This chapter is very dialogue heavy, which gave me a new challenge - write in dialect/accents.
I realized Laura is from Brighton middle class, so she wouldn't speak RP English (received pronunciation), but probably rather use a Sussex dialect with its own pronunciation, grammar and words.
I have seriously no clue what Bill as an American in London would have spoken, probably a mixture between a Boston, New York and London accent together with words he picked up on his travels. So I kept him in RP.
Since I am not a historical linguist, I couldn't exactly reproduce the historical varieties of the different dialects. Additionally, to write down the exact sounds makes the text hard to read and incoherent. Therefore I mixed it and used certain grammatical features and words of the Sussex (Laura) and Cockney dialect (Mrs Agathon) to illustrate the language, but toned it down so it is still enjoyable to read.
Disclaimer: I don't own BSG.
Laura had expected the cruise to America to be a rather lonely experience, which, looking back, had been a very naive assumption. After all, it was a ship full of people, most of them looking foreward to a life in America, happy to share their hopes and dreams with the other travellers. They were literally in the same boat, these things built a feeling of companionship, especially among people of the same economic background. It was a rather cheerful atmosphere, the amount of childrens' laughter rivalled the sounds on Brighton Pier in summer, when the families came down from London and the rest of the country to enjoy the sea and the fresh air. It made her almost homesick, a small reminder of the very big feelings that were yet to come.
Lee seemed to have found a group of children his age to play with, mostly boys but also a couple of girls whose parents had given up on reminding them of their manners. They were chasing each other around the deck, not caring about any adult who told them to take care or slow down. Thse kids reminded her of the children she had taught at her little school in Brighton, an unruly but nice lot of boys and girls of several ages, most of them with rough hands, scraped knees and slightly dirty noses. She would miss these times, but she knew it would never have been the same anyway. Not after accient, and the far too empty flat with the bright curtains that seemed to mock her every time she entered.
Bill was still sitting next to her, apparently not in a rush to leave. He seemed happy to just keep her company, and a small vain part of her hoped it was because he enjoyed her company and not because he simply didn't have anything else to do.
"Lee found pals right speedy," she commented after a while.
"Yes, thankfully he seems to have a way with other kids. He never had problems at school - well, other than a little scruffle here or there," his father grinned.
"I wonder where he got that from," Laura remarked with a smile,"he seems like a very bright boy, very perceptive. I hope he will use these brains."
"I hope so, too," Bill answered, "though as you can probably imagine, I have certain hopes for his future, with me loving ships and the sea."
She shrugged.
"Well, at least you know of them. Young ones are often like their folks, I must know, I turned into a teacher just like my mother. But others ain't, and both lads still have time to find that out - if you let them." Now the look she gave him was sharp, almost daring to contradict her. But he nodded. "How did you come to live in England anyway? Was it because of your job?"
Bill nodded.
"Yes, but only partly. I was working for a trading company back then, not military anymore. I met my late wife since her father worked in the company as well. She was beautiful, charming, intelligent - I was rather inexperienced, a bit blind, and utterly in love. But her daddy would only agree for me to marry her if I moved to England, he wouldn't have me take his little angel anywhere else." He rolled his eyes. "So, Portsmouth it was. We had Lee soon afterwards, Zak only a couple of years later."
He suddenly seemed lost in thought and Laura knew the look in his eyes very well - it was a mixture between adoration, pain, and mostly regret. Without further thought, she took his hand, squeezing it slightly. Thankfully, Zak was apparently not planning to run after the other children right now, he was watching the people, not paying the adults any mind.
"You didn't like living in England?"
"I didn't mind it, at first, when everything was new and rosy. But I was lonely, I think. And I was always the odd one out in a rather snobby circle of rather important people. Not ideal for the long-term. It took a toll on our marriage, I won't lie. But I haven't been to Boston in quite some time either, so there is an element of risk in this move."
He looked at her, raising an eyebrow in surprise, as if he himself couldn't quite fathom that he had told her that much. Not that she minded. She wanted to know more about this man, this family, even if they would likely never see each other again after this trip.
"Are you afraid?," Laura asked suddenly, still holding on to his hand.
She had the feeling he almost blushed.
"Yes, in a way. I am afraid I made the wrong choice for the boys, ripping them out of their surroundings for an unknown future. For family they don't know yet, a job I don't know how it will turn out. It's more bureaucracy, I might hate it, but at least I can see Lee and Zak every day. What about you?" he shifted the topic.
