Chapter Two
1912
Sixth Officer James Paul Moody, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, and Second Officer Charles "Lights" Lightoller all crowded around a window on the bridge to look out over the business on the ship.
"Do you think we'll be seeing the passengers soon?" James asked.
"Soon enough, I'd imagine," Lights said.
Harold grinned, "Are you hoping to see any rich passengers and hoping to hear the latest scandal?"
James smirked despite the light blush that was creeping into his cheeks. "What's wrong with reading the scandal column? It's never boring!"
"I imagine not," Lights chuckled. He looked over his shoulder and quickly tapped the younger men's shoulders, "Someone's coming."
Immediately the trio turned away from the window and separated so they would not appear so cluttered or run the risk of raising the Captain's ire.
"Will!" Charles announced when the figure emerged on the bridge.
First Officer William Murdoch smiled, "Good morning gentlemen."
"Good morning," James and Harold chorused quietly.
"Is there anything exciting taking place?" Will asked.
"No, it's been fairly quiet," Lights said.
"It won't be for too much longer."
"What do you mean?" Harold asked.
"There's some passenger that has higher ups in a tizzy. Mister Andrews would pitch a fit if he knew about these demands!"
"Demands? What demands?" Lights asked.
"There's some First Class passenger who has this gigantic chest that they insist be kept in their cabin. They won't even let the stewards carry it to the cabin."
"Maybe it's full of something valuable…or they could be rather paranoid."
James chuckled, "Of course it could also be something with spiritualism. Isn't that becoming more popular in the Colonies?"
"It comes and goes in phases," Lights answered. "There might be a resurgence somewhere over there."
Harold paused before curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "Do you think it might be real? The spiritualism and communicating with the dead?"
"It could be but I'd prefer to see it for myself before believing in it. It's incredibly easy to fake ghost communication."
Lights and Will nodded their agreement.
"In a ship like this we'll find out what it is sooner or later. People can't hold gossip forever," Will said.
"Unfortunately the reality of the situation will most likely be far less exciting than the truth," Lights added.
Below decks many of the crew were rushing from room to room to make sure everything was in top shape for the passengers.
To First Class stewardess Mayda O'Brian it seemed rather silly to set all the tables first thing when nobody would be using them until that evening. Still, it was protocol and needed to be done despite what anyone thought or agreed with.
Mayda also knew to be grateful for the work as she had siblings to help support as the family had lost their parents when Mayda was young.
Working as a stewardess was hard work but she was grateful to have it. Not everyone was so lucky.
She carefully set another glass against the crisp white fabric of the table cloth. Each glass looked so expensive and carefully cut and engraved. Even the utensils had been carefully made and etched.
Mayda knew that she had never seen let alone touched such finery before. She did wonder what the first class passengers would think about it. Would the wealthy be happy with it or bitterly complain that it was not extravagant enough for their wealthy tastes.
"Mayda darling!" A fellow stewardess called out a bit too loudly to her.
Mayda turned to see Charlotte, a pretty and lively blonde woman with large blue-green eyes. Charlotte had a habit of calling her fellow stewardesses by their first names followed by "darling". Charlotte half trotted over to her and stopped in front of the chair.
"Mayda darling, you've set the utensils backwards!" Charlotte said.
Mayda looked down at the table and turned bright red. Oh, the curse of being left handed in a right handed world!
"Don't worry, I'll help you set it right," Charlotte reassured her.
"Set it right? Was that a bad pun?" Mayda asked with a bit of a smirk.
"It wasn't meant to be but I like it!"
Chuckling and shaking her head Mayda began to carefully reset each table setting.
The pair worked briefly in silence until Charlotte spoke again, "Have you met the officers?"
"Not yet, but I have met Captain Smith."
"Yes, I've heard he's retiring after this voyage."
"It's quite the way to end your career."
The two continued to chat until the subject of the passengers came up.
"There's some passengers with a big chest. They're not letting anyone else touch it," Charlotte said.
"How did you find that out?" Mayda asked.
"There's so much talk about it below decks. It's not every day you hear about something like that."
Mayda nodded, "It's probably nothing, just someone who is worried about something going missing. Some people are worried that way."
"Yes, I suppose so," Charlotte said and straightened. "Well, that's that! Off to a new task!"