I thought it would be worth it, while I was eating them at dinner last night I thought it was worth it! But now that my stomach feels like it's being punched repeatedly, I regret eating them. I'm never eating any of this 'fast food' ever again, and I plan to write a very strongly worded letter to this Ronald McDonald when I recover!
At least the delinquent is being a little sympathetic, she went to her classes this morning but a few minutes ago she came home and promised to sit with me. I'm glad, because Jack has been with me all morning and he has done nothing but tease me for eating so many french fries. I couldn't help myself though! They were so delectable! So gooey and salty and oh, my mouth waters just thinking about them! Of course, that's overpowered by my stomach churning at the thought of more food.
Finally the ruffian comes in and sits next to me "You know Mr. Andrews, I think the older you get, the more McDonalds hates you. My mom never handled McDonalds very well, so I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise your stomach didn't like it. Plus, I don't think you've ever eaten that much grease in your light" she tells me, laughing lightly. Oh, so my illness is funny is it? She smiles softly "Don't worry bout it, I sat Jack down to watch Bambi, that should keep him occupied for a while. And while I was out I got you a present!" she says.
A present? Oh what could she have possibly gotten me? A one way ticket back to my own time period would be appreciated! But no, she holds up a bottle of pink, something. What on earth is that? She opens it and I wrinkle my nose, it smells terrible! She smiles "This is Pepto Bismal, you just drink a cap full of this and your stomach will be feelin just fine!" she explains. She's out of her bloody mind if she expect me to drink that pink poison!
She pours the pink liquid into a clear cap and holds it to my lips. No! I'm not drinking this! She begins to grow frustrated as I refuse, I can tell by the look on her face "Stop being a baby and drink it!" she tries to order me. I'm not being a child! I'm just being logical! Liquid that pink, with that smell, can't possibly be good for my stomach! A sudden wave of nausea comes over me though and before I can stop her she pours the liquid into my mouth and holds my mouth shut, forcing me to swallow.
It tastes just as bad as it looks and smells! The delinquent merely laughs at me as I pull a face at the horrible substance. And surprise surprise, I don't feel any better! When I tell her this she smiles gently "It takes a few minutes to come into effect. I don't see why you're complaining though! When I was little my parents made me take the most horrible tasting medicine! It made me absolutely despise the smell of artificial grape! Whenever I smell it now, I feel sick to my stomach".
Now I suppose my stomach feels a little better, it doesn't feel like I'm being punched anymore. Though there is still a dull ache, I'm sure it will go away now that this medicine is kicking in. Suddenly Jack bursts into the room, tears streaming down his face. He wraps his arms around the ruffian and buries his face into her shoulder, heaving a sob. She looks a little confused for a moment "What's the matter darling?" she asks him. His voice hitches as he speaks "B.. Ba... Bambi's mom. She..." he breaks down into a fresh wave of tears. After watching the Lion King, I can only imagine what became of Bambi's mother.
The ruffian coos to him softly and kisses him "It's alright, it's just a movie! It's not real!" she tells him. He chokes on another sob "I'll never hunt another deer ever again!" he says. She rolls her eyes "Why don't you go into the kitchen and pick out a tv dinner, I'll be out there in a minute" she tells him. He sniffles and nods "Ok", he stands and leaves the room.
"You feeling better?" she asks me, I nod, my stomach feels a lot better. Now I'm just tired and I would like to go back to sleep. She smiles almost sweetly and runs her hand through my hair "No more french fries for you. I'll take you and Jack to actual restaurants from now on" she tells me. She stands and I just barely hear her mumble under her breath "Even though I'll be broke by the end of the week".
Before I can tell her it's not necessary for her to waste on her money on me she's gone. I suppose I'll tell her tomorrow when these french fries are finished attacking my stomach anymore. As I drift off to sleep I hear something break in the other room, Jack let out a pitiful little cry, and Gabby groan as she has to pick things up. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.
My dreams bring me back to Ireland, back to before the maiden voyage of Titanic. I'm standing in the gardens of my parents' home in Comber at some sort of social gathering. Nellie sits with some of the ladies, chatting casually with them about one thing or another. Elba tugs on my pant leg "Daddy up!" she tells me. I pick her up and hold her on my hip and she wraps her arms around my neck. I carry her not too far away from the group of people and sit down with her in the grass. She teeters a little ways away and picks a dandylion, carrying it back and presenting it to me. I smile and thank her for the present.
I have to hold back tears as she climbs into my lap and yawns. I stroke her hair, it's so real and yet I know I'll wake up and it'll all go away! My heart aches at the thought, I don't want Elba to disappear! I want to be with her, and watch her grow up! Don't let me wake from this dream! Please! Elba nestles her head against my chest "Love you Daddy" she tells me as she begins drifting to sleep. I wrap my arms around her, crying slightly "I love you too Elba" I tell her. I wish I could have told her that a couple more times before I had to leave, it's too late now though. She's gone, and I'll never see her or Nellie again!
