt, but couldn't detect any obvious odors. "I don't smell anything, you guys are smell sensitive!" Jack went over and smelled him slightly and could tell right away what it was. "Melman, where you at the petting zoo by any chance?" Asked Jack.
The ship had a small petting zoo for kids, and it was free admission early in the morning. It didn;t have a lot of animals, just the ones they could get to adapt to boat life. They had a few goats, but mainly sheep and lambs. There was also one donkey.
"Yeah, I was playing with the donkey!" Melman replied happily. "Oh! Now our room is gonna smell like donkey and goat!" Eddy cried, covering his nose with his shirt collar. "Well I'm sorry if you don't like baby animals! But some people in this world care about little creatures!" Melman replied feeling offended. "Melman, ever since we've moved in with you, my lap has been burned, we've been woken up by your tiger growl snoaring, and now your going to make this barely ventalated room smell like a barn yard!" Jack replied, covering his mouth and nose with his hands. "Well mister artist, perhaps I need to move if you and mister Bird don't like me." Melman stated firmly. Eddy glared at Jack urging him to kick Melman out, but Jack refused and apologized to him. "Sorry Melman, just woke up in a bad mood today." Said Jack uncovering his nose. The smell that was coming off of Melman made his eyes water. "What about Eddy?"
Melman asked pointing at an angry looking Eddy. "He's always waking up in a mood." Jack replied sarcastically. Eddy rolled his eyes and stepped out of the room refusing to respond to Jacks comments. Jack picked up his cloak and his case that contained all his art things and prepared himself to leave. He quickly checked his case to see if his drawing pad was in it, but noticed that his good drzwing pen was missing. "Hey Melman, have you see a little golden pen?" Asked Jack, while searching all in his case for the missing tool. "No," Melman replied shrugging his shoulders. "Where did you last see it?"
"I always put it back in my case after i'm done using it, maybe I left it on the deck somewhere." Jack replied, becoming increasingly concerned.
The pen had been given to him by the man who first taught Jack how to draw. The man was a homeless man who had become very wealthy from some comics he wrote for a British news paper. He took Jack in right after Jack was thrown out of his house and allowed him to live there until Jack could get on his own two feet. The first thing the man taught him how to draw was a simple apple tree. Nothing to har yet not to simple, just the way he himself had started out. It took Jack a few weeks to get his hand on the basics of art, but he eventually got it down and was soon drawing harder images like certain wild animals, portraits of people and landscapes. After being brought up under the wing of this kind man for over five months, Jack had soon earned enough money selling artwork on the street corner to leave and make it on his own.
Before he left, the man, who's name by the way was Wyatt Wats, gave Jack several thousand dollars to support him for the next couple of months, and a little golden pen made of 14k gold, and had been passed down to him by his own father. Surprisingly enough, Wyatt's father had the same initials as Jack did, so it had even more of a personal meaning to it for Wyatt, but he had grown to love Jack as his own son which he had never had, for he and his wife Audrey never had a son, but three daughters instead. One of which Jack had grown a crush on and even took out at one point during his stay. So to Wyatt, Jack recieving the golden pen that was over sixty years old, would have been liking passing it down to his own son. The only thing Wyatt told Jack to do with the pen was to: "Kepp it safe and close to your heart, and at some point pass it on to a son or someone you cherish with your entire being."
Those words, impacted Jack and turned his bitterness he grew in his heart towards strangers due to his father, into nothing but upmost respect and love towards those around him.
Jack placed his cloak on and hurried out the door without saying goodbye or letting Melman know where he was going. He was determined to find his pen if it killed him. He decide to look back to all the places where he had been the previous day, to see if he could find it. He became tense and afraid as he made his way up the many stairs for the top deck, since his pen had his initials carved in it, someone with a sharp eye and good instincts could find out he was on the ship if his pen was found by such a person. And it was already known to every passenger on board of who he was. The raid on the boat was legendary and news of it had spread worldwide to other sailors, to warn them of Jacks decietful and sneaky infiltrations.
Several hours later...
