Chapter 196: Aug 6 – Halifax, NS, Canada
Before Vit could come back last night I got a call from Polina. She asked if I had been to Halifax before (today’s port).
“Would you mind giving up your place with the students tomorrow?”
“Polina, that really isn’t up to me. You’re Chief of Security and I know it,” I answered, thinking this was some kind of test.
“Perhaps not but under the circumstances I’d like to at least give the appearance of you participating in the decision.”
When I heard her tone of voice I said, “Uh oh.”
“Nyet. There will be no ‘uh oh’ from this point forward. I caught her in the act so to speak, but this would help someone else save face … and they would owe me.”
“I’m fine. Whatever works. And by all means build in a little payback if you can.”
She chuckled. “Good. However, I do perhaps have an alternative that may interest you. This too could create some good will … should I need to call upon it.”
“O … kay?”
“The oldest of those sisters … the ones that seem to ask for you more than others … she was wondering if you are available for tomorrow for just the sisters, and then in Dublin something she calls the ‘full Maisey’ doing a literary tour.”
“Jules? And I think you mean ‘full monty’ though I’m a little … er … leery of her definition of that particular phrase.”
I could hear some rustling of papers and she said, “It would be a full-day excursion according to her application. The Book of Kelly … no … Book of Kells, then Trinity College, and then a request that you ‘do the same thing you did before’ except for James Joyce, Bram Stoker, and … hmmm … ‘anyone else you can think of that looks good for a self-directed study.’ Did you understand that?”
I snorted. “Yes. They want to get off the ship, have some fun, but need to throw their parents off the scent.”
“Ah.”
Giving her a little more to work with I explained, “No pub crawls with these girls. They don’t want to break the rules so much as experience life with a little more freedom than they are normally allowed.”
I could hear her tapping on a computer keyboard. “No infractions in the last … hmmm.” She sounded a bit surprised. “No infractions at all. Not even warnings.” After a pause she said, “I am inclined to grant their request.”
“Does it leave you shorthanded?”
“Leave that to me. The middle students are going to a sheep farm that day. My understanding is that it will be a hands-on activity. Very hands on. They recommend boots. And gloves.” She gave an evil chuckle and for the life of me I was already feeling a little sorry for Ana Bosques.
This morning? Not
nearly as much sympathy.
“Oh dear. Did everyone’s favorite mall cop get pushed off today’s excursion?”
I looked her straight in the face and said, “You’re behaving like an idiot. May you reap what you sow.”
It was that moment that Jules strolled up, throwing a bucket of cold water on the potential cat fight, and said, “Thanks.”
“For?”
“I know it was last minute but if Gigi, Dolly, and I don’t get off this ship we are going to do something regrettable. Mother says it is you or no one and we can study the day away, so … thanks.”
I chuckle and walk us toward the coffee maker, which is where I had been heading, already putting Ana – whose facial expression was priceless – from my mind. “No problem. Chief Ivanov said they had coverage … and for Dublin as well. I know it is just you three today but how many are we talking about for the other one?”
“Sign up is open until the 11th but if I had to guess no more than a dozen. And that’s at most; could be half that. You couldn’t get some of the guys to go on a literary tour if their lives depended on it so yeah, a dozen at most. Father might try and talk Roberto into going as well but I think he’s pushed him about as far as he can be pushed right now.”
“No to mention the walking.”
“Walking? We’re not going to be in a bus?”
“Might use a hop on/hop off for some of it but I thought, if all of you have the fidgets that walking would be better than a bus tour.”
“God yes! Yes, yes, yes!”
“Shhhh!” I said chuckling. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Says you. Anyway, thanks and we’ll meet you at the top of the gangway after we tell the parents good bye.”
“Don’t forget your IDs … picture and ship … you’ll need them.”
She waved an acknowledgment as she hurried off.
I turned to look for Vit and found him hiding behind a pillar. “Well hello there.”
“Has she gone?”
“Jules? Yes she …”
“Not her, the other one.” At my look he said, “The vona-dʹyavol.”
