Francois And The Ship Of Dreams.

Hello, my name is Francois DuPont. I am a 10 year old French boy from Bordeaux, France. My mother’s name is Marseille and my father’s name is Jacques. For the past three years my family has been living in Southampton, England where my mother works as a maid and my father has found work as a painter. Because my dad is such a good painter, he has been hired by a family called the Astors to come to the city of New York in America and paint nice pictures for a lot of money. He’s been in New York now for a month and has now been hired for a permanent job there. Now that my daddy has made a lot of money, he has bought boat tickets for me and my mom to come stay with him in America for good. He got us tickets to ride on a big nice boat called the Titanic. My mommy said I would love the Titanic because everyone says it is the ship of dreams and it is the biggest boat in the world.

So I woke up this morning very excited because me and mommy get to ride on the ship of dreams for a few days on our way to be with my daddy again. Mommy made my favorite butter croissant egg sandwich to eat for breakfast while she was packing our bags. Living in Southampton was kind of hard because a lot of the kids at school made fun of my French accent, but mommy said that America is much nicer and I will make a lot of friends in New York. After mom finished packing our bags and I finished my sandwich, we left our old house with four suitcases of clothes and got on a carriage paid for by my daddy and pulled by horses that took us to the Southampton docks in Liverpool.

When me and mommy made it to the docks I saw the most beautiful thing ever. This wasn’t a regular boat, it was a castle and I could not believe that I was going to get to ride this very nice big boat. When I looked over at mommy she was both laughing and crying with joy. She looked at me and said “Francois, my sweet, we are in paradise”. We both hurried out of the carriage as fast as we could so that we could get on the Titanic. As we boarded I saw a lot of different people who were all dressed very nice with more British voices than I had heard back in our old neighborhood. “Be careful not to get too close to their nice things” said my mom. “If you damage their expensive property they may not let us ride for long” she said very playfully.

As the man in a nice suit wearing gloves was taking us to our room I noticed all the nice stuff in all the rooms on the way to ours. The forks and knives looked like expensive jewelry and the white sheets that covered the dinner tables and beds were so white that they made snow look like the black coal stuff that mom said Santa Claus was gonna bring me if I didn’t behave before Christmas. As the nicely dressed man took us further down the ship, the rooms we started to see were less and less nicer, but still very clean. When we were almost at the bottom of the ship he stopped us and told my mom “madam, we’ve arrived at your room”.

Our room was nice, but not as nice as the ones on the very top, but still a lot cleaner than the ones on the very bottom from what my mother said. It had just enough space for both of us to move around and twin bunk beds, mom said I could have the top bunk. From our window we could just barely see everyone who was waving at us as the boat was getting ready to leave. After we sat our bags down, mommy exhaled like she was tired, yet she still looked at me with a smile on her face, I knew she was happy to be here, I was too. From above us I heard the sound of a big horn going off, it frightened me a little bit. “It’s ok, my sweet, that sound just means the boat is now leaving the dock” mom said to me in a soft voice.

We went back to the top deck of the ship where it looked like a hundred people were also there waving goodbye to everyone as the Titanic took off. After everyone up top waved goodbye to everyone who watched us from the docks, a group of little kids started running my way. As the one little kid with red hair ran passed me he tripped on my shoe and broke his fall with his hands. “Sorry, are you ok?” I said to him in a worried voice. “Yes, I am ok” he said with an accent I had not heard much of outside of my home in three years, the young boy with red hair was French like me.

“Hey, you’re French like me” I said to him in a surprised voice. “Yes, I’m from Paris” he replied. Looking at me with a confused face I knew he wanted to know why I was so shocked to see he was French like me. “I’ve lived in Southampton, England for the past three years and have not been around many other French people since, my name is Francois DuPont” I said to him excitedly. While fixing the strap on his suspenders from his fall he replied “nice to meet you Francois, my name is Auguste Pierre”. As me and Auguste shook hands, my mom walked over to see if everything was ok. “Francois, my dear, are you ok?” She asked. “Yes mom, I am fine. Mama this is Auguste, he is French like us”. Well nice to meet you Auguste, are you here with your family?" she asked him. "Yes ma'am" he replied respectfully. "I am here with my mother, father, and my older brother and sister. My parents are taking us on a vacation to see America, starting with New York". Mom looked at him with amazement with how good he spoke for a young child much like myself. "That sounds wonderful!" she exclaimed, "Me and Francois are on our way to New York to make a new home for ourselves. Francois, I'm going to go get some rest so I can have enough energy to explore the ship later, would you like to stay up top and spend time with your new friend?" she asked me. "I would love to, thank you mama" I replied gleefully.

As mom went back to our room, me and Auguste talked and walked while exploring the ship. "So Auguste, how did you like living in England?" I asked curiously. "Well I didn't stay long enough to get to know what it was like very much. Me and my family were only there visiting for a few weeks, as we do most places. My father is a wealthy businessman and landowner and his work allows us to travel a lot". Listening to Auguste, I thought his life was very interesting. He and his family were able to travel a lot and see the world, which is something I have always wanted to do and now being next to him on this amazing ship called the Titanic I was now able to do that due to my father's hard work. "What does your father do?" Auguste asked. "Well my father is a successful painter and my mother works as a maid. A rich family called the Astors have hired my dad as a full time pain-" "The Astors?” Auguste interrupted. "As in John Jacob Astor?" he asked me. "Yes" I replied curiously. "What do you know about him Auguste?". "Francois, John Jacob Astor is one of the richest men in the world and the richest person on board this ship tonight". I listened to Auguste with amazement not knowing how important the family that my family was working for was until now. It made me look forward to a big future that my family was going to have.

As the evening went on, me and Auguste continued to explore this wonderful ship of dreams feeling like the luckiest children in the world. We watched musicians play instruments we had never even heard of and watched adults laugh and have a great time at parties and gatherings of which we never even dreamed. I truly feel like I am the luckiest boy in the world. It will be a few days before me and my mother are reunited with my father and though I do not know what will happen in those next few days, I am certainly thankful for this blessed amazing time that I am having right now on this ship of dreams called the Titanic.

This short story is dedicated to the legacy of the RMS Titanic. Though it is a legacy measured in historical tragedy, it is also a legacy of a beautiful time that predated the tragedy. Every passenger aboard the Titanic appreciated the beautiful and amazing journey they were on before they met their fate. The message I want to convey with this short story is this: we don't always know when and where tragedy will strike, but what we do know is what we have in this moment right here and now. That here and now is what we should focus on, regardless of what happens tomorrow.