With no luck, Jack was unable to find his pen. All over he searched including all the places he stole food from, and nothing had been found. After a good three hours of searching, he took a rest on a chair unde rna umbrella and drank from a bottle of water he stole from a kitchen while he searched for the missing pen. "Well, I guess I'll never see it again." Jack said in a tired tone. He felt sad since the pen brought him back good memories of a short yet happy life he had with a family who took him in as one fo their own, but also very scared at the same time for someone to stumble upon it and make a sudden discovery of his presence on the vessle. He sighed and looked out at the raging waters. The sea was very rough that day, and air much colder then it was before. The Atlantic wasn't making the ships voyage through her bitterly cold waters a pleasent one that day. Then he looked up at the sky, and the sight of a flower petal that must have been blown off a nearby plant flew by. Suddenly, he remembered he had a date with Kate around that time, since the sight of the flower petal reminded him of Kate's rose scented perfume she always wore. A scent that alerted to him of her coming presence.
He looked at his watch and gasped to see it was almost three o clock, the time he had promised to meet her at and in the same place as well. "Oh man!" He got up and hurried on over to their meeting spot.
It was three ten, and Kate was sitting on the benches they where seated in the previous day for over ten minutes. Waiting and wondering where he was. Then, fear of him being discovered by a passenger or a guard crossed her mind. Should I go and look for him? She wondered, as she looked around for the sight of anyone in a big cloak. Then from her right, she heard the sound of fast approaching foot steps coming her way. She turned her head and saw Jack who was panting and wide eyed as he approached her. She stood up to greet him as he stopped a few feet away from her with his hood off his head and his case in hand. He bent over exhausted from his run, panting and struggling to catch his breath. "I am so sorry for being late," he said, in between breaths. "But I have gone and have lost somethign dear to me, and spent a long time looking for it."
"Really? What have you lost Jack?" She asked, while giving him a sip of her cold bottle of water. "A small golden writing pen." Jack replied, taking down large gulps of water. He violently began to cough from taking down to much to drink without enough oxygen. Then Kate suddenly remembered picking up a pen from Jacks seat the previous day, and taking it back with her to her room to return to him the next day. She had it with her in her pocket,a dn reached in to take it out. "Is this the pen your looking for?" She asked, holding it out in the palm of her hand. Jack looked up and saw the shimering golden pen with it's cap and everything still intact. He stood straight up and carefully took it out of her hand. Then he gave her a surprised look.
"Where did you find this?" He asked, staring at the precious metal writing tool. "I found it yesterday on the bench where you had been sitting, and figured it was yours. So I took it back with me and kept it in my cabin for safe keeping until I met up with you today." She replied with a smile. Jack looked at her gentle little face, and blushed. He took her by the hand and shook it vigorously. "Thanks so much, you have no idea how much this pen means to me!" He said happily. She was stunned by his great aprreciation for the simple return of a little pen, but she didn't know what history it had. But she graciously smiled and said in a flatered tone, "your very welcome."
Jack took his cloak off and took a seat on the bench beside Kate. He placed his artist case on his lap and slowly began to open the barley functional locks. By the looks of it, it was made of worn out leather that once looked strong and new, and the locks where barley attatched to the case anymore, making it difficult to close securely. That would explain how he lost his pen in the first place. He took out his drawing pad and handed it to Kate fro her to view. She looked up at him wondering what he wanted her to do with it. "Open it," He happily urged with a bashful smile. She looked down at the worn looking pad and opened it up to a beautiful full colorwed picture of an apple tree, with some blue jays sitting in a nest on the branches singing to their chicks. She gazed at the beautiful detailing and the pastels he used to color it in. "Oh my Jack, this is a beautiful painting. When did you paint this one?" She asked.
"It was one fo the first ones I had ever made. I made it when I was about seventeen." He replied, pointing towards some writing in the top left corner of the drawing. "Do you see the small writing? That is my initials and the date in which I painted it." She looked closely to where his finger was pointing and could see his initals and the day it was drawn on. The scripture was written as follows: JWD on 3/5. But there was no year written down. "Why isn't there a year written by the day?" She asked, feeling curious. "I was taught not to write certain things down, my teacher did it, so did I." He replied. "Why wouldn't he want there to be a year written down?" She asked, looking up at him. He looked back at her and replied, "Because he liked to keep it a mystery. You see, when he sells a piece of his work to a museum or any buyer, he likes to keep them wondering about when his work was done. It't just a personal preference I have grown fond of myself. " He explained.
"Turn the page, there is much more I want you to see." He urged, giving her another bashful smile. She turned the pages and saw many different things. A lot of the drawings where scetches of regular ordinary people he would draw if someone caught his eye. For example, there was a drawing of a man in a military uniform holding his daughter and cuddling her before taking off to war, and there was another where a two children where playing on the beach building sandcastles. The lifelike details and colors almost convinced Kate the drawings where actually pictures taken with a camera. She was stunned and didn't know what to say to him. By the look on her face, Jack knew she was speechless.