It was not easy for me to keep a straight face. My big, strong, handsome husband was hiding behind a pillar from the she-devil.
“I have no idea where Ana went.”
“I do not care so long as it is away. Anywhere away. Let us go before we find she has not done so.”
I spent a few moments back at the cabin unruffling his feathers and then walking with him to Communications since I had to pick up today’s excursion tickets from Security which shared the same space. I felt Vit stiffen as we rounded the corridor and once I looked around him I could not believe it, the huzzy was hovering near the door trying to be oh so casual.
“Ms. Bosques,” I said spotting her before she could escape. “You seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in locations you don’t have the clearance for. Is this going to be a problem going forward?”
Her mouth hung open like I’d just hit her with a sloppy banana cream pie. Polina took that moment to open the door and hearing what I had said she gave Ana a particularly piercing look and within the hearing of everyone on duty said, “No. It. Will. Not. I would also remind you,” she said looking square at Ana. “That there is a uniform dress code whether you are on duty or not. If you are caught out of uniform one more time, there will be penalties. Nor do I want to hear that you are once again hovering near areas of the ship that are off-limits to your security clearance. I have confined personnel to quarters for less. This is your final warning.”
Talk about backpedaling. Ana was quite pale as she hustled away.
I sighed. “Everyone always forgets that I’m wired for vid and sound at all times. Why is that I wonder?”
“Because they are ‘behaving like idiots’?” Polina answered with one of her trademark microsmiles.
Vit gave me a look but not an annoyed one, more like he had questions but they could wait. “Be safe,” was all he said.
After Vit left to start his shift Polina said, “She is persistent.”
“Yes, she is. It is getting to be more than annoying.”
“She is also becoming worrisome. Watch your back. I believe she now sleeps with someone in Admin.” When she saw I made a look of concern. “Nyet. The day one such as she can affect my career is the day I will retire. But I do not like how easy she gets her way in things she should not. I have put an end to it here, but I cannot control everything. I may need to call in some favors so keep the diplomats on your good side.”
I nodded in understanding and we both quickly headed different directions … after she turned my cam back on. I have said often enough that I hate the 007 crap, but that does not mean I am not capable of it.
While I promised a walking tour in Dublin, there wasn’t time to arrange anything in Halifax. Instead I rented a car and decided to cover more ground that way. First off, the girls really wanted to go to Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse. I warned them it wasn’t quite what it was made out to be and that it would be crowded but they still wanted to go to take some pictures and to at least be able to say they were there. I made it our first stop. They had a chance to climb over the rocks, sip some overpriced coffee, and snap some selfies in front of the most photographed lighthouse in the world but that didn’t take long because we were one of the first ones there and after thirty minutes they were ready to go.
We did run into a snafu; not our own but someone else’s. I swear it wasn’t planned. Roberto was escorting the son of another diplomat. They both have physical challenges. Roberto’s is having to walk with a cane. Giang’s was the result of stepping on a land mine as a child. Well Roberto had befriended the boy. Giang’s father thought Roberto was a good example that physical challenges should not impede your motivation to succeed.
Dolly looked at her sisters and asked, “Did you plan this?”
They both shook there heads. “Nope. You said to leave him alone. This is pure coincidence.”
Dolly sighed. “Let me see what is going on.”
I let her do the talking and I think Roberto was a little surprised. Essentially the bus that they’d been assigned to was not challenged-friendly. Giang was also eighteen, a college freshman, and bored though polite being in a bus primarily made up of “old people.”
First I called Polina. She gave me permission and notified those that needed notifying. Jules called her father who gave his permission and said he would relay the change to his wife. The minivan I was driving had the room. Providential? Above my pay grade, but I texted Vit just to let him know so no rumors could start and away we went, now six instead of four.
