Matron Voyage

The day was Wednesday, April 10, 1912. The largest ship of its kind sat at Southampton, England's White Star Dock. It left the dock at 12 noon GMT with its final destination secluded for New York City, NY. The problem was that it never made it to New York.

At approximately 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, during its maiden voyage, The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg. Just 2 hours and 40 minutes, the Titanic was no more. It sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic, 1,300 miles from New York where it sat for over a century, when it was completely lifted In July of 2035.

On Wednesday, April 10th, 2041, the U.S.S Titanic left its dock in Galveston, TX USA. It was built using must of the material from the original ship. It was designed to resemble the original ship as much as possible. Of course, with some modern enhancements. For example, the biggest enhancement is the hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion system which replaced the steam turbines. This was a huge space saver and allowed many of the modern amenities to be added.

It sailed at 12 noon with only the crew and a few elite passengers. It traveled through the Gulf of Mexico and up the east coast of the United States. Its destination, of course, New York City. There, it picked up more passengers, bringing the total on-board to 2,240, matching the original total.

One of these passengers was the Great-Great Grandson of one of the original passengers. His name was Geffory Gangler. It was love at first sight when he saw Gina Grey. If you call that love. It was more or less lust at first sight. Gina was strikingly beautiful. Assuming that his money would be able to win her over, he walks right up to her and started to talk about all of his accomplishments. His 7-digit bank account, his Malibu mansion, his super-sized yacht off the coast of Miami. He had shares in gold, silver, and diamonds. This was just part of it. He had much more.

There was one thing that Geffory did not have. That was the one thing that Robert Eddison had tons of. He Only had a 4-digit bank account. He rented his house in Harvey, IL. He worked for a living. And his job at a local warehouse was not that impressive. What he did have was charm. He had enough to spare. He also owned a few gold and silver coins that he inherited from his great-great-grandfather. He was saving them for a rainy day.

Gina was taken in by Robert’s charm. She found Geffory to be rude, arrogant, and repulsive. She wanted nothing to do with him. She had a 6-digit bank account. She didn’t have a job. She didn’t need one since her father, an 8-digit bank account, paid for everything she needed. He paid for her first-class ticket. Robert ticket was third-class.

On the original ship, the classes were restricted to certain areas of the ship. Although 3rd class had the largest number of people, it was the smallest area near the back. This was not so with the new Titanic. The classes defined what type of room you had. The first-class rooms were balcony suites. They were large enough for a family of 6. Some were smaller but could still comfortably fit 4. They had separate bedrooms with walk-in closets. They had their own personal dining room. The bathrooms were 5-piece. The average Joe could stay in the room and still have a great time.

Second-class rooms might have a balcony or a port hole window. They were not as large as first-class rooms. While 4 could sleep in a second-class room, the level of comfort was not the same. The bedroom (single) was not a separate room. The bathroom was a 4-piece. There was an area for dining but not its own room.

Third-class rooms were interior rooms. They did not have a balcony. They did not have a window. They were designed only to have a place to sleep. The bathroom was a 3-piece. Toilet, shower, sink. The shower was tiny, but it got the job done. The room had 2 twin size beds and a desk. The closet was not that big. Most people kept their belongings in their luggage under the bed.

One advantage to having a first-class ticket, other than the room, was access to exclusive clubs and dining rooms. These dining rooms had high end menu items 24-7. While a 2nd or 3rd class passenger could order lobster tail for dinner any day of the week, 1st-class passengers could go to the 1st-class dining room and order a full lobster any time of the day. The people in these exclusive clubs were all just like Geffory. That included Reginal, Gina’s father. Gina didn’t like that crowd anyway.

The ship pulled away from New York City headed to Southampton, England. It was going to follow the same route of the original Titanic in reverse. People from all 3 classes rejoiced as the ship moved into open water. While there was plenty to do on the ship, Reginal wanted to spend most of his time in the first-class club room. This is where he met Geffory. He saw him staring at Gina and inquired of his identity from the staff. The information he received was all about his bank account. To him, that was more than enough. He could care less about his personality.

“Gina”, he called. “I want you to meet someone.”

“I’ve met Mr. Gangler already.” Turning to Geffory she continued, “Good afternoon, Mr. Gangler.”

“You can call me Geffory.”, he said.

“Good day, Mr. Gangler.”

She walked away making it obvious that she had no interest in Geffory Gangler or his money.

Gina got together with Robert and a few of his friends at the swimming pool. They were sitting at the edge of the pool with their feet in the water. She walked behind him, kneeled down and covered his eyes with her hands.

“Guess who?”, she said.

“Well,”, he responded, “I hope it’s a beautiful woman.” He turned around, looked at her, and continued, “That was an understatement. It seems I’m being stalked by the most beautiful woman on the planet. Or at least this ship.”

She punched him in the arm and laughed.

“Hey, there is a lot of beautiful women in this world. I’m sure I can find one that looks better than you.”

“Good luck trying.”

“I didn’t say that it would be easy.”

“Robert”, called Michale, one of his friends. “Are you going to introduce us to your friend?”

“Oh! I’m sorry. Guy’s this is Gina Grey. Gina, this is Michale, Brandon, and Nick. They are the Guy’s. Yes, that’s their last name.”

“Wait”, said Nick. “This is the Gina Grey. Daughter of Reginal Grey. Millionaire. How did YOU get with her?”

“He made me smile.”, said Gina.

“That is one gift he has always had.”, said Brandon.

“I heard that you were with Geffory Gangler.”

“Geffory is with himself. That’s all he cares about. It would look good for his image if I were to stand next to him. My father tried to hook us up. He’s only interested in how much money Geffory can bring into the family. That’s why my mother left him.”

