Cora Cartmell before TITANIC

Chapter one

Cora Cartmell ran by the river behind her cottage in Southampton, England. The cold late March wind blew her hair past her face. Cora shivered in her warm coat. There were heavy snow clouds overhead, and she wanted to play outside before it began snowing. She swung her dolly by an arm, and looked up at a small tree.
Cora decided she would climb it, and put her dolly on the ground right by the tree. She took a deep breath and hoisted herself up onto one of the lower branches. Once her whole body was on it, she put her arms up to go to the next branch, and the branch after, and the one after that, until she was at the top.
She sat on the branch and smiled. She could see her cottage, and her Mama and Grandmother through the window.
Cora giggled, as her daddy came out of the door with a bucket in his hand. He was on his way to the river to get some water. He gasped when he saw Cora up in the tree.
"Cora Cartmell!" He cried. Cora laughed.
"Come down!" He said.
Cora sighed, and began to climb down. Her daddy met her at the last branch, and helped her down.
Cora picked up her dolly and giggled.
Her daddy laughed too. He could never be mad at Cora.
"If you want to be high up, you can sit on my shoulders." He said, laughing , lifting Cora up. Cora let out a loud, giggling squeal.
He picked up the bucket that was full of water, and carried Cora and the bucket inside.
Mama laughed when she saw Cora up on daddy's shoulders. He put her down, and she ran over to her Grandmother who was sitting in her rocking chair.
Her little brother Robert was playing with his teddy bear on the floor.
Cora climbed onto her lap, and hugged her grandmother.
"Cora my darling, you have to stop climbing trees, you might get hurt." Her grandmother said.
"I never get hurt, Nan!" Cora said to her grandmother.
Nan laughed. "Rather be safe than sorry, right?" She said.
"Yes." Cora said, leaning against her grandmother.

After lunch, Cora took her brother's hand and went outside with her Grandfather.
Even though he was on the older side, her grandfather loved playing outside with Cora and Robert. He played hide and seek with them, made mud dolls with Cora, and played running races with Robert, which he loved.
"Race me, Grandpa!" Robert called, pulling his hand. Grandpa laughed.
"Let's do a quiet game today." Grandpa said.
Cora laughed. She ran to her secret area of old corn husks behind the small tree, and took a handful of them. She brought them over to her grandfather, and dropped them off on the ground.

Cora and her grandfather began making little corn husk dolls, and Robert just enjoyed the noise it made when he crushed them in his hand.

That evening, after dinner, Cora played with her six little Corn husk dolls, while Mama and Nan knitted, and Daddy and Grandpa smoked the pipes that they did every night.

When it was time for Cora and Robert to go to sleep, Cora lay awake for a while and listened to the whispered talking of Mama and Nan, and the small sound of the crackling fire, and smiled to herself.