Free Women and Children First by Gill Paul Page B

lot, go home and put down a deposit on a nice engagement ring for Florence. Mrs Grayling would probably be delighted if he told her that was the way he planned on spending her money.
    But he knew he wasn’t going to do that. That’s not what it had come to him for. It was his chance to do something that would change his life once and for all. He got fed up lying there with his thoughts swirling round and decided to get up. He jumped lightly to the floor, pulled on his shoes and wandered out into Scotland Road. He hadn’t consciously chosen a destination but his feet led him, almost without thinking, up the five flights of staff stairs to the boat deck
    It was peaceful up there. The ocean was like a millpond. No wonder there was no swell on the ship because there was none on the ocean either. The stars seemed a little brighter than the night before, which meant there was less cloud in the upper atmosphere. The ship’s engines made a mere humming vibration up on deck, like a cat purring in its sleep. They were noisier down below where he slept.
    An officer descended from the bridge and walked across to the officers’ quarters. Reg looked over the railing towards the surface of the water and saw someone’s head protruding through a porthole, smoking a cigarette. Otherwise all was still and silent as the grave. It occurred to him to wonder whether Mr Grayling might have another assignation with the boat deck girl. It had been around that time the previous evening when he saw them. Neither of them appeared, though. Why would they? It was after one a.m. on the White Star Line ‘Honour and Glory’ clock when Reg slipped down the Grand Staircase and back to his dorm.

Chapter Eleven

     
    After breakfast on Sunday morning, Annie McGeown went with her children and her new friends from Mayo to the church service led by Captain Smith up in the first-class dining saloon. She wore her best green frock, her only hat and a beige wool jacket, and she combed the boys’ hair over to the side the way she had seen on the boys up in first class.
    It was only one deck up from their cabin, on D Deck, but there was no mistaking it was another world. Her feet sank into the plush carpet. She could see her reflection in the dark wood panels. Everything gleamed with polish and it smelled more expensive than their third-class dining room, in a way that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. But Annie wasn’t one for yearning after what she didn’t have. She was excited to be there among the first-class ladies in their jewels and towering hats with peacock feathers. She was curious to see Captain Smith, and when he came in she was impressed by his smart uniform and air of authority. He had kind eyes, she decided, and a gentle voice. She clutched the baby – fortunately asleep – and squeezed her daughter’s hand tightly.
    The captain read at length from a prayer book Annie didn’t recognise, and the boys soon began to fidget. She had to swipe Patrick on the back of the head when his whispers grew too loud. Annie wasn’t listening to the service herself, though, too busy gawping at the grand clothes, the fine fabric of the gents’ suits, the fancy plasterwork on the ceiling, the elegant curve of the legs of the chairs. The tables were covered in spotless white damask cloths and the sunlight streaming in through the big picture windows sparkled on the chandeliers up above. Annie felt overwhelmingly privileged to be there.
    When the captain finished speaking, a quintet began to play and the congregation of some three or four hundred all sang along to the hymns. There were nervous glances when it was announced they were to sing the one entitled ‘For those in peril on the sea’ but Annie felt it had a nice tune to it. As she sang, she thought about fishermen way out on the ocean in their tiny craft trying to earn an honest living. That’s who it was about.
    And then it was over and people were filing out towards their cabins to freshen up