I had called around and the only place I could get lunch reservations was not in Halifax but in Wolfville. It was a small microwinery that I remember mentioned from the last time I was in the area with the Marchands. In addition to a nice lunch – a little frou frou for the men with us but more than acceptable – Roberto, Jules, and I tasted their Ice Wines, Blueberry wine, and the Pomme de Orr apple wine and apple liqueur. I only had a sip of each because I was driving but I did come back with several bottles in the “boot” for Vit. Roberto also did likewise. We also bought a bottle of apple wine for each set of parents.
From there – after a nice sightseeing drive where I stopped whenever they wanted for pictures – I headed back into Halifax (thank you GPS) and we headed to do a few things related to the Titanic. One hundred fifty
Titanic victims are buried in three Halifax cemeteries. One hundred and twenty-one of them in Fairview Lawn Cemetery, nineteen in Mount Olivet Cemetery (Roman Catholic) and ten in Baron de Hirsch Cemetery (Jewish). Fairview Lawn Cemetery is the one we went to as it was the most accessible.
According to a guide that was standing there with another group:
The behemoth luxury liner, after grazing an iceberg, suffered inescapable hull damage, slowly and horribly filling with water and sinking over a torturous 2 ½ hour period. After the boat had sunk and the freezing water took its toll, only 710 survivors were plucked from an icy grave by lifeboats from the RMS Carpathia several hours later. Of the 121 victims buried here, more than forty of them may never be identified and their families never sure of their fate.
From memory of my last time in Halifax I explained to my group that more than just the RMS Carpathia was involved in rescue and recovery efforts. “One of the better-known Titanic markers in the cemetery is for an unidentified child victim, known for decades as The Unknown Child. Recovered bodies were taken to central areas – one of them in Halifax – so that identification could be made, and families claim their dead. In this child’s instance, no one claimed the body. He was buried with funds provided by sailors of the
CS Mackay-Bennett, the ship that recovered his body. The marker reads
'Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster of the "Titanic" April 15, 1912'. Identification efforts continue today. In 2002 the child was initially identified as 13-month-old
Eino Viljami Panula of Finland. Eino, his mother, and four brothers all died in the Titanic disaster; however, after further testing, the unknown child was re-identified as 19-month-old
Sidney Leslie Goodwin, an English child who died along with his entire family. Even with modern forensic techniques most of the victims would have remained unidentified without their families coming forward to claim them.”
“There were over 2200 passengers on the Titanic. Of those, there were roughly 700 survivors. The “recovery” part of the story doesn’t start until 4 days after the sinking as it took that long for the White Star Line to get another ship with those capabilities to the area of the sinking. They only took 103 coffins because they realy didn’t expect to find as many bodies as they did. The emotional toll on the 75 crewmembers of the recovery ship was terrible and not even getting paid double helped. They were a week pulling bodies out of the water. Too many bodies. On the surface the bodies would not have looked too bad, even after four days due to the freezing condition. However, when they pulled the bodies out, the submerged part was badly decomposed and depredated by marine life.”
“After the first day fifty-one bodies had been recovered, most too mangled or decomposed to be identified unless they had belongings that did so. All belongings were meticulously logged and stored in numbered bags. However, they couldn’t store all of the bodies. Before the recover ship set off, a system to follow in case tough choices had been agreed upon. Bodies of first-class passengers, identifiable by their fancy clothes and expensive possessions, would be prioritized and return to land. The remains of second-class passengers were stored in canvas sacks. Third class passengers would be buried at sea. By the time the ship was at full capacity, it was carrying 190 bodies - just over 10 per cent of all the Titanic dead - and 116 more had been buried at sea. Of all the those returned to the sea, wrapped in cloth and weighed down so they would sink to the bottom, only 56 were ever identified. Sacks as well as coffins ran out and they had to be re-supplied by a support ship.”
“Bodies of children were hardest on the crew and several, regardless of their social class, were stowed and brought back along with the first-class passenger bodies. They did this for a week before calling it quites. When the vessel, which had earned the nickname "the ship of death", came into view of the coastline, witnesses were horrified to see bodies stacked like cordwood on the deck, and the church bells in the town rang out in shared grief.”
Gigi said, “You really
are a teacher.”