"Oh my Jack," Said Kate, flipping through the drawing book. "These drawings are absolutely amazing! How on earth did you leanr how to make such wonderful works of art like this?"
Jack sat down closer beside her and began to tell her some stories explaining his talents with a pen and paintbrush.
"Well you see Miss," He began to explain, taking in a deep breath.
"When I was young, I was thrown out of mu house and was forced to find a new place to live." "Why where you thrown out if you do not mind me asking?" Asked Kate, with intense interest in her eyes.
"For, uh, fighting and just not getting along well with my father." He replied, hoping his quick excuse would convince her. The truth of the matter was, Jack was thrown out for a much darker reason, but he Never shared that reason with anyone, not even Eddy. He kept it in the dark corners of his mind locked away where he wouldn't ever have to face those things.
"Anyways, after I left a man named Wyatt wats, a famour painter where I had lived, took me in one day when he found me begging on the srteet corner by a barbour shop where he had just gotten a hair cut." Jack paused taking a moment to reflect. "I remember him reaching a hand down towards me and helping me on my feet. They where so sore since my shoes had rubbed them raw." Kate stared at him as he spoke, unabe to believe such a nice man could have come from such a terrible place and survived.
"He took me back to his home he shared with his wife and kids, and let me live there until I could get back on my feet." "How did your interest in art begin?" Asked Kate, becoming ever more curious. "It started after I went into his art studio, which was off limits to everyone. I didn't know the door was wide open, but once I got a look at the big master piece hanging up on his easel,... I don't know, I guess I was drawn to it." He brushed his hair back that was being blown in his face by the winds that where now picking up speed, and becomd more and more cold as the hours had gone by. "I walked in and looked at it sharply. I didn't touch it though, 'cause it looked wet and like it had been worked on that day. And just as I was about to leave, there he was, standing right behind me, Mister Wats with his grey bushy eyebrow raised, arms crossed and with a half smile on his face. I was sure he would throw me out now that I had seen his latest work."
"What did he say?" "He didn't say a word, I was on my knees of course begging for forgivness, but all he did was smile and help me up. He said that if I was interested in art so much, let him show me a thing or two about it." "And fo course you accepted, right?" Aske dKate, brushing her own hair behind her ear. "Of course, we spent long hours together just discussing all the important lines, shas, details, tools, paints you name it!" Jack trailed off a minute as his mind brought him back to the day he recieved the golden pen from Mister Wats. "And that Miss Rowten, is how I aquired my most prized possession." He held his pen up high, so the suns light would hit it just right to make it's golden finish sparkle. Kate looked up at the delicate tool and wondered still, why such a little pen ment so much to him. "Why does it mean so much to you?" She asked, pointing up at it. Jack handed it gently to her for her to view closley and began explaing why this little instrument ment so much to him. "The pen was given to me the day I decided to leave. You see, this pen was the very first pen he used to draw hiw first picture. A simple apple tree, which was the very first painting I made myself. The pen had been passed down to him from his father, and was told to pass it down to hisfirst born son as his family did as a tradition. Well, obviously I am not his son, but we had f=grown so close we bonded like father and son. I had never had such a relationship with my dad so he meant a great deal to me." He placed his fingers over the pen that sat in the palm of Kate's hand nd turned it over gently to show her the initials carved on it.
"The initials here are the ones of his father: Jason Walt Drakeson. Which closely resemble mine being: Jack William Dawson. They didn't match Mister Wats last name, because he had his name changed to his wifes maiden name when he married her. Otherwise, he would have had the same initials like his father." "So, I suppose all the men in that family shared first, middle and last names beginnign with the letters J,W and D then?" Asked Kate, looking closely at the pens carvings.
"Yes, that would be correct little lady." Jack replied smiling happily. Kate couldn't help but smile back. He had a grin that no one could look at without needing to smile back.
"Anyway, when I was about to leave, I remember him giving me this little black box made to hold a watch. I opened it and discovered the pen. I had known all about the value and tradition behind the pen, and wa shonored when he told me he loved me like a son enough to want to pass it down to me. He told me these exact words after I thanked him for it: 'Jack, remember, give this to your own son or pass it on to someone you truely care about with all your heart and soul, and never forget that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.' And after that, I left. I cried so much as I sailed away from his home." He looked away from her quickly, as if he was trying to fight off coming on tears from those old memories.
