Cora Cartmell and New York City

Chapter 6~ Church

The next day was a cold, but sunny Sunday. A new church had opened a few blocks from their Tenement, so Jack, Rose and Cora would go there that day.
After breakfast, Cora put on her best dress, along with her brown coat, and her hat.
Jack and Rose were ready, and waiting by the door for Cora.

When they had reached outside, Jack lifted Cora up on his shoulders so she could see the busyness of the early morning streets. People and wagons sailed by, with horses trailing in front of them, and street sweepers briskly sweeping the dusty streets.

They walked several blocks, and then ran into a trolly. Rose paid five cents, and they all got on. Cora sat on Jack's lap and gazed at the busy streets, watching horses, and screaming children running about.

The trolley went to a halting stop, and Cora, Jack and Rose, along with a few other people, got off and walked up the big steps to the church.

During church, Cora was quiet and missed her Mama and daddy. Every Sunday, Mama, Daddy, Cora's grandparents from England,and her little brother Joseph would read the Bible together. Cora shivered, thinking about the horrible fire that left her grandpa and little brother dead. That was why they came to America, to start a new life. Cora certainly was starting a new life. She missed her Grandma, she hadn't spoken to her in a month. Cora predicted that she hadn't even known that Mama and Daddy passed away. She was the only family that Cora had left, besides Jack and Rose.

After church, as Cora was walking out the doors with Jack and Rose, Cora heard someone call behind her;
"Cora!"
Cora swung her head back, and to her shock, noticed her good friend Molly, from the Titanic, standing with her mother and brother and sister. Cora was relieved to know that all of them had survived the sinking.
Rose turned around and waved at Molly. She remembered her!
Molly came closer and hugged Cora.
"I'm happy you and your family are safe. Where are your parents?"
Cora tried hiding her loud sniffles, and the tears running down her face, but failed to do so. Rose hugged Cora close, and Molly's face looked sad.
" I understand." Molly said, squeezing her hand.
Cora wiped her tears, and took Molly's hand, trying to forget about her sadness.
"My mother got an apartment right next to a bakery. It smells like cookies and bread every morning!" Molly said, trying to cheer Cora up.
Cora smiled and hugged Molly.
Molly's mother appeared behind her, and smiled at Cora.
"Molly, we have to get going now. Say goodbye to your friends." She said.
"Bye, Cora!" Molly said, giving Cora one last hug.
After she had left, Rose took Cora's hand, and they walked home in silence. Jack was the only one who whistled. It cheered Cora up a little bit, but Cora missed her parents more than ever.

Wen they had reached home, after they had sat done to a Sunday dinner, Rose said very quietly;
"Are you okay today, Cora. You've been very quiet."
Cora sighed and put her fork down. She felt as if she should tell the truth about how she felt.
"I miss my parents, and my grandparents and my little brother. Every Sunday, we would read the Bible together, while my little brother and I sat and listened, while our grandparents squeezed our hands, and talked about it after."
Jack and Rose smiled.
"What happened to your little brother?" Jack said.
Cora felt tears burn in her eyes again.
"There was a fire one Sunday. He was stuck upstairs in our attic loft. Everyone else was outside, besides him. When my mother realized the house was burning down, she grabbed our trunk which was filled with all of our items, and threw it out of the house, thinking my brother was outside. Then I asked where he was, my mother realized he was inside the house. My mama started being really scared. She screamed, and my Grandpa went in, trying to save him, but it was too late, and I never saw the two of them again. We just lived on the street after that. My brother was only three years old." Cora sighed.
Rose looked at Jack with tears in her eyes, and Jack pulled Cora into a big hug.
"I know how you feel. My parents died when I was younger too." He said.
"So did my father." Rose said, stroking Cora's hair.
"Do you still have any family in England?" Rose asked.
Cora wiped her eye and said;
"My grandmother. I don't think she knows that my parents perished yet."
Rose looked sad. She hugged Cora again and said;
"Would you like to write her a letter after dinner?"
Cora nodded her head and smiled a little. Rose and Jack smiled too, and Cora went back to eating her roast.
After dinner, Jack tore out a piece of paper from his sketchbook, and handed Cora a pencil.
Cora pressed it on the paper, and wrote her letter. She told her Grandma everything that had happened since she left England, about boarding the Titanic, meeting Jack, meeting Rose, the Third Class party, drawing with Jack, meeting her friend Molly, how scared she was when she heard the ship was sinking, when her parents got trapped underwater, running into Rose and Jack again, the time on the lifeboat, getting rescued by the Carpathia, living in a small Tenement with Rose and Jack, meeting her new friend Bridget, going to church, and starting a real school tomorrow. When Cora had finished the letter, she sighed and handed it to Rose and Jack, who smiled when they read it.
"I have an idea." Rose said. "How about Jack draws the three of us, so you can send it to your grandmother and show her what we look like!".
Cora smiled wide and said;
"That's a great idea!"
As Rose was making supper, Cora sat on Jack's lap and watched him draw Rose, and then her, and then himself. He was all done when Rose layed a plate of potatoes on the table, and Jack put the picture in the envelope, along with the letter.
Cora took a big bite of potato and smiled when Jack said;
"Before I go to work tomorrow, I'll drop that off at the postal office." .

Cora awoke in the middle of the night screaming. She remembered the horrible fire, and the screams of her mother and little brother. Rose and Jack rushed to Cora's side, and Jack put Cora on his lap. Jack and Rose were still in their day clothes. Cora gripped onto her dolly and cried, not caring about how loud she was. She missed her parents so much, and did not want to go to school the next day. She wasn't ready.
Rose tried to smile, to cheer her up. She booped Cora under the chin, and said;
"I'll make you some warm milk to get you sleepy again, alright?"
Cora didn't answer. She gripped one of Jack's suspenders and cried, until Rose handed her a glass of milk.
Cora drank it almost right away, and handed the empty cup back to Rose.
"Thank you." She said very quietly.
Jack placed Cora back down in her bead, and sat on the edge.
"Would you like me to sing you to sleep?" Rose said.
Cora nodded her head. She wanted Rose to sing to her because her Mama used to do the same thing.
"Come, Josephine, in my flying machine, going up she goes, up she goes..."Rose sang quietly in a sweet voice.
Cora felt her eyelids get heavy. The last thing she remembered was Rose and Jack smiling warmly down at her.