The Titanic: A New Life

Chapter 5

The morning of the fourteenth, we once again played shuffleboard, this time allowing Michael to play against me. I let him win so he could feel proud of himself.
We had gotten up so early, the sun had barely risen over the horizon when we started.
When we finished, we introduced Marilynn to the captain. He was very pleased to meet her. Our mother wasn't present as she slept on and on, as always.
The captain and I went over the map plans and made changes to the course while Marilynn made sure Michael didn't run into an iceberg or something. I know what you're thinking: what does a thirteen year old know about navigating a boat? More than you know...
I suggested we make a change to the path when I noticed that we were going somewhere cold. There would be icebergs.
I questioned the captain and he told me everything would be alright in the end, and I trusted him to make the right choice.
How much I regret that decision now.
We returned home at lunchtime and spent a great deal of time reading, unsure of what to do with the rest of our time.
Michael was able to read fluently, with a vocabulary almost as advanced as mine was at his age. But, with father gone, there was no one to stay home and teach him. That was up to me now.
We also spent a lot of time talking as mother downed glass after glass of some alcoholic drink or another, obviously not caring anymore whether we saw her or not. We just ignored her.
She must have been constantly intoxicated. Yes, that was why she was always so rude.
I knew it was going to kill her one day, either the alcohol or the work. Maybe even both.
We went to bed that night, with Michael and me on the floor next to Marilynn's bed on our combined blankets and pillows. The closer we were, the safer we felt.
I fell into a deep sleep that night, unknowing of what horrors lie ahead for me in the following days that would cast shadows on my life and darken the way I looked at the world forever.