The Mandie Collection (55 page)

As the girls got ready, Mandie had a hard time waking up. “It doesn't seem like a vacation to me,” she grumbled. “Having to get up so early is not fun after we had to stay up so late last night. That play was really silly, wasn't it?”

Celia let out a long sigh. “Cheer up, Mandie,” she said, putting the finishing touches on her hair. “When we grow up, we can do whatever we please, and that includes sleeping late on vacation.”

The connecting door opened and Mrs. Taft looked in. “Are you ready, girls?” she asked.

“Yes, ma'am,” they said in unison. Picking up their bonnets, they quickly tied them on.

The deck chairs had all been placed in a large semi-circle, and the chaplain stood with his back to the rail. All of the crew that could be spared stood at attention in their bright uniforms around the rail.

Senator Morton led the way for Mrs. Taft and the girls, and they sat near the edge of the chairs toward the front. The breeze wasn't as strong as it had been, and the ship seemed to float instead of bounce along as it had before.

The girls looked around, and Mandie whispered to Celia, “Not everyone is here. Some people got to sleep late.”

“Maybe they're not Christians like us,” Celia replied softly. “We're used to going to church on Sunday.”

Mrs. Taft leaned forward and reached across the senator. “Girls!” she whispered, shaking her head.

Mandie and Celia straightened up immediately and listened as the chaplain delivered his sermon. As he talked about Jesus walking on the water, Mandie found that hard to believe after being on the ocean like this. Then she shook her head, irritated with her thoughts, and reminded herself that anything is possible with the Lord.
After all
, she thought,
He made the oceans and rivers and seas
.

Mandie let her gaze wander over the crowd in search of the strange woman as she listened to the chaplain. She was nowhere to be seen. But Charles stood in the middle of the lineup of the ship's crew, and Mandie noticed Celia glancing his way now and then.

After the closing “amen” of the service, Mrs. Taft rose quickly. “We'll go inside now, girls, and have some breakfast,” she instructed. “After that you may bring your Bibles and books out here on the deck to read awhile if you like.” She and the senator headed for the dining room. “I will be going to a meeting with other North Carolinians who are on board. We're making plans for our time in Europe. Come along, girls.”

The girls followed. “Yes ma'am,” they replied.

As they entered the dining room, the aroma made Mandie glad they weren't sleeping through breakfast. As she and Celia moved through the buffet line, they filled their plates with sausage, bacon, eggs, hot biscuits, honey, jam, and “chips,” which they learned was the British name for fried potatoes.

With plates piled high, the girls walked over to the small table where the senator and Mrs. Taft were already seated. “The only thing missing is grits,” Mandie told her friend.

Celia giggled. “The British probably don't even know what they are,” she said.

When they had finished their breakfast, Mrs. Taft and the senator excused themselves. “We're going to the tea room now for our meeting,” Mrs. Taft told them. “Just be sure you two don't do anything you shouldn't.”

“Of course not, Grandmother,” Mandie assured her.

When the senator and Mrs. Taft had left the room, the girls eagerly finished their food. “Let's hurry. I want to look around for that strange woman again,” Mandie told her friend.

“Don't you think we'd better go back to our cabin and get our books and Bibles first?” Celia replied. “Remember what your grandmother said about reading.”

“We'll get around to that,” Mandie said. “I'd like to change my bonnet first. This one is too big and heavy.”

“And we can look for that woman on our way to our room,” Celia added.

As the girls headed in the direction of their cabin, they decided that most of the passengers must be lounging on the decks or in their rooms because there were very few people in the corridors. The girls watched for the strange woman, but she didn't cross their path.

Celia opened the door to their cabin and went in. Mandie followed, leaving the door slightly ajar as she hurried to find a more comfortable bonnet in her hat box.

Celia almost tripped over a bowl on the floor next to the little table. A few tiny pieces of egg and bacon remained. “Looks like Charles has given Snowball his breakfast,” she said.

Mandie glanced down at the bowl as she tied on another bonnet. “He did say he would look after his food. Let's go.”

