Going to New York - Sarah Vazzoler (good book club books .txt) 📗

 Friday, March 1st 1912 - One month to go 

Dear Diary,

This is the first time I am writing to you, yet you are not my first diary. You are the 12th of a long series of other diaries. However let me tell you by now that you are special: I am writing you to record my trip from Queenstown to NewYork aboard the Titanic. And I am aware that there is still a month waiting to travel to the far America, but I believe in the importance of a memory from my life here in England.

And now, after this little introduction, let me formally introduce myself because I believe that if we have to become friends, you need to know at least something about me: my name is Alice Margaret Mary Shelton. I know, a long name, but my parents couldn't decide between my mother's favorite name and my two grandmothers' so they gave me all the three. I was born in the night of January 8th 1902, so by now I am 10.

I was born and raised in a small medium-class family: me, my brother Arthur, who's 5, an always-sleepy-or-hungry kid that likes pistols and watching gun operas with my father. I would like to watch gun operas as well but my parents consider those kinds of shows too disturbing and strong for the delicate minds of females; then there is my mother Dorothy, a keen, and nobby, and sometimes over confident 28-year-old woman who can be extremely sweet in certain events like when we kids have nightmares.

Then it comes my father, Tom, a 30-year-old gentlemen considered often darb and refined by everyone who has got a chance to have a meal with him, and considered  brilliant by me; he is able to invent stories out of nowhere, he speaks both English and French and he made more than a few times some dolls and fake guns for me and my brother, and I have to say that those qualities are a big contrast from his lack of attention towards his family that sometimes leaves a scar in my heart.

Then there is my nanny Rose; my parents always tell me that I am not supposed to consider her a member of our family because our family is a white family, however, when I asked what does it mean, my father cold me a severe face and clammed down.

But Rose is nice, is shy and has the sweetest eyes of England; I don't know much about her past but my father said that asking personal information is a sign of impoliteness. My parents are protective and controlling; they put rule over rule about politeness, apprentice and smile even if you have a different mood. One of the rules that I dislike the most is number 9: "Don't play or be friends with children who are of a  lower class; if you want to be successful you need to have support and be respected from the classy people; everyone else is not important". I don't believe in this rule but the secret to be a dilly person is to follow all the rules no matter how goopy they sound - rule number 15!

My parents also want me to go out always doll up, because they strongly believe that the first appearance is always the one that makes the difference.

However let's get back to me. Here're some of my favorite things: drawing, jumping the rope; I love eating fish and writing; in fact I want to become a famous writer when I will grow up; my father often tells me 'One day you are gonna panic the house, my smart girl'. However, the most important thing for me are true friends. I don't have any friends besides the one that my parents told me to become friends with, of course blue-blood, but for me they are too uppity and ornery, clothes horses; they pan you in everything you do and they act like everybody else doesn't worth more than their sandals.

This is it for today, my dear diary, I'll write you soon.

Your newest friend Alice Margaret Mary Shelton.

Wednesday, 6th March 1912 - 26 days to go

Dear diary,

I just finished the lessons with Mr. Helson. Mr. Helson is my teacher, a great gun of the city and I have to admit that with his being a live wire, with this playful behaving, he is a bang-up; he has the jokes bug, although I never understood one of them and he has always this raft of interesting facts about science and geography, or famous people that makes people understand how slick he is. For some reason he always wears his clodhoppers; he says they are comfortable but I strongly doubt it. I just think it is just a habit that he has from when he was a redneck, before to become a teacher, and he always bring his black boombershoot even if outside it is sunny.

He comes here every Wednesday to teach me counting, writing and reading, and every once in a while we read the newspaper and comment about the most important events. Today we have done the newspaper reading since there was a news about Titanic. We have talked for the whole lesson about it.

In fact he is obsessed with Titanic - I mean: he likes ships in general but Titanic just became his favorite due to the fact that it is the biggest ship ever. He always talks about it, about how they are building it; sometimes he also drew the Titanic and once also built a model on how the ship is going to look like. And I have no idea where he found all this information: I have to ask him once but I bet he would answer he has a cousins working on it. Yeah, when talking of personal life, Mr. Helson can be a bit of a forked tongue,  if you see what I mean.

So, in his honor, and also because I believe it is time to you to know Titanic better, I decided to share some information with you; so, let's start by telling you about the planned journey.

On April 1st Titanic will finally sail for Southampton; it will take 10 to 13 days to arrive at Queenstown and, on the way there, the Titanic will stop to Southampton and Cherbourg, France. The Titanic will stop to Queenstown just 4-6 hours and then we will sail to New York! It will take about a week to arrive there.

With this being said I will talk to you a bit about the people I will travel with.

There will be about 1,350 passengers in the Titanic; and my family and I have a ticket for the first class, but we will still have to share the bathroom with other 2 families, and although my father is angry about this I think that we are lucky especially compared to the third class who has 2 bathroom for 706 people. There are also some famous people that will come aboard Titanic such as actresses and inventors; some of the most famous are: Mr. Milton Snavely Hershey, the owner of the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar; then there is also John Jacob Astor IV, an American businessman, a builder and investor that is the descendant of the first multi-millionaire in the United States. But the person who I am most excited about is Theodore Dreiser, a novelist; I really hope I will he a chance to meet and talk to him.

If I have to tell you a secret, I am really joyful that I am going to New York because I really don't like my life here. I don't have any friends; I am hoping that New York will be the biggest change in my life.

For today is it, my dear diary.

Alice Margaret Mary Shelton

Sunday , 10th March 1912- 22 days to go

Dear diary, 

I just got home from the digs of some of my parents' friends, the Herly family. We had our last meal with them there since they won't be able to come to our "Goodbye Ceremony", which will take place at our house next weekend, because on Monday they will have to go to London. In my opinion this dinner was useless since they have never be that close to our family, but my father believe that is important to keep friends like them, even if that was probably the last time I would have to be with the Herly's because some tomorrow - in case we need help - it is good to have friends like them.

However the party was one of those extremely elegant and formal party in which everyone has to look at the men talking about politics, horse racing and work with a polite and bogus smile in your face, and pretending that you are interested even if everyone knows that everyone else beside the two men are bored, and would rather be relaxing in his own room reading. But nobody says anything because it would be impolite! On the other hand we had fish for dinner which is my favourite food and I seriously can't remember when was the last time I had eat fish with this quality. So, although overall the meal was as boring as the math lessons of Mr. Helson, at least I had a chance to enjoy the food. 

The Herly family has also two children, a 14 year old boy, Jack, and a 6 year old girl, Marie, but they are not the kind of friends I would like to have: they are really judgy. For example, I was eating with my mouth open and Marie said, "Mum, look at her! She is eating as a fish, isn't she big enough to know that you don't have her mouth opened?" Ms. Herly yepped at her like I wasn't just in front of them, making me feel the most stupe person in the whole England and so embarrassed that I bet I became as white as my pillow. Later that evening my parents scold me, and told me that I should be ashamed, and they said that tomorrow I won't have lunch.

Dear diary, I hope that, as my only friend I have at the moment, you can understand me, and I know it is hard to understand a person: I am often not able to understand my own parents. It might be because I am too young: