Titanic; Ship of Change

A Beginning to An End

   Winifred Cook was never someone many people noticed. To the wealthy, she was a common street rat. She had no family, no friends. She was alone in the world. But Winifred was happy, to the amazement of those who she spoke with. She was happy because she had no responsibilities. She had adapted to her rather poor lifestyle. She lived off of the land and was fine with it. Above all, Winnie liked to travel. It was hard to go places far away though, because she had no money to get a boat ticket. But as I have said before, Winnie was adaptable. She could perhaps climb onto the back of the boat when no one was looking and enter in the dead of night. Winnie was clever, maybe not so smart with maths or English, but she was street smart. She knew how to get around. When she was but a small child, her friends would call her Witty Winnie. They even made a song about her. "Witty Winnie, Witty Winnie, show us how to dance. With Spanish moss and apple sauce, we'll never stand a chance!"
Winnie travelled all over Europe. From Italy to France, Sweden to Germany. But she'd always end up back at her home town: Totnes, England. Totnes, England was a small, less-known town. But it was big enough for Winnie to stay secret, and indeed she did. When Winnie heard about the famous Titanic, she immediately wanted to have a go at it. But there was a problem. This ship housed many first class passengers, and this meant security would be tighter. What was she to do? What Winnie does, of course! Sneak! So she caught the first boat to Southampton (which wasn't very far,) and camped out at the docks. Dozens of wealthy people were strutting confidently forward. Winnie chuckled merrily while she watched them. "'Ey look like 'uffed peacocks," she muttered quietly. "Indeed they do," someone uttered next to her. Winnie spun around, only to be faced with a blonde boy, not much taller than herself. Winnie, being the good sport she was, raised an eyebrow. "An 'ust 'oo might oo be?"
The blonde boy chuckled and held out a dirtied hand. "Jack Dawson at your service, Ma'am." Winnie took "Jack's" hand and shook it. "Winnie Cook. Ple'ah to mate ya." Her lower class accent stood out greatly. Jack looked back to the first class passengers. "I bet them's coats 'ost more 'an me 'ife," Winnie joked, quietly plucking a piece of jewelry from one of the women's handbags. Jack turned back to her, grinning. "I saw that." Winnie put a hand to her dirty jacket. "I wa'nt try'na 'ide it'." Jack shrugged. "You got a ticket?" he asked. Winnie shook her head, still grinning like a cheshire cat. "Ain't got no mo'ey to get 'em." She shrugged and looked back to the first class, who were almost all the way on. "I 'ot ta layve an 'atch the 'ack o' 'at 'oat 'efore I lowse me chance." She waved a quick goodbye to Jack and set off, carrying her dirty brown bag with her. Jack chuckled again at the strange girl and went back to observing the passengers. Maybe they would see each other again.
Winnie found her chance when a servant spilled a load of luggage. The commotion was enough for Winnie to start up the ramp. She ducked behind a woman with an ugly purple dress and waited until one of the officers looked away. Then she snuck past the woman and found the animal storage. It was there that she waited, behind a cow, for the ship to start off. Winnie sat on the pointy hay, grumbling to herself. "'Ow 'ong do i' 'ake 'or a bloo'ey bloomin 'ip oo 'ake off?" She huffed angrily and slammed her back onto the hard wood of the stable. Turned out that was the wrong thing to do, because a cow was startled and knocked its hoof against the wooden pillar. This caused a bucket full of feed to crash down to the floor, and started a big commotion for the cows. Winnie began to panic. "Oi! Oo bloomin' beast! Ush your bloo'ey 'ace!" It didn't work and soon an officer came down to see what the commotion was. Winnie scrambled behind the cow and tried her best to cover herself with hay. The officer's footsteps pounded in her ears. She cursed silently. "Hello?" a man's voice called. "I know you're in there. Come out, under imperial order." Winnie snickered at the officer's posh accent. She stopped chuckling though, when the officer started to come closer to her hiding place. "You're right there. You can't hide," he said. Winnie peaked out, only to be met with the officer's face right in front of her's. She let out a startled yelp. "Wha' ar' you 'oing, bloo'ey govna?!" she screeched. The officer too jumped back. "I must ask the same! Why the hell are you hiding behind a cow!"
"Be-ause I bloomin 'ant to!" Winnie snapped back. "Why would you want to hide behind a cow?!" the officer yelled incredulously. "To...'ind me...'ag! Es! I 'eeded oo 'ind me 'ag!" Winnie answered, feeling proud to make up a lie. "Why would your bag be behind a cow?" the officer asked. Winnie was stumped. Why would her bag be behind a cow? "Be-ause I 'ost me way and dropped me 'ag 'hile I 'as ba' 'ere."
The officer narrowed his eyes. "Where's your ticket?" Winnie huffed. "I 'ost it wi' me 'ag!"
"Your what?" the officer repeated. "Me 'ag! "Ag! B-bag! Me bag ya bloomin fool!" Winnie boomed, losing her patience for the back and forth. The officer crossed his arms. "I don't think I believe you." Winnie threw her head up in the air. "At's 'ot me pro'em." The officer took her arms angrily. "I think you're a stowaway!" Winnie snatched her hand back. "I ain't no stowaway! I'm a bloomin pa'en'ger!" The officer took her arm and began to march out of the stable. Winnie knew the jig was up. "Wait!" she cried, planting her feet on the ground. The officer did stop, after much resistance, and looked back angrily. "Alright! Alright! I 'ive up!" The officer sighed. "What are you doing on this ship?"
Now that she was being truthful, he let go of her arm gently. Winnie huffed. "I just wa'ed ta 'et on the bloomin boat. Bu' I 'in't 'ave enough mo'ey ta 'et a ticket. So I snuck int'a the ship and 'id back 'ere. Bu' 'en ya f'and me 'iding ba' ere. And 'ere we is arguin' o'er no'in." The officer sighed. "I can't throw you off now. The boat's already departed. You'll have to wait until we dock again." He paused, looking her over. "I suppose you can't just stay in the stables, so I'll allow you to stay with the rest of 3rd class. But! You are, under no circumstances, allowed on the 1st class. The other officers will know you're here, and then the other officers would ask you for your ticket and then everything would go to hell. You find your way to 3rd class, it's downstairs. And don't come back up until we arrive! Now go!"
Winnie stood in shock for a moment. She had never met someone so kind. She began to walk away, but before she did, she nodded to the officer. "Say. What's your naym?" she asked. "Harold," the officer answered. "Harold Lowe." He didn't say anything else before he walked away, Winnie looking after him, flabbergasted. Nonetheless, she walked swiftly to down the steps to the 3rd class. As soon as she stepped in, she spotted someone familiar. "Ey! It's blo-ie!" she exclaimed. Jack looked up and grinned. "Hey! It's freckles!" Winnie grinned too. "Gah! Ya make me blush, ya bloomin 'oy." She sat next to him and sighed. "O'iccer naymed 'Arold 'Owe caught me 'hile I was 'iding in the 'ables," she admitted. "'Old me i was to 'ay 'idden un'ill we ge' ta "ew 'ork." It took a minute for Jack to decipher what the hell she said. "That was nice of him."
"Probably cause she was pre'ey," a man, Yorkshire maybe, said. "Yup. Those officers are big flirts up there with the first class ladies. But some like to mess with 3rd class, just because they can't pull one of them rich ones." All the men listening laughed, Winnie laughing along. "I mus' 'ay 'at 'o ma' wou' wan' 'is 'irl," Winnie joked, giving Jack a hard slap on the back. "He migh' wan' 'o try ano'er 'un ou' 'efore 'ee ge's wi' me!" The men started laughing again. "Say, where's you from? Your accent ain't from these parts," a woman said. "Me? I'm fro' dow' ol' Totnes, England!" Winnie exclaimed. "Why, so am I!" a man boomed. "The' you an' me mus' be kin," Winnie said, giving a hearty handshake to the red headed man. "Indeed we must!"
Jack laughed along with the rest of the passengers. He and his companion, an Italian fellow, went up deck, and Winnie, being the rebellious girl she was, decided to rebel against Mr. Lowe's conditions and crept up deck as well. It took her quite awhile, but she climbed all the way to a fancy looking part of the deck, where she watched the dolphins and water go by in pure wonder.