Stars On The Atlantic

XIV

"Bloody Christ! What in the devil you two think you're doing in here!"

They both woke up startled and looked around frenetically. Daylight was pouring through the cabin's windows and lit up the breadcrumbs and turkey bones on the floor.

Standing in the door frame, the boiler room chief could barely believe what he saw. There, in a stowing cabin, one of his most incompetent subordinates, the one who had been reportedly breaking the rules and venturing himself abovedeck, was wrapped in a blanket along with a young female passenger, surrounded by the debris of what was obviously a meal cowardly stolen from the ship's kitchen.

"Get your hands off her immediately and stand against the wall, you brute!" he roared as he stomped furiously towards the youngster.

"Wait, sir! It's not what you think," begged Amybeth. 

But the chief, ignoring her, went straight up to Jerry and with a ferocious punch to the stomach, sent the boy to the floor, bent in two under the pain.

"Do you realize what time it is now? You think the work you left unattended would attend to itself on its own?"

Jerry, still on the floor, lifted his head in terror.

"No, please don't say it. Not in front of her."

"What nonsense is this now? Did you get you head smashed by a boiler's damper? Oh, or let me guess, was it the coal ash that got into your empty head? In either case, be reassured that I'll be reporting your deeds to the Captain. And you, young man, I assure you that once we get back to Liverpool, you're getting your ass back in your fields to take care of your crops. Until then, don't let me see you again!"

This said, the boiler room chief turned around and slammed the door shut behind him.

Amybeth hurried herself to Jerry's side.

"Are you alright?"

"Been better," answered the boy between two breaths, then added with a forced smile on his face: "Gonna take more to knock me down."

She supported his weight as he sat up and helped him to some water.

"Why did you lie to me, Jerry?" she asked reproachfully. "Why not telling me the truth from the beginning?"

"I wanted...to keep you smiling for longer," he replied, each word constituting an extreme effort. "When you first asked me if I was a sailor, I saw the light in your eyes as you smiled. It was the most radiant smile I've ever seen. After that, I couldn't bare seeing you sad anymore."

He was shedding tears, and so was Amybeth. She didn't understand why two kindred spirits trying to get close to each other would hurt so much.

"You fool, did you think I would look down on you if you told me the truth?"

"Wouldn't you?" murmured Jerry. 

As an answer, Amybeth carefully brushed aside the strands of dark hair covering the boy's face and, bringing her lips close to his, kissed him tenderly.