what i never talked about

April 10, 1912

I was sitting in the Southampton Pub on a table, deepened in a poker game with my brother Jack, our friend Fabrizio and three men; Sven, Olaf and Christoph. We played for money and three tickets for the White Star Line RMS Titanic third-class. Olaf beefed at Sven and he said something back, I didn't understand what he said, it was in Swedish, I guess. Meanwhile, Fabrizio leaned over to Jack and said: "Jack, you are pazzo. You bet everything we have."

"When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose", I said quiet, and Jack smirked while looking first to me and then to Fabrizio.

Again, Olaf said something to his brother Sven, Christoph kept quiet nearly the whole time. I picked up a card Christoph let fall and let one fall, he picked it up. So did Jack after me; he picked up the one Olaf let fall and the other way around.

"Sven?", Jack asked. Sven looked at him, and I could see the fear in his eyes when he put one card on the table. Jack, otherwise, grinned at him, let a card fall, and picked Sven's up. He looked at the three brothers, laid one card to the ones which were already laying on the table and picked one up from the stack. He looked at Olaf, who sighed nervously. Olaf looked slowly up from the tickets into Jacks eyes.

"All right, moment of truth", Jack said, "someone's life is about to change. Fabrizio?"

Fabrizio looked into Jack's eyes with a whiff of anger while he showed his cards. Jack perked his eyebrows up and sighed. "Niente."

"Niente", Fabrizio and I said with one voice; Fab said it more disappointed than I did. Jack shrugged his shoulders and he turned to Olaf. "Nothing", Jack said when Olaf showed his cards. Christoph and I both had just one pair. Jack inhaled through his teeth when Sven showed his cards. "Uh-oh", Jack sighed, "two pair."

I looked at Jack with a hopeful look. He looked at his cards and shook his head slowly and looked at me and Fabrizio. "I'm sorry."

I let out a disappointed, annoyed moan while Fabrizio nearly freaked out and yelled at Jack that he bet our whole money. Jack tried to calm him down and said: "I'm sorry, Fabrizio, you're not going to see your mum again for a long time. Because we're going to America! Full house, boys!" Jack hits his fist on the table and cheered, so did I and Fabrizio. Olaf and his brothers looked at us in a shocked way. Fabrizio took the tickets and kissed them. We three were laughing and cheering at the same time.

"Mio grazie", Fabrizio shouted. Jack wanted to shove the money into a fabric bag, but Olaf grabbed him at his jacket collar, clenching his fist it looked like he wanted to beat Jack, who narrowed his eyes, but instead Olaf punched his brother Sven, who fell from his chair. Jack and I laughed at the act which was happening and looked over to Fabrizio whose mouth opened; he started laughing as well. Jack took the three tickets out of Fabrizio's hands. "Come on!"

Fabrizio said something in Italian, and I jumped on Jack's back. "We're going home!"

Now, Christoph and Olaf were punching Sven. Jack, Fab and I hugged, still cheering. Jack let out a loud cheer. "I'm going home!"

"I'm going to America!", Fab shouted.

"No, mate", a man in the Pub said, "Titanic goes to America, in five minutes."

We three looked at each other a bit shocked. "Shit. Fabri. Kathy. Come on", Jack said fast. Fab and Jack shoved the money into the fabric bag, and I picked our bags with clothes up from the floor. Fab got his bag and the fabric bag with the money, Jack took his bag and the three tickets, and I carried my bag. We ran out of the Pub and ran through the crowd of people which came together on the Southampton pier to watch Titanic.

"We're riding in high style now!", Jack shouted while we were running to the third-class entrance. "We're practically goddamn royalty!"

"You see? Is my destino!", Fab shouted, "Like I told you I go to America to be a millionaire."

We ran past two horses that were tied to a carriage. Fabrizio took my hand, so we could be faster at the entrance. "You are pazzo", he shouted to Jack.

"Maybe, but I've got the tickets", he shouted back. We pushed through the people and I ran past the two young men. "Come on I thought you were fast!", I shouted to them.

"Aspetto!", Fab shouted to me.

Jack pushed past me. "Whoa. Wait! Wait!", he shouted at some officers who were up to pull the entrance bridge back from the ship. "Hey, wait! We're passengers!"

We stopped at the ships door and Jack gave the three tickets to an officer. "Have you been through the inspection queue?", the officer asked.

"Of course,", Jack said, still holding the tickets to the officer, "Anyway, we don't have any lice. We're Americans, all three of us."

"Right", the officer said, and let us in, "come aboard."

We jumped aboard and ran through some corridors. Jack pushed Fab and me forward. "We're the luckiest sons of bitches in the world. You know that?"

They casted off the ship lines from the docks at Southampton and Titanic set sail for the first time. We ran up to the bow of the ship and stood by the railing. Jack and I jumped up on the railing. "Good-bye", we shouted to the people who were standing on the pier and waved.

"You know somebody?", Fabrizio asked.

"Of course, not. That's not the point", Jack said.

"Good-bye. I'll miss you", I shouted, so did Jack and Fabrizio.

"I will never forget you!", the Italian man shouted.

Everyone on the ship waved good-bye at the crowed at the Southampton pier.

A few minutes later we went looking for our cabin. It was G-60. After checking a few sings on the doors on G-Deck, Jack found cabin G-60. "Oh, right here", he said. A little problem was that I had to share the cabin with four men, one of them was my brother he wasn't a problem, neither was Fab.

Jack opened the door. "Hey, how you're doing?", he asked the two men who were in the cabin, "Jack. Nice to meet you. Jack Dawson. Nice to meet you."

I put my bag on the under bunk, because Fab already jumped on top bunk. "Who says you get top bunk, huh?", Jack asked him, and he put his stuff to mine on under bunk.