An Unsinkable Love

chapter 9


It was bitterly cold. The lifeboat undulated over gently rolling swells a short distance from the foundering ocean liner. Bree shivered.

The crewman in the middle of the boat put the long wooden oars into the oarlocks and rowed away from the ship, each sweep accompanied by a loud creak. The senior crewman sat at the tiller and steered, his hooded eyes fixed on some unknown point on the black horizon.

As they drew farther way, more and more passengers leapt or fell into the water. Cries of distress echoed over the strangely smooth ebon water. Bree could almost smell the fear and despair surrounding her.

"Why aren't we helping? Don't you see that man over there? He's waving. Please turn back!" Bree called to the man at the stern who clutched the long wooden rudder under his arm. His eyes swiveled slowly toward her and glared, then turned away. She begged the crewman on the oars, "Please make him turn. There are people out there! Can't you hear them?"

"We ain't goin' near 'em. They'll swamp us like as not, and I ain't aimin' for a swim. Orders are to get away from the ship so she don't take us down when she goes," the older man rasped.

"But there are people out there and we have plenty of room!" Several other women echoed Bree's cry.

88

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

The man at the rudder spoke loudly. "We ain't goin' back for anyone. My orders are to stand off and wait for rescue.

There are other boats. Let them go back if they want."

Bree pleaded with the other passengers. "We must help them! What if it's your husband or son out there?"

The other women murmured in agreement, calling out to the men to take them back to help.

"Shut up, I said! If you don't shut up right now you'll find yourself in the water with 'em." The tiller man's dark eyes dared the women, especially Bree, to say another word.

"I'll not sit here and let those people die, you cowards!"

Bree cried, furious at their callous behavior.

The older man jerked his chin in her direction. The other crewman dropped the oars and stood, knocking women to the floor in his haste to reach the bow. Before Bree uttered another word, he picked her up and flung her into the water.

The shock was like nothing she'd ever felt—her head exploded in agony. The fur coat pulled her under like a lead weight, its bulk tangling around her legs. Bree swallowed a mouthful of briny water as she tried to kick for the boat, and gagged. The cork-and-canvas life vest tied over the coat bunched under her chin. She fumbled ineffectually at the string ties with numb fingers. Her breath was being crushed from her lungs. She splashed feebly but it was too late. The glacial water closed over her head and, as she slipped beneath the surface, her last vision was the twinkling lights of the doomed ocean liner.

[Back to Table of Contents]

89

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson