Read Eastland for Free Online Page B

mouth
and then pumped air into the youngster’s lungs. A few torturous
seconds later, the boy coughed back to life.
I said a silent Hail Mary, but my joy was cut short by an unnerving scene.
Another doctor was working on a woman who had lost her
dress in the river. She lay stretched out on the dock indecently
exposed in her camisole and bloomers as the doctor pumped
with his pulmotor. All too soon, he stopped. He removed the
mask from the woman’s face.
“She’s gone. Take ’er away.”
Catholic priests had gathered on the wharf, more priests
than I’d ever seen, even at a High Mass at Holy Name Cathedral
in Chicago. One boyish-looking priest knelt over the dead,
indecently exposed woman. He covered her with a blanket and
then gave her last rites before several firemen carried her corpse
away.
Had Mae been given last rites? Had her lifeless body been
taken to some morgue? Or had she been resuscitated and
whisked away to a hospital? Or was she still in the hull? Or still
in the river?
Where was she?
My head throbbed with the frightening possibilities. I’d left
Mae below deck so I could go find Karel. What kind of friend
did something like that? A selfish, thoughtless friend like me. I
pulled my hair, trying to get the clatter and pain to stop.
But there was only one way.
7
     
    I crept toward the edge of the hull and peered into the water.
“I’m coming to join you, Mae! I won’t ever leave you again.”
    A hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Miss! Miss! What’re
you doing?”
A husky voice. Masculine. Why was this strange man pestering me?
I shook him off and looked back at the river. A little girl’s doll
bobbed past, one porcelain arm sticking straight up, her bright
blue eyes flipped open. She stared at me, begging for help.
“Don’t worry! I’ll come for you. I’m coming for Mae too! You
won’t be alone anymore.”
I teetered further out over the edge of the hull and reached
down for the doll.
“Easy now, miss.” It was the annoying voice. “Let’s settle
ourselves.” The hand gripping my shoulder eased me back from
the edge. Thick arms enveloped me. This man, this intruder, felt
damp and cold. I wanted to be free of him.
“Leave me alone!” I struggled, but he held fast.
“There’s nothing down there for you.”
“You don’t know that! Mae might be down there. She needs
me.”
I leaned toward the water again, but he pulled me back
against him.
“You’re shivering.” He rubbed my arms with massive hands
that seemed to cover the entire lengths of my sleeves. “Probably
in shock.”
Shock? Me? I laughed at this brutish meddler and his ridiculous notions. I wasn’t in shock. I knew exactly what I wanted. I
tried to squirm free.
“Please, miss, please. It’ll be okay.”
Okay? Women had plunged to their deaths. Children had
been thrown overboard. Babies had sunk to the bottom of the
river. Didn’t he see?
Nothing was right about any of this.
So who was in shock here? Me or him? I laughed ’til my teeth
chattered. He rubbed my arms faster, but any faster, and I might
start on fire. Now, that was funny.
“You need help, help,” he kept repeating.
“Y-you need h-help,” I chittered. I needed Mae. I twisted
toward the river.
“Listen!” He shook me firmly, but gently. “You can’t go into
that river. Understand? I’m not letting go of you.”
He wrapped his powerful arms around me again. The air
went out of me. I had no strength left to resist. He rubbed my
arms more slowly now, and I knew I wouldn’t burst into flames.
I exhaled, and stopped laughing.
“That’s better. You’re safe now with me. Oh, but you really
don’t know who I am. Name’s Lars Nielsen, first assistant engineer. And you are?”
He paused, obviously waiting for an answer, and for the first
time I noticed that he was part of the Eastland crew.
He wore the standard white uniform. A long-sleeved
shirt with a wide, square collar that draped halfway down
his back,