Elvis on the Titanic

Chapter 2 - The Titanic Up Close & Personal

"Wake up, boy-o!"

My eyes fluttered open and I saw a piece of paper in front of my eyes. I blinked a few times and my vision focused. I sat up and looked around, ignoring the piece of paper for a moment.

"Oh, man... I'm still here," I moaned, running a hand down my face.

"You better believe it, boy-o. Look at this." He waved the paper. I took a better look at it. It was one of those tickets. "One the boys had a bad hand. Looks like you're goin' onto the Titanic as Mr. Edward Tussle, 3rd class."

I took the ticket from his hand. "You all gambled these tickets away?"

"I was smart and kept mine in me pocket. So, are ya in?"

I stared at the ticket—the very real ticket. "This is nuts... It's really not 1963?"

"As sure as me hair is orange, it's 1912."

I rubbed my hand down my face again. "This isn't happenin'..."

"Yes, it is, and I just want to ask... now that you had two good naps today, is that shiny head of yours back on straight?"

I ran a hand over my hair. It was still greased back in the way it usually was. "I don't think it'll ever be back on straight until I go home. Whenever that is."

Wendell pointed to the ticket. "Well, this is literally your ticket home, boy-o. If you want to go home, you have to be Edward Tussle for two weeks, and then you can go on being Elvis Presley again."

Something pinched my gut. I didn't know if it was nervousness, fear, or that little something telling me I should do this. "Go onto a ship under a false name? It's more like a ticket to the big house."

"Big house?"

"Jail. People go to jail for things like this."

"Then we'll make sure you don't get caught. Now, are ya in?"

I stared at the ticket a little longer. Something else came to my memory. I handed the ticket back to him. "No thanks. I'll find some place here to live until I go home a different way. Titanic is a death trap, and you would be smart to not go onto it."

"You mean the sinking thing you were talkin' 'bout earlier?"

"Yes."

He patted my back. "She's unsinkable. Everyone has said that, including the people who built 'er. There's nothin' to worry about."

"No ship is unsinkable."

"She is. Now, are ya sure you don't want this? I got this for you, boy-o."

He waved the ticket. That pinching feeling came back, and I hated that it did. I took the ticket, feeling like I didn't have much of a choice. Where else would I go in Ireland, if that was really where this was?

"Well?" Wendell prodded.

I didn't want to get onto that ship if she was going to sink a few days later. "How 'bout I go with ya tomorrow to the docks, huh? I want to see this ship for myself."

"Then you'll agree when you see that this is all real?"

"All this seems real enough."

Real. Yeah, this was all real. I thought sleeping would cure that, but here I was, sitting with this guy in his dinky apartment in 1912, holding a ticket for the Titanic in my hand. Titanic, the ship that would sink. Maybe I could warn some people and save at least some. Might as well do something.

"Okay, I'll go if I see that ship."

~ ~ ~

A loud foghorn sounded, filling the air. That was definitely the sound of a ship. Wendell and I were walking through town to the docks since it was about mile away from his apartment. I was carrying one of his suitcases while he carried the other two.