The next morning my stomach no longer pains me, but my heart still aches from the dream I had. I decide the best thing to do would just be to get up and do something, try to get my mind off it! When I enter the sitting room Jack's playing with Thomas the cat on the floor. He looks up at me "Oh! Just in time sleepy head! We have to go to the pub and meet up with Gabby!". The pub? He grabs his marconi jacket off the counter before tossing me my overcoat "I heard it's cold out" he tells me as he heads out the door. I pull on my coat and follow him out.
We walk down the street and he begins chatting with me "Did you know you can call someone on the telephone who's on the other side of the world! I've always wanted to do that! Talk to someone on the other side of the whole world! Don't you think that's neat?". I merely nod, it actually is pretty interesting. He grins brightly "Gabby promised she'd buy me a cellular telephone! You can carry it in your pocket! Wouldn't I have loved to have a telegraph machine that could fit in my pocket! All that equipment was a pain to lug around!" he continues. Hearing him talk about the marconi equipment peaks my interest slightly "Don't you miss it at all?" I ask.
He shrugs "Well I do I guess, I miss hanging out with Bride in the marconi room. But things are so much better here! Just look around! You can literally do anything here! You can go across the world in a matter of hours, when before it took days, weeks even! And nobody is separated by class here, not as much as before anyway. Nobody dies of diseases anymore, because they have modern medicine! And I mean, they have sent people to the moon! Just imagine! We stick it out here, things could be great!" he tells me. He does make a good point, the future does have lots of nice things that our own time period didn't have. One comment I can make just walking down the street is, it's a lot cleaner!
I suppose the delinquent gave Jack directions, because eventually we manage to get to the place she works at. It's not really all that fancy, entering in there's a bar and a couple small tables around. The ruffian's standing behind the bar in an apron, wiping the counter down. When she sees us she smiles brightly "Hey guys!". Jack and I both sit at the bar and watch her as she swipes her rag around the counter "Hungry? I can get you something before we go!" she tells us. I shake my head, I'm not hungry and Jack doesn't seem to be either. She tosses her rag under the counter and unties her apron, stashing it under the counter also "Alright boys, I have an exciting thing I wanna show you!" she tells us.
She has us get into her car, and then offers a small smile "Get ready boys, this is gonna be about a 4 hour trip" she tells us. I cringe at 4 hours, that's how long it took the rescue ship to come save us. They were 2 hours too late! Well at least this time 4 hours doesn't seem so long, we get to the place and Jack is bouncing in his seat excitedly "Oh tell me what we're going to see? Is it going to be amazing?" he asks. The girl smiles and nods "Oh yes, Mr. Andrews in particular will appreciate the, modern engineering" she tells me. Engineering? Well she certainly has peaked my interest now.
We park the car in a large parking lot and she begins leading us towards a strange looking place. There are tall metal hills with moving cars on them. One in particular looks to be even taller than the Titanic herself! The girl pays and we enter this strange place. Jack points a sign out to me that says 'Blackpool Pleasure Beach'. Is this a theme park? They had them back in my time I'm sure, but I'd certainly never been to one!
The girl studies a map with a critical eye "Well boys, this'll be an adventure for both of us, I've never been to this park before. I've always wanted to go though, so here we are! Now, I think the best thing to start off with would be the grand national". The Grand National? Isn't that an english horse race? Well we are near Liverpool, but I don't believe that the horse race will be held now, it's almost winter!
A large wooden structure comes into view and the girl leads us towards an entryway. Now we're waiting in line for this, whatever it is! Jack seems skeptical of this "What is gonna happen?" he asks, she thinks about it before saying "Well, it's hard to explain. You'll find out soon though" she tells us. That's not exactly reassuring. Suddenly it's our turn to board this strange train cars. Jack sits by himself in front of us, while the delinquent sits beside me. She shows me the seatbelt, and then pulls a strange bar down onto our lap. The person in control of the strange train gives us a thumbs up and then we're moving! I grip the bar, what's going to happen?
Besides the anxious feelings gripping me, this is all rather interesting. How did they build this, and why? How are we being pulled up this hill? The delinquent was right indeed, this was certainly mechanically engineered. But I haven't the slightest idea what sort of engineering this could be! Suddenly we reach the top of the hill and Jack lets out a yelp. We're rolling down this hill at such high speeds! The ruffian throws her arms up over her head and says 'Woo'. She nudges me "Come on Thomas! Try it!" she tells me. She never used my first name before, that's odd. I hesitantly let go of the bar and hold my arms up like she's doing.