"Ah, reckon I'm proper scared, I am! Scared out me wits, I tell ya!," Laura answered, almost laughing, "same as thee I left behind a nice pad and a real good gig in Brighton, a couple of friends, and security to travel over wide water on this steel monster to a country I have never been to before. Where I will be the odd one out. I have a gig as a private tutor in a wealthy New Yorker family now, but that is a hit or miss. The money is good, but the lads could be lovely, or horrible, just like the parents."
"What about your family?" Bill asked carefully.
"No family," Laura answered courtly, making him nod.
"Well, I hope these guys will be good people," he offered, finally letting go of her hand.
Laura felt it like a loss, but she knew it was sensible if they did not want to draw too much attention to themselves. After a while of comfortable silence, Bill excused himself to have a look around with Zak again, leaving her to her own devices. She watched the two leave, wondering whether her new employers would be like that. Probably not, judging by the correspondance they had had. Mrs Adar seemed like a society lady who wanted more time for her engagements, less work with her two young daughters, and better results for their almost teenage son at school, not like an overworked mother who simply needed an extra pair of hands. Laura had also the nagging suspicion that the American wouldn't quite like her, once they got to know her. It might be paranoia, caused by her best friend's comment when she had told her about the job:
"Laura, this 'ere sounds bloomin rotten!" she had exclaimed, "you know, you are far too pretty for that job. No woman wants another pretty young miss around her husband! She ain't gonna fancy ye!"
But after all, Mrs Adar had organised the position, the teacher told herself, and she had no intention of starting a relationship with Mr Adar. And if it didn't work out - well, she could always find a job at a school. At least that was her hope. She had to hold on to that hope.
Another woman joined her, taking up the seat that Bill had left empty, and Laura looked up. She seemed to be about her own age, rather skinny, with brown eyes and dark, slightly greasy hair under a beige bonnet. The hard lines around her mouth and eyes told a story of too much worries for such a young lady, probably about necesities such as food and living expenses, judiging by her clean but rather cheap clothing. Nevertheless, she had a good-natured smile on her face as she looked Laura up and down.
"Yer sons are proper good lads, ain't they?" she said without any further introduction.
Laura looked at her in confusion, taken aback by this sudden start of conversation.
"What lads?"
"Yer sons!" the woman repeated, very friendly but looking at her as if she was a bit stupid, "Lee, I fink? And the little borfer."
"Oh!" Laura exclaimed, "they ain't mine. But they are good lads alright."
She had the feeling she was starting to turn red. Had it really seemed like that? Had she behaved that improper? But she had only wanted to help.
"Blimey, looks proper like it," the woman gave back, without judgement but also with no mercy when Laura blushed all over.
Right then, the teacher decided she had to be more careful. She had no intention to get Bill or the boys or herself into an uncomfortable situation, even if it had been well-meant and no matter how much better the distraction had made her feel.
"Oh, scuse me, I forgot, I'm Nelly Agathon. Me son, Karl, and me girl, likes playin' wiv Lee," the woman went on, nodding slightly to herself, not caring about Laura's internal monologue "'em lot need summat to keep 'em busy on a boat."
So his was the mother of one of the boys Lee had been running around with, Laura figured. She seemed nice, if not a little bit more direct than she was used to, and over the next hour Laura found out more about the Agathon family than she could have ever imagined. They were from London - obviously, she had already guessed that from the thick Cockney accent - and were leaving England in the hope of a better life, better wages, a better future for the children. There were two of them, Karl and his older sister who had been playing with the rowdy group of boys.
"Perhaps there'll be annuver kid soon," Nelly added with a grin and a wave towards her stomach, through Laura couldn't quite say how serious she was, "what abaht ya?"
"Me?" Laura asked, quite surprised, "I ain't got no husband, have I now?"
"I reckon ye could have one," Nelly answered, nodding over to where Bill was standing with Zak, still looking out over the water. They seemed to have the patience of saints when it came to waves, and birds, and other stuff she couldn't quite find an interest in, she had figured.
"No!" she told her decidedly, trying to make it clear, "we just met. He ain't my man!"
"But ye want 'em to be," Nelly pointed out without any respect to social customs.
When she saw Laura's shocked look, Nelly patted her hand.
"Don't bovver with me! But yer a bit blind, I fink."
She gave her a wink before she was bending foreward and opening her arms as her children suddenly raced towards her, almost knowcking her back as they collided with her. Laura could see Lee was running with them, but instead of making a turn towards Bill, he came to a stop in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Nelly's smirk when he started to tell her everything about the games they had played, almost tripping over his words in excitement.
"It means nothing" she tried to tell herself, even as she kept on listening to the waterfall of information, "nothing at all."