Sighing I said, “Sorry about that. Sometimes it gets away from me. I
used to be a teacher. However, I am still a student of history. If we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat it, usually the less pleasant parts.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6043167/titanic-recovery-aftermath/
The worst for me were the graves of the children. I said a prayer for the poor little souls even though it has been over a hundred years and their families are all gone as well. Sometimes prayers are more for the comfort of the living than they are for the deceased. Dolly seemed to be even more affected and after a glance at Roberto and Jules I suggested we return to the city.
Returning the car was easier and quicker than expected. It was at the end of the harbor furthest from where the B was docked, and I had called ahead and an attendant was waiting on us. Instead of catching a taxi back, everyone agreed to simply walk back and enjoy the remainder of their time on shore. I took them via the Harbor Walk. We started at the casino – not to go in, just as a starting point as that was the closest map location – and passed several historical points. About midway everyone decided they wanted to go to the Maritime Museum where we spent an hour, and then we walked the remaining distance to the B. A light rain was falling and I noted that Roberto winced every few yards. I looked to Dolly and she was already watching him and that’s when I realized she wasn’t quite as oblivious to Roberto as she pretended to be.
“Jules? Can we go back to the ship after we hit the Duty-Free area? I think we are supposed to go to some dinner or other.”
Roberto looked back and then seemed surprised. “You are not feeling well?”
“I’m fine. I just need a little time to put on my ‘face’ before we have to be the show.”
Gigi saw me trying to decipher what she’d said and explained, “Putting on our ‘face’ is what we call getting ready to be on display in public. Mother’s position does not always make it easy to be ourselves when we are in public. It is just easier to … have a ‘face’ ready. Know what I mean?”
It was Giang that answered by saying, “I know exactly what you mean. It is like being the only Gobi in a Koi pond.” I later figured out that a Gobi is a dull looking bottom dwelling fish that is used to clean algae in outdoor ponds.
Soon enough we were back at the B and I was about to go through security when I saw Vit coming down the gangway. “Good. You are finished for the day?”
Jules said, “Oh hi, you must be the other Chief Dymtrus.” Turning to me she said, “Roberto can walk us through if that isn’t a problem. I see Father hovering on the upper deck making sure we get back.” She waived at a man I finally recognized and after she pointed to security he gave her a thumbs up and seemed to be making his way down.
My job over with I notified security and Polina said no report was required making me smile and want to sing the Hallelujah chorus. Vit asked if I minded running a few errands with him. “I … er … turned the car back in already.”
“We do not need it. I marked a few locations on a map.”
Well, when I found out what the ‘errands’ were I wasn’t sure whether to be irritated or not. My big brother had stuck his nose in my business once again. Our first stop was a pharmacy. Vit insisted we continue to stock up on some of our personal items. I was also scandalized that Derrick had even raised the issue with Vit. Derrick didn’t think that the birth control pills I was on were a good idea until the weight loss and other issues are under control. He did not want me getting an implant either as it was not a good time to experiment with such things. Instead Vit decided we would go old school and handle things with condoms and calendars.
“One of these days I am going to kill Derrick very dead.”
Vit chuckled. “I warned him of that. He said that under the circumstances it was a risk he considered worth taking.”
I snorted but I got my own laugh in when I sent Christine a particular picture of Derrick when he was eight years old and had just participated in a hot dog eating contest accompanied by the line, “And now you know why he won’t touch the things.
I got a particularly aggrieved email response from Derrick saying, “I’m only thinking of your health. Did you really need to give Christine even more ammunition?! She’s on the phone now with Angie getting the full story.
And the moral to the story is not to irritate little sisters when they have incriminating childhood photos. I am off to bed with Vit chuckling at my antics. He better be glad … no, I shouldn’t say such things. I wish I did have photos of Vit when he was a boy. The fact that none exist? It is like when Momma said she wished she had baby pictures of me. The closest things are the yearly ID pictures from my adoption file. Gah! Now I’ve made myself sad. I think a cuddle is in order.