Cabin D17 - Slightly sci-fi

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Cabin D17 - Slightly sci-fi

Postby Hugh-AR » 18 Feb 2021 00:16

(See post below, by Dennis)

Dana,

That is a fabulous story. It had me spellbound from beginning to end .. and even beyond the end!

Hugh
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Re: Cabin D17 - Slightly sci-fi

Postby dentyr » 03 Jun 2022 08:28

This post seems to have gone astray so here is the original. Dennis.

Cabin D17

It was the summer of 1954 and I had decided that New Zealand held more hope for a better lifestyle than that in England. I had made up my mind to travel and, because I had no real dependents in England, I was soon on my way. I booked a passage on one of the Shaw Saville line ships from Southampton to Wellington. It seemed a wonderful way to have a five week holiday before getting into the farming business in New Zealand.
We were now three days out from Southampton and the weather was finally clearing up. We had left port in the usual English summer rain and the passage down the English Channel had not been too kind. However, we had sailed south and now we were into the more tropical regions of the Atlantic. More of the other passengers were appearing on deck now that the ship had settled down to a steady pitch.

It was mid afternoon when I took a stroll around the boat deck. Most of the other passengers were occupied with some entertainment in the forward lounge and I found it quite relaxing to just walk quietly alone. I went between two of the lifeboats to stand near the rail and that is when I saw her. She was standing behind the lifeboat just looking out to the blue horizon. Her ash blond hair hung to her shoulders and the blue dress she wore seemed to highlight her whole being. I moved close to the rail.

“Hello, enjoying the view?” I asked.

She turned and smiled, “Immensely.”

“First trip?” I enquired.

“Yes. Isn’t it wonderful and peaceful here?”

Her skin was cream, her eyes sparkled a cornflower blue and her lips were perfection. I felt excitement, butterflies, and yet shy. We stood and talked, nothing in particular but everything in general. It was just wonderful being there beside her. I glanced at my watch and it was nearing dinner time for me. I asked if she was at the first sitting or second for dinner. She said that she had second sitting. I was in the first sitting so I had to leave to dress for dinner.

“We must meet again” I said hopefully and, when she replied laughingly that it would be nice,

I returned to my cabin. I was in very high spirits.

It was just after eight in the evening as I strolled along the boat deck again. My steps took me to the place where I first met her. She was standing there again, beautiful in the moonlight. I moved to her side and she looked around and smiled. My heart skipped. The ships intercom on the boat deck was playing soft dance music. Most of the passengers were now occupied watching a film in one of the lounges.

“Would you care to dance?” I asked.

“Certainly, Sir” she replied with a smile and we moved out onto the deck-tennis court. The ships awnings had not yet been put in place and the stars shone brightly above. We danced. It was wonderful. We were away in our own dream.

The evening became cool and she said that she would like to return to her cabin now. We skipped along the deck, laughing, holding hands and very happy.

“I will escort you to your cabin,” I said, “in which cabin are you?”

“D17” was the reply and off we went, down the steps, along the corridor to D17. She opened the door and turned towards me. Again my heart pounded as we kissed. It was a lasting kiss; and then I reluctantly bid her good night.

I hurried of to my cabin on C deck, my head was in the clouds. I had met my dream girl. As I undressed I realized that I did not know her name. Our meeting, talking and dancing had completely embraced us. Tomorrow is another day I thought, and with that, I fell into bed and slept.

It was the following afternoon in the same place on the boat deck that we met again. She told me her name was Nora and that she was on her way to New Zealand to make a fresh start. She said that she had lost both her parents recently but did not elaborate on that and I did not pursue the matter. She had no personal commitments and that pleased me. We spent the whole afternoon just looking out over the water and talking of our probable lives in New Zealand. Again I had to leave for dinner and we agreed to meet that evening in the same place.

It was almost eight o’clock as I strolled between the lifeboats. She was wearing a beautiful old fashion dress that made her look like someone out of a Charles Dickens novel. I took her hand and looked deep into her eyes. She moved gently towards me and our lips met. I held her close, feeling the warmth of her next to me. We spoke little that evening and before too long she said that she would like to go to her cabin. I felt a little disappointed to end the evening so soon but I did look forward to a good night kiss.

