With her heart in her mouth, Pia knocked softly on the door to the Ahlberg’s cabin on F Deck. She was terrified she would be spotted by one of the stewards and shooed away back to her own cabin. They were sticklers about lights-out on this ship, particularly where women were concerned. It was as if they thought the fairer sex would get themselves into trouble if they were caught out too late at night. That might be the case down at the forward end of the ship once the men had a few drinks at the bar in the third class Open Space, but back here they were as safe as they could be anywhere.
The cabin door creaked open just a crack and a boy’s face appeared. She gestured with her head for him to come and he nodded, opening the door wide enough for a stream of little bodies to file out. The last through was Tiggy, and Pia picked the toddler up and cuddled her close. She had become very fond of the little girl in the last few days and the feeling was mutual. Tiggy clung to her possessively and giggled.
‘We’re going on a “venture,”’ the child said in a stage whisper, her golden plaits wrapped around her head like a hallo.
‘Yes we are! Quietly now children, follow me.’ She took the lead with Tiggy in her arms and the four-year-old's hand gripped tightly in hers while the three older children followed on behind. They were as quiet and as good as gold, and she made it up the stairs to E Deck and along the corridor to where Jac was standing Point without discovery. She could see a group of children moving ahead of them now with Cara in charge. They disappeared around the corner and out of sight.
‘Okay?’ Jac asked softly. Pia simply nodded and hurried on with her charges.
Further along Scotland Road, she saw the young Australian steward waiting at the bottom of the kitchen stairs. He grinned, gave them a bow as if they were honoured guests and ushered them upward.
Pia hurried up the stairs with her gaggle of chicks behind her. At the top of the stairs, she was greeted by more people and a lot of quiet whisperings. A woman reached out and took Tiggy from her arms. After a gentle word to the child that it was all right and that she would be back soon, Pia let the uniformed woman with the kind face take charge of her brood. That must be Lucy, the stewardess from second, she thought, as she hurried back down the stairs.
Half-way down, she passed Eilish with her own brood coming up. They smiled and nodded as they hurried on.
By the time she had gathered the last of her charges and made her way back to the Dining Saloon, she was in a state of high anxiety. Everything was going like clockwork. That was the trouble. It was all going too well. Surely, they couldn’t have it run so smoothly?
However, she didn’t query their good fortune. She simply made her way through the crowded room until she found her little group. They were sitting obediently on the floor around Bart as he told them stories about what was going to happen next, repeating his message over and over in different languages.
‘And a bright light will come on and that’s the door, and we will go through the doorway. It will be very noisy and bright for a minute, but then we will be in a magical cave with lots of nice people who will take us to the party.’
Once Pia was assured her children were settled and ready, she went to look for Marco. She couldn’t see him anywhere in the shadowed room. Surely, with his height, she would have been able to identify him in the crowd if he were there. But, though she could see Julio helping Jane and Karl with the ladies from second, she could not see Marco or the first class passengers.