The Titanic Girls by Julie Cook

Author:Julie Cook
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BLKDOG Publishing
Published: 2022-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Catherine

S

ometimes his hands shook, sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes he’d stare into space, other times he would be ‘with it’ but then lose interest and look ‘through’ you rather than at you. Catherine stood on one side of the cobbler’s counter now and Percy stood on the other, his apron on ready to serve.

Catherine drummed her fingers on the wooden desk and cleared her throat. ‘You know, I talked to Ernest a few days back?’ she began. ‘Susan’s brother.’

Percy was hunched over the hobbing foot mending a shoe. He had the contraption between his legs, a bradawl for boring holes lying next to him and a hammer and nails next to that. ‘Oh?’ he said, working harder on the shoe.

‘Yes. And he said what he saw gave him the horrors. On Titanic, I mean,’ she said.

Percy nodded, turning the shoe over, checking its soles.

She leaned in and reached for his hand. She stopped it, held it fast. He gripped the shoe tighter. ‘You see, I would like it if you could tell me about what happened on that night,’ Catherine said. ‘I reckon if you did, you and me would feel much better.’

Percy’s hand stiffened under hers. He tried to move but she gripped harder; she’d learnt that from the best – his mother.

‘We can wed, Percy, but not with you like this,’ she said. ‘Tell me what happened on the ship.’

Percy put the hobbing foot down. His father was sleeping upstairs. His mother had gone to the weekly market. He stepped out from behind the counter and walked to the shop door. Catherine watched as he turned the paper sign in the window from ‘open’ to ‘closed.’ He came back and sat on a bench, the bench where ladies usually sat to try boots on. He rested his fists on his knees.

‘At first, I couldn’t believe my luck,’ Percy began.

Catherine sat next to him now, pulling her skirts from under her to get comfortable. She listened.

‘I was so proud ... so proud of everything. My uniform. My shoes. My shiny buttons. Proud I had a sweetheart back home,’ he added, turning to her. He bit his lip and looked at his hands.

‘I was shown to the quarters I’d be working in. First class bedroom steward was my job. I had a family to look after – a wife, her husband and one daughter. They had a suite. Beautiful it was. Like something out of dream. I couldn’t believe I was even in that suite,’ he said. ‘I’d turn the bedding down, turn it back again, clear up their tea cups and make sure the temperature was just right. I’d clean the glass in an adjoining door in the suite. I ...’ he shook his head again and smiled. ‘I was walking on air, Catherine, truly I was.’ He took a deep breath.

‘The lady was a cold one. But her daughter was a lovely thing. So well turned out. Always looking nice. The gentleman was kind. Every time he saw me of a morning, he’d hand me a tip.

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