“Are we taking our Bibles and books now?” Celia asked.

Mandie started for the door. “Oh no! I left the door open!” she cried. “Where is Snowball? Here, kitty, kitty.” She stooped to look under the few pieces of furniture he might have crawled under. “Celia! He's got out.”

Celia ran to the door and looked down the corridor. “Mandie!” she exclaimed. “I see him way down yonder. Come on, hurry!”

The girls lifted their long skirts and raced down the corridor. Snowball stopped, looked back once, and quickly disappeared around a corner.

The girls ignored the people who stopped and stared as they raced after Snowball.

Mandie turned the corner. “He went this way,” she called to Celia. Her friend followed. But when they got around the corner, Snowball was nowhere in sight.

Suddenly Celia pointed. “Look, Mandie!” she cried. “He's sitting on top of that laundry cart.”

The girls hurried toward him. Snowball quickly jumped down and again disappeared around another corner. Every time the girls caught a glimpse of the white kitten, he immediately disappeared. They followed him down stairs and through opened doors, but he always managed to stay out of their reach.

Finally, after going down several flights of stairs, the girls came to an open door at the foot of the steps. They stopped to stare at what seemed like hundreds of people sitting around on a deck, talking loudly. Their clothes were ragged and threadbare. Dozens of children played in the crowded quarters, and a few people were eating from bags they held in their laps.

Mandie looked at Celia in confusion. “Who are these people?” she whispered loudly. “I haven't seen anyone like this anywhere we've been on this ship.”

“I don't know,” Celia answered in the same tone.

The people turned to stare at the two girls, and conversation instantly stopped. It was as though they were waiting to see what Mandie and Celia were up to.

Suddenly Mandie spotted Snowball. A little girl in an ill-fitting dress was holding him tightly and rubbing his head.

“Snowball!” Mandie cried. She sprang forward to take the kitten from the little girl.

“No, no!” the child cried. She jumped up and ran.

Mandie and Celia tried to follow through the crowd, but the people wouldn't move to let them through.

“That's my kitten that little girl has got!” Mandie shouted as she slipped between two husky men. Celia followed.

Still holding Snowball tightly, the child ran to a tall, thin woman and took refuge in her long, full skirt.

Mandie was almost out of breath as she came face to face with the woman. “Ma'am, that's my cat the little girl has,” she said boldly.

The woman, who looked almost as young as Mandie, bent down to speak to the child. “Violet, give the lady her kitten,” she said firmly.

“Mine!” The child refused. “I found it.”

The tall woman pushed back her bonnet, revealing blonde hair. She bent down beside the child and put her arms around her. “Now listen,
Violet. It's the lady's kitten, not yours,” she reprimanded. “Now give

it to her at once.”

The child twisted free and ran through the crowd.

The young woman stood. “I'm sorry,” she said to Mandie. “Ever since our mother died, she tries to claim everything that comes across her path. I'll get the kitten for you.”

Mandie's heart went out to the young woman. “Your mother died?”

“Yes, last week,” she replied sadly. “My father thought it would be best if Violet and I went to stay with my mother's sister in England for a while. You see, my mother was English.”

Mandie detected a slight British accent. “I'm sorry, Miss—”

“My name is Lily Masterson. Violet and I are sisters,” the young woman explained. “She's only six years old. I was ten when she was born, and our mother had been sickly a lot, so I've always looked out for Violet.”

Celia looked around the deck. “Where did all these people come from?” she asked.

Lily laughed. “Evidently, you belong in the first-class section,” she replied. “This is what they call the steerage section. You see, if you don't have much money, you can ride here for a small fee. Only thing, there aren't any real rooms, and you have to sleep wherever you can find a place and eat whatever you can find. But sooner or later you'll get where you're going—same as all those first-class ladies and gentlemen.”

Mandie couldn't believe what she was hearing. “Lily, my name is Amanda Shaw,” she said. “And this is my friend, Celia Hamilton. This is the first time either one of us has ever been on a ship. I thought everyone had accommodations like ours. I didn't even know there was such a place as this steerage section.”

She rubbed her brow thoughtfully. “Maybe you and your little sister could come up to our room and sleep. We only have two single bunks, but we could make pallets on the floor,” she offered. “That would be better than this.”

“Oh no, no,” Lily protested. “There are regulations on this ship. People in this section are strictly forbidden to go up to your section.”

Celia looked worried. “Do you not have a dining room to eat in?” she asked.

“For goodness sakes, no,” Lily replied. “You bring your food with you when you get on the ship.”

“My goodness!” Mandie said in amazement. “I don't see how it could last all the way to England. Doesn't it spoil?”

The young woman smiled. “No, you have to bring things that won't spoil—like dried beef, hard bread, cheese and things like that,” she explained. “Don't worry about us. We'll be all right. And once we get to England, our aunt has a nice house in the country and she has written and asked us to come.”

Violet peeked out from behind her sister's skirt. She was still holding onto Snowball. Lily quickly bent down, grabbed the kitten, and handed it to Mandie before the child knew what was happening.

“Mine!” Violet screamed, pulling at her sister's skirts.

Lily swung her sister up into her thin arms and hugged her tight. “Violet, that is that lady's kitten, not yours,” she said firmly. “Maybe Aunt Emma will have a kitten and you can play with it.”

The child leaned back to look into her sister's face. “Do you think she might?”

“I can't promise, but if she doesn't, maybe she'll allow us to get one for you,” Lily tried to comfort her.

Violet pouted. “But she might not have one, and she might not get one for me,” she said, glancing in Mandie's direction.

Mandie stepped forward and patted the child's blonde head. “I tell you what,” she said. “If your sister will come to the hotel where we're going to be staying in London, I'll get you a kitten all your very own.”

“We couldn't do that,” Lily protested. “We're to stay overnight at a boardinghouse my aunt recommended in London and then we'll get the train the next morning. You see, the train goes right by my aunt's house in the country. My aunt knows the engineer, so he has promised to stop and let us off.”

Celia's eyes grew wide. “That's great to have the train stop right at your door,” she said.

Snowball was squirming to get down, and Mandie held him tighter. “You could still come by where we're staying,” she offered.

“But where would you get a kitten in a country like that that you don't know anything about?” Lily asked.

“Oh, but my grandmother knows people all over Europe. I'm sure she could find a kitten for Violet,” Mandie assured her.

Lily hugged her sister. “I think it would be better if you asked your grandmother about this first,” she insisted.

“All right. I will then,” Mandie promised. She started to leave, then turned back. “I'll come back soon and let you know what she says. Bye bye, Violet.” She waved.

The child merely looked at her without a word. Lily set her sister down and waved to the girls as they headed for the stairs.

“I don't think I remember how far up we are,” Celia said. “Do you?”

“You know, I don't either,” Mandie admitted as they started up, “but we'll find our way somehow.” She scolded Snowball for squirming to get down. “And we're lost all because of you, Snowball.”

Looking up, she stopped suddenly on the stairs. “Celia, I believe I saw that strange woman up there on the landing. Come on! Let's hurry.”

They lifted their cumbersome skirts and hurried upward. At the landing they stopped to look around. There was no one in sight. Mandie turned to the right.

“Mandie, don't go wandering off,” Celia warned. “I know for a fact that we came straight down at least three or four flights of stairs.” She waited for her friend to return.

“You're right, Celia,” Mandie agreed. She came back and started up the staircase again. “I guess we'd better try to find our way back instead of looking for that woman.”

The girls took the stairs all the way up until they came to a set of heavy double doors. They stopped to rest.

“I think we came through these doors,” Mandie said thoughtfully. Pushing one open, she peered around it, then quickly dashed through with Celia right behind her. “Come on. This is the way, and I just saw that woman again.”

They barged ahead through doors, up more stairs, and down corridors until they finally came to their section of the ship. But the strange woman had disappeared.