Kate by the Ocean

Kate looked out over the Atlantic, a giddy smile plastered onto her face. The sky was bright and blue, and a light breeze gently ruffled the red curls that escaped from her straw hat.

“I can’t believe I finally get to go! And on such a magnificent ship!”

She had seen the Atlantic before, of course, growing up in a small coastal village in Ireland, but she had never seen it look so beautiful, so full of hope. This was going to be the first, and perhaps only, time she’d ever cross it.

“I’m so excited for you!” her younger sister, May, beamed. Both she and her youngest sister, Fiona, had come to Southampton to see her off. Unless Kate could come up with enough money to send for them later on, they would probably never see each other again.

“Great Grandma would have loved to live to see this day,” Kate said, sighing. She could feel a tear threatening in the corner of her eye. “She’d always tell us about the Great Hunger that she went through when she was a young girl, and would say, ‘If you ever can, get to America.’ And now I am.”

“I wish I could remember her,” Fiona said.

Kate grabbed her youngest sister’s hand. “She always loved you. Of course you were a baby, and who doesn’t love babies?”

On one end of the ship, a crane was lifting huge crates on board. The crates would be lowered into the belly of the ship, to be whisked away until they reached New York City.

“Did you know that some of the rich people are taking their cars onto the ship?” May asked.

“They are not!” Fiona said.

“What do you think are in those giant crates?”

“It seems like such a waste of money,” Kate said, shaking her head. “They could have just sold their cars here and bought new ones in the United States.”

May assumed a mock-superior tone. “You can’t expect them to drive a Model T, can you?”

Kate put a hand to her chest. “The horror!”

“They’re millionaires,” Fiona said. “I’m sure they don’t care about the piddly cost of shipping a car. Will you get to eat with them?”

Kate scoffed. “I doubt it. My ticket’s in steerage. But we’re all going to the same place!” She had never met a millionaire before. Their landlord was wealthy, but wasn’t as wealthy as the Astors or the Strauses. They were supposed to be on the ship, she had heard. Supposedly, there was even going to be a countess on board.

“And it’s a new ship, so there won’t be any rats,” May said.

“I bet they keep cats on board,” Kate said. “I hope I can get a cat when I get to America.” She had to say goodbye to their own barn cat, Mittens, when she left home. She missed her feline friend already.

“Send pictures,” Fiona said.

“Pictures are expensive. You think I’m going to waste money taking a picture of a cat? I’d rather save my money so you can join me.”

“Not just of the cat, silly. You’re going to America! You’re going to be rich. You’ll be able to afford pictures.”

“Everybody in America is rich,” May said.

“Not everybody. And certainly not rich like the Astors.” But it did seem like everybody in America was relatively rich. One of their neighbors, Mary Rose O’Donnell, made the trip to America a few years ago, and she always sent money back to her family. Now the O’Donnells were planning on sending a second child to America.

She looked down at her ticket and sighed. “I guess I’ll have to board soon. We’re supposed to board before the first-class passengers. Probably so they don’t have to interact with us riff raff. That, and we have to go through some sort of health screening before we take off.”

Kate turned to hug her sisters. First, her youngest. “I promise I’ll write.” Second, she hugged May, with a promise to send money and a command to take care of Mom and Dad.

By the time they were done with their goodbyes, tears were streaming down all of their cheeks.

Kate sighed, picked up her shabby suitcase, which contained all her worldly possessions, along with a little bit of cash to get her started in her new life, and waved with her other hand. “Love you!”

“Love you, Kate!” her sisters said in unison.

She turned around and walked toward the gangway, determined not to look back. She would never set her eyes on them again, unless she could send for them to join her in America.

Her shoes clopped on the wooden pier. The walk to the ship seemed to take forever. But it was a forever of new promise.

“Need help with that, Miss?” a man with red hair, wearing a bowler hat, approached her. He looked Irish, just like she was, and he was about the same age as her.

Kate could feel her cheeks heat. He was handsome, and about the same age as her too. “Not really, but you can assist me if you’d like.”

“Name’s Sean. Is this your first time on a ship?”

“Well, I did take a boat to get here, but it was small. Nothing like this one.”

“She’s a beauty.” Sean looked at the ship with admiration. Its hull was black and the upper decks were white; they gleamed in the sun. Four smokestacks puffed gentle clouds of smoke. “Not unlike you.”

“I don’t know about that.” She looked down at the pier.

“That would be up to me to decide, wouldn’t it?”

“I suppose so.”

“I hope you might give me the honor of having dinner with me a time or two?” he said. “We are supposed to be on the ship for a week, after all.”

Kate laughed. “I’d love to.”

“We’ll have more fun than those stodgy old millionaires, I’m sure.” He winked at her, causing Kate to laugh again.

“Are you here with anyone?”

He shook his head. “No, ma’am. Going over to make a new life for myself in the New World.”

“Same.”

“We’re going to have a great time.”

They walked up the gangplank side by side. Kate already felt a pang of longing in her heart for her sisters, even though her excitement for the voyage was heightened after meeting her new friend and actually boarding the vessel.

A crewman in a sharp uniform held out his hand. “Ticket, Miss?”

She handed him her ticket. He looked at it, checked her name against the passenger list, and nodded. “Welcome to the Titanic, Miss.”