Kate didn't know what to say or do to help him. She looked down at the pen and saw how old it looked. It looked like it was made of gold, but it did have tarnish and a little amoutn of green rust in it from constant handling, but it was still a sharp looking pen probably worth more then it was the day it was made. She scooted closer to him and placed a hand on his upper back. He quickly lturned his head back at her, startled by her physical contact. His wide eyed expression told her that he wasn't used to touching like that, and probably not very comfortable with it. She took her hand off his back and placed his precious pen back into his hand, and closed his fingers around it. "Thats a beautiful story Jack, and the memories you hold with this pen are truely those of a real father son relationship." He looked down at her soft and gentle face, and softened up a bit. The tense look on his face became calm, relaxed and comfortable. His cheeks began to turn red from her gaze she had on him. "Thank you so much." He said softly.
With trembling knees, Jack got up and placed his cloak back on in a hurry to leave. He didn;t want to stay around her anymore now after he reacted so strangely to her contact. But Kate's heart began to pound as he made a quick effort to leave, she quickly thought of something big to ask of him since she was definitely sure he was not there to rob the ship of it's riches. She sighed, closed her eyes and asked her question, "Jack, if I'm going to hide you from my uncle for the next two weeks, then I need to tell one other person about you being on board." He looked at her very seriously. "Why do that? I've been pretty well hidden so far." He asked, with a serious gaze.
"Well that's the thing, it isn't easy to keep you away from the guards or anybody who is of higher authority above me. In fact, the security on board is going to grow the closer we get to the night of the snow owl ball." "Snow owl ball?" Jack tilted his head to the side and placed his hands in his pockets. "It's a ball we have every year around this time to benefit the endangered snow owl, and every ball is always sevurly guarded to protect a lot fo the wealthy people on board. " She replied.
He was unsure if her telling a friend was a good idea. He had already risked a lot trying to convince her he was a safe guy to be around, there was no guarantee anyone else would react the same way. He paced back and forth across the deck for a few minutes, while Kate stood by and waited for his answer, while he thought long and hard. He couldn't run back down stairs and tell Eddy, since he told her he was the only on who boarded the ship illegally. But if she was willing to hide him for the next two weeks, and if she was needing to tell one other trustworthy person about him and Eddy, then he was goign to have to tell her about him.
"Kate," he said quietly, stopping his pacing pattern and walking over to her. "I have to be honest with you about something," She looked at him intently waiting for him to continue. "I have a friend who came with me living in my cabin on the fiesta deck. His name is Eddy and he has the same reason for being on board as I do. " He looked at her still, none changing expression on her face. It wasn't an angry one, but a puzzled one and perhaps one of dread. "Why didn't you tell me there was one other guy with you?" She asked, sounding a little bit stressed. "Because, you already where freaked out over me, how was I to know how you would react to two ex cons on board?" "Good point," she looked out at the sea and thought long and hard about this new situation she was now in. Not only did she need to tell Michael about Jack being on board, but now she had to tell him two ex cons where on board. And to top it all off, she had to cinvince him somehow they weren't a threat. What do I do? She wondered, staring blankly out to the sea. She looked back at Jack after making a decision. "Okay, I'm definitely going to need to have to tell my co worker about you, but don't worry, he's a great friend of mine. Annoying sometimes, but a good friend. Just let your buddy downstair know what I want to do, and let me know if it's okay." Jack walked right up to her and replied, "It's fine, go ahead and tell him about us." He felt as if he was making to quick of a decision, but his gut told him to do it. She was puzzled by his sudden change of thought.
"Are you sure your comfortable with this Jack?" She asked. "Of course, I need all the help I can get to pass through smoothly. Just let me know once you've told him. How about tomorrow at five o clock in the evening you come by and see me, and let me know how he took it." She nodded her head in response. "Okay, tell me which room your staying in so I can keep a closer eye on it for you." She asked, taking out a notepad and a pen to write donw his rooms number and location. It's on he fiesta deck, the fhird hallway at the end of the of the hall on the right." He explained. She quickly wrote down her information. And placed her notes back in her back pocket.
The two parted ways and went back to their original posts. Jack in his room, Kate back at work. Swhile she walked across the deck, she went through her mind what on earth she could say to Michael to stop him from freaking out about Jack. How would he take it? Well, she was going to find out soon.