“You don’t have to worry about that here.”, Michale said, “None of us have any money. Yet we still lead a happy, satisfied life.”

The 5 of them stayed at the pool all day talking and laughing. They were having a good time and enjoying themselves. Unknown to them, Geffory was standing at a distance watching. He was wondering what in the world could the daughter of this top-class gentleman see in this bottom class nothing.

When she got to her room Geffory and her father was waiting.

“Who were you with today, sweetheart?”, her father asked.

“Robert Eddison.”

“Who is Robert Eddison?”

“Robert is the greatest man I ever met.”, she responded.

“He is not one of us. I don’t want you handing around him.”

“Father, I agree that he is not one of you. He is charming and caring. You, 2, are rude, arrogant, and repulsive. Therefore, I am not one of you either.”

“You are my daughter. You are a Grey. You have Grey blood running through your veins. There is nothing you can do about it. You were born with Grey blood. You will die with Grey blood. We Grey’s have nothing to do with them. Now, look. Mr. Gangler is a very nice man. He has a great job. You will be taken care of for life with him. With him you can…”

“What? Be miserable for the rest of my life. Married to a man who is only interested in his own image. Someone who cares more about his 7-digit bank account than his own life let known mine.”

The argument lasted for a while. Geffory didn’t say a word. He only listened. When it was over, he left. Her father tried to convince Gina that Geffory was a caring man. But she could see in his face that he was self-centered and money oriented. Since Reginal was just like him, he could not see any fault with him. Gina couldn’t see any good in him.

The next day, Gina did not show up at the first-class dining room. She went to look for Robert. When she walked into the main dining room, the first person she saw was Geffory. He had flowers and candy in his hand.

“Gina, sweetheart.”, he said, “I want to apologize for giving you the wrong impression. My conversation about my achievements was the wrong thing to do. Please, I’m not going to talk about myself at all. Tell me more about yourself.”

“Do you really want to know about me?”

Gina sat down and started to talk about what she wanted in life. About how much she cares for other people. About her donations to the poor. She enjoyed holding events for children. She could have gone on and on about what she liked to do. But when she looked at him, it appeared that he was falling asleep.

“Geffory!”, she shouted.

“What! Oh. I’m listening.”

She got up and went to look for Robert.

“Gina!”, he called. “I can’t watch you fall for someone like him. He’s a nobody. He don’t even own his own house. He lives in a city nobody has ever heard of. What can you possibly see in that.”

He said “that” in such a way to belittle Robert.

“I see not you.”

She sees Robert and runs over to him.

“Robert!”, she said. “How are you?” She hugs him and kisses him on the lips. He can tell that this was more than just an ‘I like you’ kiss. This was a ‘I’m letting the other man know that I’ve made my choice’ kiss.

Geffory was more than a little annoyed by this. He thought that he and his class were so much better than Robert and his class. He felt that Gina was part of his class, not Roberts. He had to claim what he felt rightfully belonged to him.

He walked over to Robert, grabbed Gina and flung her off of Robert. His anger toward him blinded him to the fact that a crowd was standing around him. It blinded him to the fact that others saw what he was doing. He did not even realize that Gina was hurt. He raised his clenched fist ready to punch Robert in the face. He took a swing, but Robert caught his fist mid-swing. With what seemed like little effort, he squeezed Geffory’s fist causing him to drop to the floor. He did not know that Robert taught a self-defense class on the side. With Geffory on the floor, he helped Gina up, braced her injured leg, and escorted her to the infirmary.

While this was going on, Geffory got off the ground and reported to security that Robert attacked him. They approached him and took him to the security office. Insured that he had won, Geffory had a smug smile on his face. They showed the video of the incident and asked Robert if he wanted to press charges. To Geffory’s surprise he said no.

“I don’t think I’ll have to many problems with him anymore.”

Later that night, Reginal talked to Geffory.

“Don’t give up.”, he said. “You can recover from this. I don’t want my daughter to be with that bum.”

“I made a fool of myself. I don’t know how to fix it. But I, too, don’t want to see her with him. Even if it’s not me, I don’t want it to be him.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’ll need your help. We can buy his house and kick him out. Who wants to be with a homeless person?”

“No, she would only help him find a new place to live.”

They continued to talk about many different things to discredit Robert. Each time, they only realized how much of a kindhearted person she was. What they couldn’t see was how much of a kindhearted person Robert was. This is what attracted Gina to him. And him to her. This did not stop them.

“Gina.”, Geffory called. “I understand that I messed up. I understand that there is no way I could make this up to you. But, please, just like your father, I only want to see you with someone that could take care of you. This, Robert, can’t even take care of himself, let known both of you. What’s going to happen if you have children. Are you going to get a job?”

This question was insulting to her. It was suggesting that she couldn’t do it. He paid no attention to the look on her face. He just continued talking. Even as she started walk away. But while he was talking, an alarm went off.

“Iceberg, Starboard Bow. Iceberg, Starboard Bow.”

The alarm and the shouting caused a panic in some of the passengers. Added to it was the ship came to a jolt. Geffory was almost knocked off his feet. With that, he pushed Gina out of the way and ran to the lifeboats. Unable to get one down, he jumped into the water watching and waiting for the ship to go down. As he looked up, he noticed all of the people laughing at him.

His anger for Robert caused him not to read the morning announcements. This was done for theatrical effects in honor of the original Titanic. The boat had not hit an iceberg. It was in no danger of sinking. To his shame, it was Robert that threw him a lifesaver.

“Grab it. I’ll pull you in.”

Robert tried to pull him in, but he was laughing too hard.