what i never talked about

April 13, 1912

The next noon I sat under deck with Jack, Tommy and a little girl named Cora. Jack showed Cora how to draw. I tried to sketch Jack and Cora, while Tommy was looking at our drawings.

"Very good", Tommy said, "Very, very good."

"Thanks", Jack and I said.

Then Cora's parents came. "Cora, we have to go now. Say goodbye to Uncle Jack and Aunt Kathy."

"Bye, Uncle Jack. Bye, Aunt Kathy", she said.

"Bye, Cora", we said with one voice and we waved her.

I eyed my drawing again and I was trying to get Jack's face right. Wasn't easy, I thought so. Suddenly Fabrizio tapped Jack and pointed at something behind Jack. I looked up too and the something turned out as somebody. Rose, the girl Jack rescued the night before, was walking right to Jack. As soon as she spotted him, she smiled at him. Everyone under deck was looking at Rose, probably wondering what a first-class girl was doing at third-class. Jack stood up. They smiled at each other.

"Hello, Mr. Dawson", Rose said.

"Hello again", Jack responded.

Rose looked at me and smiled, so did I. Then she turned back to Jack. "May I speak with you?"

"Yeah", he answered.

Tommy, Fabrizio, Helga - a Norwegian girl Fab was talking to currently - and I grinned at them. Jack wanted to sit down, to speak with Rose but she stopped him. "In private", she added.

Jack hesitated a second and said: "Yes, of course." Then he picked up his drawing folder from the bench. Jack slapped me lightly with his folder, because I smirked stupidly. Then Jack and Rose walked up on deck. Fab and Tommy looked at each other in an astonished way. Then I looked at the two men, they looked at me and we laughed. A few seconds later I eyed my drawing again and kept drawing a few minutes.

After half an hour I stood up and told Fab and Tommy that I'd take a walk on deck. I took my wax crayon, which was extremely small and my drawing folder with one empty paper in it. I stepped up the stairs and opened the gate. It was sunny so I was kind of happy that I didn't take my jacket.

I walked around a corner when I bumped into somebody. "Whoa, careful, Ma'am", the man I bumped into said.

I looked up and recognized 5th Officer Lowe. As soon as he recognized me, he smiled at me. "Oh, Miss Dawson. Nice to see you", he said.

"I think so too, Mr. Lowe."

Next to him, there was another Officer. He looked at me in a non-understanding way. He looked from Mr. Lowe to me, more than once.

"Oh, uhm", Mr. Lowe began, "Mr. Moody this is Miss Kathy Dawson. I met her yesterday when I was off duty. She's a very talented artist."

Officer Moody smiled at me. "Nice to meet you, I'm 6th Officer James Moody." We shook hands. He didn't go as formally with me as Officer Lowe did last night, but I didn't care. Officer Moody said good-bye to both of us and walked off.

"I'm off duty now", Mr. Lowe said, and we went to the railing on bridge deck. I leaned on it, so did Officer Lowe.

"I really like this ship, you know", I said.

"It's overwhelming, yeah. I guess this is because of the size of the ship. It's the biggest yet."

"Right. Mr. Lowe?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"I guess, yeah. Depends on what", he said smirking.