Jack leans over the side of the car, pointing at a train that's on the tracks next to us "Bloody hell they're gonna beat us! Speed this thing up!" he says, slamming his hand on the bar. As though that will make this thing go faster! I think I've figured it out a little bit, it's gravity pulling us along! What is most interesting though is the weightless feeling I get when we're at the top of the little hills! I get lifted right up off my seat, especially now that I'm not holding on! This is, well dare I say it this is rather fun! Jack cheers excitedly as our train glides past the other one, and crosses under the sign that says 'winning post'. I suppose that means we won, gee I never thought I'd win the Grand National before! I'm sure Nellie and Elba would be proud!
Our next ride is called 'steeplechase', another horse race related ride? Unlike the last one though, instead of trains this one has actual horses that we have to mount! The delinquent pats my shoulder "You're on your own for this one ok? I'm gonna ride with Jack" she tells me. I don't mind, after the last thing we rode on I'm confident I can ride this with no problem. It's less than half the height of the other ride! I mount up on a white horse that's on a green track, while the ruffian mounts a yellow horse to my right, Jack sitting behind her with his arms wrapped around her. I can only chuckle slightly at the role reversal, I shouldn't have expected anything different from the pair of them!
Suddnly the ride starts and I'm slightly alarmed right off the bat. The only thing holding me on this this is a single strap, what if I fall off? Surely they would have better safety on something so, open! I mean really, I could slip right off the wide of this! I'm distracted by my worries by the chain pulling me up the hill. So that's how this works, a chain? So simple and yet, I wouldn't have thought of it. To be honest, I never would have thought of any of this. There doesn't seem to be a purpose to any of it, it's just for personal amusement!
I grip the horse tightly as it swings around tight corners, now I'm back to feeling unsafe. Jack and the ruffian are enjoying themselves though, Jack looking back over his shoulder at me and sticking his tongue out. Oh real mature Jack, can't you be an example for your fiance? She turns around and sticks her tongue out and I sigh, of course he can't. We go up and down some small hills, and suddenly I'm right alongside them. The girl gives me a funny look as I end up crossing the finish pole before her and Jack. When I dismount I'm shaking slightly, I suppose I was holding on just a little bit too tight.
"What was the look for?" I ask her, she laughs "Because the heavier the horse is, the faster is goes. Your horse beat Jack and I, therefore that must mean you are very fat" she tells me. Fat? Me? I'm not fat at all! I suck in my gut and Jack laughs at me "Come off it man, she's only teasing" he tells me. I don't care, I'm not fat! I have a very good metabolism! At least, back in 1912 I did, maybe it was that McDonalds that did me in! Yes, that evil Ronald McDonald made me gain weight with his addictive french fries!
The girl leads us up towards the big red thing I saw when we were coming in. She points up to it "There we are boys, the biggest coaster in the park. Let's go!". Suddenly I'm a little nervous, this thing is even taller than the Titanic. Heights never scared me before, I've been on scafolding that was over 100 feet in the air, but this rollercoaster is 215 feet tall! I've never heard of anything so tall, and now I'm going to go all the way up there!
The line is short, and it only makes me more fearful. What if coming on here is a terrible mistake? I must be trembling because the delinquent nudges me "Hey, if you're that scared I can ride with you ok?" she asks. I nod, I'd feel just a little bit better with her. Because if something horrible were to happen, then I could blame her for it right away! Jack looks completely nonchalant about the whole event, he examines the ride quietly while we wait. Finally it's our turn and the ruffian and I sit front row, with Jack right behind us.
As we click up the hill, I can't help but notice that it uses the same mechanics as the other rides we've been on. A chain is pulling us up this hill, and up, and up, and up! The top of the hill looks so far away! There are little markers alongside the track, and I watch them anxiously as they go by. 150 ft, 200 ft, I can hardly bring myself to look out over the theme park. It feels as though a gust of wind could come and blow this whole thing right over! My ship could fit under this thing right now! I've never been so high up, and I'm terrified!
Of course, I have about 10 seconds before we drop off the face of the planet to admire the engineering of such a massive structure. Well done whoever built this. I glance to the side and notice the ruffian is gripping the lap bar tightly, taking deep breaths as though she's about to give birth. I don't think she fancies the height either, but it was her idea to get on this thing!
Suddenly we're going over and my heart is pounding out of my chest. I'm more scared than I was on Titanic! Jack let's out a girly scream and I shamefully join him as we plunge down the steep hill. It only lasts a moment, but it felt like an eternity. Now the delinquent throws her arms in the air and cheers excitedly, I can't bring myself to do the same this time around. We're still so high up, and going so fast! Why do I keep trusting this madwoman? Why?