When we reached the door of D17 she took my hand, opened the door and walked in, taking me with her. I was surprised at all the luggage that was piled on the bunks. In fact, only one bunk was free of any boxes or cases. She explained that the luggage belonged to other passengers and she was the only occupant of the cabin. I took her in my arms again and this time we were swept away together. We lay together in her bunk. I had never ever experienced anything like that evening. It was four in the morning when I kissed her gently and slipped out of bed. She smiled sleepily. I half-dressed and quietly let myself out, hurrying back to my cabin. The steward brought early morning tea at five thirty but I slept right through.

It was almost ten thirty when I awoke. There was no movement in the ship. We had berthed. I leapt out of bed and looked out of the porthole. We had tied up alongside a wharf in Curacao. I dressed quickly, I had to see Nora so that we could go ashore together. I grabbed at my shirt that I had carelessly tossed onto the hanger beside the door and removed the one cuff link. I searched the floor looking for the other one but to no avail. Buttons will have to do I thought. I hurried up to where the gangway had been put out to the wharf. Many of the passengers had gone ashore. I asked the officer on the gangway if Nora had left but, not knowing her other name, he could not tell me. He suggested that I go to the purser’s office and make enquires there.
The young purser’s assistant asked if he could help and I told him that I needed to know the name of the young lady in cabin D17. Before he could answer the chief purser came over to the window and asked if I could step into his office for a moment. I was concerned as it is not etiquette for the purser to give out information about passengers. I stepped into the office and he quietly closed the door.

“You were inquiring about cabin D17? We have no D deck on this ship.” he informed me. “You must be mistaken.”

“No,” I replied, “I was with the lady from cabin D17 only last night. I was hoping that she would accompany me ashore today.”

He reached behind him and drew out an old leather satchel. Carefully placing it on the table between us he unlocked the clasp, opened the satchel and drew out some papers. One of them was a detailed drawing of the ship.

He looked me straight in the eye. His face was intense. There was a long pregnant pause and then he continued. He told me that he had joined the Line when he was thirteen as a junior clerk. He was to assist the purser on this very ship. The ship had its maiden voyage in 1903 and he had joined the ship in 1904. Now this was his last trip as he was to retire.

At that time the ship had two classes, first class and third class. The first class passengers were on the top two decks, A and B and the third class were on decks C and D. It seems that some of the first class passengers required so much luggage that it could not be stowed in their cabin. The Captain suggested that some luggage could be stored in spare cabins in the lower part of the ship. In many cases there was a passenger travelling alone who would share the cabin with the luggage. Of course, the first class passenger paid for this privilege. Then, in 1906 the company decided that the D deck would be re-modelled and become a baggage room only and B deck would become a second class area.

He paused to allow this to filter through to me. He continued. He held the only keys to the baggage room and this had not been opened at all during this part of the voyage. No one had been into the baggage room which was originally D deck.

I found this difficult to believe but before I could question him further he opened some of the other papers on the desk. He glanced at them and then slowly slid them over to me. They were reports and newspaper cuttings from long ago. It was about some girl that had gone missing. He interrupted my reading to carry on with his story.

It seems that a certain young lady from cabin D17 had met and fallen in love with a fellow passenger. On their arrival in Curacao she had come to the officer on the gangway and asked if a certain young man had left the ship. He said that he was that officer and he told her that he did not know who had gone ashore. At that she ran down the gangway and away towards the town of Willemstad. That was the last that anyone saw of her. As he was the last person known to have seen her then he came under very close scrutiny by the owners of the Line, the police and the local newspapers. All the reports and cuttings were there.

I asked if we could visit the ‘baggage room’ and he agreed. He took a small bunch of keys from his pocket, checked them and we went out and down the stairway to the lower deck. It was not far when we came to a locked door labelled “BAGGAGE ROOM. NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE CHIEF PURSER” He opened the door and we went in. The corridor was there but instead of cabins there were racks for cases and boxes. Racks stacked with cases. I stared in disbelief. I had been here less than twelve hours ago and things were different.

Walking along the corridor he turned into one of the access ways and said that this was probably the location of cabin D17 when it existed. I looked and still could not believe what I saw. Just as we were about to go he reached down onto the floor and picked up something.

“Someone is a bit careless,” he said “fancy losing a thing like this here.”

And he held out his hand to show me a cufflink.

I reached into my pocket and drew out the matching cufflink.
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Werk maakt je vrij. Muziek maakt je blij. Work sets you free. Music makes you happy.
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