A Maiden's Dream

It was a boat of dreams. All the socially importent members of society were waiting to proceed onto the ship. Sara was excited. She would not be relaxing on the deck or listening to modern jazz while sipping her coffee. She would be working her way to New York. She had already been on the boat for the past three hours. The stair rails now shined, the grand hall looked perfect. She knew that the guests would be able to see their reflections in the glow of the silver and china. Sara was expecting this to be her most exacting waitressing, and cleaning job yet. She stood by the boat entrance as the high society passengers entered. Sara knew the role, she smiled and stood still like an obedient servant.

Her boss, a short dark-haired man, came and broke her blank gaze. She followed him back into the kitchen. Once they were out of the passenger's ear sight, they both relaxed and entered into nervous chatter. He told Sara to take a quick break. This class of people, he told her, works on a schedule. They would go to their suites, look themselves over, and pull out the designated outfit for tonight's dinner. One was expected to look their best for meals. He suggested that she go out on the deck, but not to sit in the lounge chairs. To lean on the rail would be acceptable. Sara knew not to get wet from the spray of the ocean, but she caught her breath in joy as the ship inched its way out into the vast nonending water.

The time passed too quickly. Some children had escaped their parents and emerged on the deck. Sara hid from them and returned both mentally and physically to her station.

She was ready, standing by the stairway when the first passenger presented themselves into the dining room. Sara tried not to laugh, as each guest made their grand entrance, which all the other guests pretended not to notice. After-all nobody else could be grander than they were.

Once five tables were fully seated, Sara left her post. She went and got two bottles. One of red wine and one of white. One lady wanted a wine list. She wanted to select her own wine, but most people were happy. Sara wondered who would balk at a fifty-dollar bottle of wine. She thought about the two-dollar bottle of wine she had had with her boyfriend before he left. He would be in New York waiting for her. She suddenly noticed the smile appearing on her face and quickly changed her focus to her blank gaze.

These people thought they were wonderful. She was just a silent fixture, but in her mind, Sara knew she was wonderful as well. She was proud that she could work for her living and valued people for their qualities versus their wealth. She tried not to daydream as she mindlessly poured the wine.

Her boss, David, motioned her to the kitchen. She silently, unnoticed, exited the dining area.

Sara loaded the trays. She was good at handling a tray, but the male waiters looked more grand and elegant. She helped clean the plates before taking them to the table. The plates looked perfect. No accident squirts juice or gravy from the steak or boiled vegetables. Sara also cleaned the rim of the soup bowls. The soup and salad had been taken out by the waiters first.

Sara escorted him and went and refreshed the water glasses. There were rules for that as well. These people had rules for how to do everything. Sara thought of Dan her boyfriend. She knew he would have laughed at the absurdity of it all. We just grabbed a soup spoon, fork and knife and sat down in front of the radio, listened to the Lone Ranger, and ate our dinner.

Sara could not imagine all this fuss for a meal. This was the same routine for every meal. The meal went late. Cognac coffee and cigars, and more learned routines, and topic matters. They like robots had been programmed to model this behavior. She usually referred to these type of people as sheep. She remembered that song "Feed my sheep" Well for this trip she would be feeding God's sheep. And they would with the paycheck they would be giving her would be feeding her, God's silent bull in a china shop. She would once she could afford it form her own family, ignoring all the ridiculous rules of society.

David let her leave at around midnight. They had cleared all but two tables, and washed most of the plates. The waiters would help the drinkers who remained. David explained that sometimes the drinkers got out of hand. It was better if the men served them.

Sara made it up in time to serve breakfast. The first group of passengers got there at about 7 am. Mostly men, but not as fancially dressed as last night. The ship was tossing more than last night. The coffee swirled in their cups. She tried not to fill the cups as full. The eggs and bacon were also sliding on the plates. She didn't want to cause any problems but she felt as if something was not right. All she wanted to do was do her job and keep her blank face. She had a role to play, she wondered was she a sheep. Why was she acting so calm as if nothing was wrong? The women trickled in for grapefruit and a glass of orange juice. Some also had toast with Jam and bacon. These women were on a diet. The jam was in ceramic jam holders. They had a little ceramic spoon. She. had cleaned up all the juice from the grapefruits off the plates before serving them, but the grapefruit was sliding on the plate.

10:30 the dining room closed. She had till 11:30 till the next shift.

Sara was hungry but she was also worried. She walked around the ship. She had never been to the lower levels. Once down the steps, she noticed that there was a low film of water. It was not deep enough to splash, but more than peoples wet feet would leave. Sara walked deeper down the hallway and noticed that the water was getting slightly deeper. One of the doors to a room was open, and she could see more water on the floor. Sara felt more sure that something was not right.

Eleven thirty to two. All she could think about was the water. But nobody seemed to notice. The customers were to into their own world, and she was to much in the shadows of society for these important people to notice. They were to caught up in themselves to notice anybody, who did not threaten their image. Their grandeur. You can always tell a lot about a person's character by how they treat the help or in her case the waitress.

Sara went and got David after her shift was done. She took him down to the lower level. The water had gotten deeper. Sara said to him "something isn't right" David didn't seem to know what to say. He had her go back to the upper deck , and try to relax.

Sara didn't even notice the people around her. She knew she wasn't supposed to be on the deck, so she went to the back of the ship. The cool breeze calmed her. But then she noticed what looked like a hole in the bottem of the ship. She was not sure, maybe it was just a weird wave. David came and found her. She showed him the hole. He took her back to the kitchen and told her to pack her suitcase. He appeared a moment later with a female worker. They each had a suitcase. All three of them were silent. Sara felt as if they should warn the others. David led them to a lifeboat and told the women to get in. He seemed to have read Sara's mind. He shared with the woman that he had shared the information with the captain. He didn't know what to do. They didn't have enough life boats for all the crew and passengers. They had radioed for help, but there were no boats within a close enough range to get here.

Sara like a puppet being maneuvered by stings put on a life jacket and got into the lifeboat. She felt numb. She knew they would follow the society ranking order to fill the lifeboats. The wealthy women and children would go first. She probably would not have been seen as having any worth at all. David had grabbed some paddles. He rowed as the two women slept. Sara dreamed that she heard screaming and dying, but when she awoke she was lying in a bed. She smiled thinking the whole voyage had just been a bad dream but when she looked at the table by the bed the paper said "The Titanic Sunk". The newspaper was the "New York Times" She had made it to New York, with a paycheck, and yes her luggage