Monday, September 16, 1940
Bess and Beth had a group of the little girls out on the sports deck playing jump rope. Nearby, Michael Rennie was playing tug-of-war with the boys, on top of the boarded-up swimming pool. Bess had one eye on the girls, but she couldn’t help watching the game.
“Pull! Harder … harder …” Louis’ team was struggling and straining. Suddenly they fell over and the rope flew from their hands.
“Too bad,” said Michael, “but that means your team gets to be first up for the next game. Time to practise for the Wild West!”
He took the rope and knotted it into a loop.
“He’s good at everything, isn’t he?” Beth had stopped turning the rope for the girls.
“Mmm …” agreed Bess.
“The boys worship him,” said Beth.
“Louis told me that he’s built his own racing cars,” said Bess. She watched Michael swing the rope above his head, flick it out and neatly lasso a deck chair. All the boys cheered and clapped.
“Can I try? Show me next! Please, Michael?” The boys were jumping up and down all around him. Michael handed the thick rope to Louis. Louis tried to swing it over his head, but it was so heavy he could barely lift it off the deck.
“And I heard he was a star rugby player at Oxford,” said Beth. “He’s just on this trip for a bit of a lark before going back to school.”
Bess wondered if it would be very unladylike to swing a lasso. She imagined Ruby Grierson could pull it off …
“We still playing jump rope, then?” Violet tugged on Bess’s arm, interrupting her thoughts.
The tea party was everything they hoped it would be. The dining room was decorated with coloured streamers and balloons. Every table was piled high with scones. There were bowls of thick cream and strawberry jam. The stewards carried in slices of fairy cake with scoops of ice cream.
The room was filled with the sounds of laughter, noisemakers, and snapping party crackers. Bess and Beth sat at a table with Joyce, Marion and her brother Rex, and Gussie with her sisters and brothers. Bess helped Joyce put a party hat on her teddy bear Winchell, and showed her how to blow the horn to make a noise.
Louis ran over to their table. “Look what I got in my party cracker! A compass!”
“Now you’ll always know what direction we are travelling,” she said, as he rushed back to his table with Fred and Howard.
“Boys and girls!” Miss Day called for attention. “I know you are all having a wonderful time and that you’d like to say a special thank you to Miss Grierson.”
The room exploded in cheers and whoops. Ruby Grierson acknowledged them all with a wave of her cigarette holder.
“Also,” Miss Day continued, “I have very good news for you. Captain Nicolls has just informed me that that our Royal Air Force shot down a record 185 German planes yesterday!”
Everyone cheered and applauded long and hard.
“Sounds like the war is almost over!” said Beth to Bess. “Surely the Germans can’t last much longer. Maybe we’ll get to Canada and turn right back!”
“But we are not out of the woods yet,” Miss Day reminded them. “You must always remember to have your life jackets with you at all times. And even though it is awkward, you must continue to sleep in your clothes and kapok vests. Now, back to your cake.”
Bess watched Gussie trying to wipe ice cream from Eddie’s nose while Lenny swooped around the table pretending to be an airplane.
“Rat-a-tat-a-tat!” Lenny screeched.
She carefully poured some milky tea for Connie and Violet. Suddenly, Lenny knocked her arm and the tea went flying.
“Hey, stupid! Now look what you’ve done!” Ken jumped up. He’d been sitting at a quiet table behind the Grimmonds, working on his drawing for the contest. Now it was covered in tea, ruined.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it. It was just an accident,” Bess said. She took her napkin and tried to dab at the drawing.
“It was no good anyway,” Bess heard Ken mumble as he stormed away from the party.
* * *
Ken knew he shouldn’t have gotten angry. He shouldn’t have called that boy stupid. But he was tired of being around little kids all of the time. Terry was always following him, asking him what he was drawing, what he was writing. And since the day of the storm he’d also had Louis and Fred, and now Howard, on his heels. They just wanted to play all day. He was older. He didn’t want the sailors seeing him with those little kids. The tea party was nice, but it didn’t matter to him. What mattered was the ship.
He strode along the deck, trying to look taller in his oversized overcoat. He stood at the rail and looked across the water to the freighters and corvettes sailing in convoy. He craned his neck to see the HMS Winchelsea at their head. It was so huge, so imposing. His drawing hadn’t shown that at all. He’d try again, but this time he’d draw one of the corvettes beside it, to show the scale.
He needed to find a good place to sketch. A place where no one would come bothering him. He looked up at the sports deck. Terry would find him there for sure. The next level up was the embarkation deck. Not much up there other than the bridge and the lifeboats. He knew he’d be in trouble if he went in sight of the bridge—Reverend King had explained that they had to stay behind the bridge so as not to get in the way of the captain.
He looked up at the lifeboats. They were secured, slung in on their davits. He thought they were probably high enough that he could see over the bow of the ship. They were covered with tarps, but he was sure he could probably loosen one enough to get inside. No one would find him there. Could he climb up the davit and get in? Did he dare?
* * *
Sonia was in the passenger lounge, covered in sticky cherry juice. She’d dabbed a bit of it on her cheeks to make them look rosy, the way her mum did with her makeup. She’d tried to trace some on her lips like lipstick. Mostly she’d done it to make Colin laugh.
They were sitting on their own special sofa, eating cherries from the adults’ drinks. All of the ladies in the first-class lounge were wearing fancy dresses and jewellery, and the men were smoking cigars. Sonia and Colin had a bad case of the giggles, but they were trying to keep quiet and listen to the captain.
“I just wanted to give you all an update on our position,” the captain was saying. “Things are moving along quite well, but I do encourage you to keep your life jackets near at hand. We are not out of danger. U-boats patrol this area regularly. However, by this time tomorrow we will be in the American zone. The Germans won’t interfere with any ship in neutral waters.”
“So by tomorrow we’ll all be safe?” asked a lady at the bar.
“Yes,” said Captain Nicoll. “All being well, by tomorrow evening we’ll be in the clear.”
Sonia watched Colin spear a tiny cold sausage on a toothpick. “I guess that means you can take off your life jacket tomorrow night,” she said.
“No,” said Colin. “No, I promised my mum I’d wear it all of the time, until I walk down the gangplank and off the ship in Canada. I’m not going to break a promise.”