Iceberg by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Author:Jennifer A. Nielsen [A. Nielsen, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2023-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Sunday, April 14, 1914

I awoke early on Sunday morning with a heavy feeling in my gut that I couldn’t quite identify. There shouldn’t have been any reason to worry. I was an honest passenger now, freely able to move about in third class as any other passenger might.

Eager to relieve the restlessness I felt, I dressed and headed toward the saloon to wait for breakfast. Maybe I was just hungry.

Maybe not.

Once inside the saloon, a good breakfast sat before me. My notebook was opened on the table in front of me. I should have been deep into my writing, and yet, my stomach was churning.

I finally figured out why: Charlie. I hadn’t heard anything from him since leaving the officers’ lounge up on the boat deck. I remembered how worried he had looked when I left, and I could imagine his conversation with Captain Smith had not been an easy one.

And perhaps it had been a terrible one.

I’d hoped to distract myself by starting to write the Titanic’s story, but I’d gone through my entire breakfast and three glasses of milk and still the page was blank.

I needed to write it. If I started now, there was a chance I could finish before we arrived in New York. Then, whether for better or worse, I could try to sell what I’d written.

But I had no idea where to begin. Mostly because I had no idea what the Titanic’s story was.

Yes, of course there were some problems with the ship’s design, some concerns that White Star ought to address, but that was hardly enough for the newspapers. No ship was perfect, and who was I to criticize the designers and builders who had spent years creating every piece of this ship, down to each single rivet in the metal?

Who was I to write anything at all?

I closed the notebook, looking around at the crowded saloon full of hundreds of people gathered for breakfast. They spoke different languages and came from different places on the map. They were young and old; some were travelers and others immigrants, seeking a better life ahead. Yet there was a great sense of unity here, all of us bound by the hope of what tomorrow might bring.

Sylvia said I spent too much time thinking of my questions and not enough about people. So maybe that was where I ought to begin, with the people here who surrounded me. With their stories.

I picked up my pen again.

“You’ve begun your story, then?”

I cried out with delight. What did my story matter compared to the joy of seeing Charlie again? “They let you leave your room?”

“Captain Smith came to my quarters late last night. I told him what I’d done wrong, and why I’d done it. I hoped that if he could understand my reasons, then he’d agree that I’d made the right decision.”

“So, he agreed with you?”

“Oh no. He told me I’d shown poor judgment, that I wasn’t to be trusted, and that I’d lose my wages for this entire trip.

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