When the ride stops Jack and the delinquent are laughing, and I laugh a little too. I feel proud, like I just conquered the world or something! I'm surprised the thing didn't give me a heart attack though! The girl asks me for the time and I tell her it's 5 in the evening. She smiles "Sorry boys, looks like we're going to have to get going. Jack whines "But we've only been on 3 rides!" he says. She takes his hand and acts as though she's considering "Well, I don't have class or work tomorrow 'cause it's sunday. So, I suppose we could stay a little longer.
A little longer indeed, we stayed in that park until it was pitch black out and the park was closing. We must have ridden everything, from the wild train things to a dainty little carousel. There were a few games, and I found out I was quite good at the ones with the guns that shoot water. I won Jack a giant yellow mouse looking thing, that the girl dubbed as being called a 'pikachu'. Apparently it's some sort of 'pokemon', but I don't know what that is so, it means nothing to me. As for myself, I won a giant, unicorn, that's almost as big as the poor little delinquent. Of course, she is considered short for her time period, only being about 5' 3", but still! I find it wild that they have stuffed animals that large!
Finally we get into her car and begin heading home. Jack sits in the back with my unicorn and his pikachu, using them as pillows while he sleeps. The ruffian glances over at me "So, did you like it?" she asks. I nod, I really did enjoy the day actually "They certainly were marvels of modern engineering. They were so tall, they made the Titanic look like a mouse" I tell her. She laughs "Oh wait until we get to New York City! They have buildings over 1,000 feet tall! I'll take you and Jack up there if you'd like" she tells me. I shake my head "That's quite alright, I'll be content looking at them from the ground!" I assure her.
We get home and the delinquent gently tries to arouse her fiance, but has no success. He must have really gotten worn out by our experiences! I don't blame him though, I'm rather tired too! The ruffian grabs the unicorn and the pikachu, while I pick up her fiance and carry him into the apartment. I put him on the couch, where he's been sleeping since we got here. She tucks his little pikachu under his arm and smiles "Daw, doesn't he look cute?" she asks. I swallow akwardly, he's a grown man, it's not really that cute.
She pats my back "Well Thomas, I'm going to bed. Goodnight!" she tells me. I smile at her "Thank you, for the wonderful day" I tell her. She shrugs "Twas nothin! I love going to amusement parks!" she tells me. With that she enters her bedroom and closes the door. I walk over to the guest bedroom and flop on the bed. I'm exhausted, I don't think anything could possibly make me anymore tired than this!
OMG Everybody! Do I have something funny to share with you all! Alright, so one night I was very bored so I took a piece of paper and some cardboard and I made a ouija board. Me and my sister only used it a few times, and we mostly talked to 'spirits' that we knew. But on the 4th of July me and my friend Heather used the board, and we ended up talking to a ghost who claimed he was 'Thomas Andrews'.
Me and my friend have talked to 'Thomas' twice now. And he had quite a few things to say! First of all, he is incredibly insulted by some of the fanfiction that has been written about him. We asked him why he was insulted by it and he said that he was not gay (referring to the slash fiction that has been written about him) and he is not stupid. He also said that Victor Garber did not portray him accurately in the movie, but his Biography is completely accurate to the way he really was.
He was absolutely hilarious! For starters, we asked him who was to blame for the Titanic sinking, and he said that it was the iceburg's fault for being in the way. Then I asked him if I should buy some coal from the Titanic and he said no, when I asked him why he told us that it's dirty. We asked him what we could have from Titanic if we couldn't have a piece of coal and he said that we could have gold money from the Titanic instead. Then we asked him how we were supposed to get the gold money, and he told us we should Scuba dive! We told him that the Titanic was too far underwater to Scuba dive to and we asked him how we were supposed to do that and he said 'Magic'. He informed us that the money was hidden on E deck in the second class by a passenger who stole the money from first class.
We were stacking coins on the corner of the box we were using the ouija board on (Because we were bored and found the coins on my bedroom floor) and he told us exactly how to stack them. Then we asked him if he wanted to name the tower and he named it Titanic. He then proceeded to take the pointer and push the stack of coins off the top of the box and then he told us to restack them. Only this time he named it the Olympic, we asked him why he was doing this and we basically settled on that he was imagining Mr. Ismay sitting on the top of the stack of coins and he was knocking him out along with his fleet of ships. So he knocked over the Olympic pile, and the last pile was the Britannic, which he knocked over very quickly. I guess he didn't like Mr. Ismay very much XD
Overall, we very much liked talking to 'Mr. Andrews'. I don't know if it really was Mr. Andrews or not, but whether or not it was, it was still funny! So anyway, please feel free to review! Tonight at the gift shop, we have Ouiji Boards! And since you can talk to dead people on them, they don't need any adjectives to make them more awesome because they're already awesome by themselves.
THANKS FOR READING!