The redhead opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out as she plunged into the murky waters.
I screamed for her, and for everyone who had lost their grip or been thrown overboard, but my cries seemed lost amid the ear-shattering howls of the countless drowning souls. The river foamed with people. I could barely see any water; their mass was so dense. Yet beside me, on the ship, all movement had stopped. Like the paralyzed bystanders who’d watched the steamer capsize, the hundreds of survivors along the hull stood silently, wordlessly, watching the death struggle in the river. I pulled Karel to his feet. “Do you think Mae …” But I couldn’t finish. Mae couldn’t be out there fighting for her life. Could she?
“No! Not Mae!” Karel said. “Impossible! She’s a strong swimmer.” He turned from me. “Stay put! I’m going to find my sister.”
“I’m coming with! You can’t go alone! It’s too dangerous!”
“No!” He looked back and heaved a heavy sigh. “No,” he said more gently. “I need you to stay safe. You have to wait here. Please, Dee, for my sake?”
“But what about your safety? And what about Mae?”
“I’ll find her, I promise. I won’t come home without her. Now you promise me something. Remain on the hull till help comes, then get yourself back to Cicero and stay with my parents till I return.”
I managed a nod. Of course, Karel’s parents. Mae’s parents! Karel knew they would be as worried as Momma once word of this disaster got out. “I swear! I’ll wait for you.” But Karel had disappeared into the mass of survivors on the hull. I was as alone as …
Mae! I searched the river, but the spectacle was more than I could bear. Yet somehow I had to keep my wits about me. What if Mae was swimming toward me right now? What if she was calling my name? Oh, but the noise! The unbearable screams! I wrestled with the impulse to cover my ears. No! I would not give in to my fears. I brushed my rain-drenched bangs from my eyes and forced myself to watch as young women, weighed down by long dresses, brassieres, girdles, and boots, panted for air. Men, in wool suits, stiff-collared shirts, and ties, floundered about. Mothers clutching their children fought to keep them all afloat.
One mother looked to be losing the battle. She and her baby went under, but then miraculously, the baby resurfaced, a look of surprise on its tiny face. I waited for the mother to reappear, but all I could see were her hands, holding her squirming infant up for air. Then one by one, the mother’s hands slipped away, and she was gone. The baby flipped onto its back, still squirming. Float, little one! Float! Someone will rescue you! But a second later, the baby disappeared beneath the surface, and I knew it was sinking to its death beside its mother. I let out a strangled scream, overcome now with a terror I’d never known. Mae could be out there, groping for her life.
Hold on! Karel will come for you. Hang on, Mae!
Though the other survivors on the hull still seemed dazed and motionless, the stunned bystanders on the wharf and the bridge and the street had jumped to life. They tossed anything that could float into the water as a life-saving device. Planks and ropes and loose boards went flying. Poultry and produce workers pitched wooden chicken coops and empty lettuce crates.
A lucky few reached the debris, managing to float or kick their way toward rescue. Two women had gotten hold of a coop and were paddling toward the dock when a man’s head burst forth from the surface near them. The man seized the coop, trying to pry it from them, but the women fought back and won. The man sank back down. A second later, one of the women jerked and bobbed under. She splashed back up, gasping for air. Her friend reached for her, and both women sagged over the coop in apparent relief. All at once, the second woman jerked and then disappeared beneath the surface. Then the first woman was gone again too. Please resurface! Please! I prayed as the first woman bobbed up, splashing and kicking at some unseen menace below. She must have gained her freedom because a moment later, she went slack and flopped across the coop.
Seconds, then minutes went by, but the second woman never reappeared. Neither did the man. A policeman on the wharf pulled the floating woman to safety, and she collapsed into a heap, crying, “Hazel! Hazel!”
Mae! Oh, Mae. Where was she? Was she out there right now being dragged to her death? No! Karel had said Mae was a strong swimmer. Mae would fight. Mae would survive.
The tugboat Kenosha, the one that was supposed to pull the Eastland out onto Lake Michigan, maneuvered instead into place between our capsized ship and the wharf. The tug set planks in place on each side of her deck, creating a bridge from our hull to the tug, and from the Kenosha to the wharf. Yet even with the planks in place, no one around me moved. Were they all too stunned to leave? Or were they like me, waiting and hoping for a glimpse of a loved one?
I realized with a start that my toes were tingling. I glanced down. The hull was vibrating. I’d been too busy watching the river to realize that passengers had been trapped in the decks below. They were alive! People had survived and were pounding on the hull for help. I dropped down and pressed my hand against the white steel. I’m here, Mae! Can you feel me? I won’t leave without you.
When I looked up, I saw that rescuers had arrived on the hull. They worked feverishly to pull trapped passengers through the portholes, but with the holes about a foot in diameter, only the most slender could slip through. Could Mae make it through that small opening?
A few yards away, a head appeared through a porthole. It was a girl about my age. Two men reached for her as she thrust up one arm, then a shoulder. The men struggled to ease her other shoulder through the porthole, but nothing they tried could free her. In the end, they had no other choice than to lower the teenage girl back into the ship. “You can’t leave me here!” Her pitiful cries pierced the air. “Help me! Please!”
But her two would-be rescuers could do nothing to help. They both sagged to their knees and bawled.
No! No! That can’t be it? There must be another way out! They can’t leave that girl in that flooded prison. What if Mae was down there? How would she get out?