Third class passengers were several notches down the social scale as far as the staff was concerned. After all, they were the ships peasants and it did not matter that they were seeking a better life in the United States. In a world that worshipped wealth, they were poor, but their numbers were the bread and butter of the Cunard line. Given that, they were treated with an abject amount of tolerance by the cabin staff.

Precious objects were crammed into what little luggage they were able to bring aboard the ship; the traditions they left behind were deeply ingrained in their minds, along with their dreams, never to be forgotten as so much else was. Instead, they focused on new beginnings in a distant world that promised so many opportunities.

They looked forward to what awaited them at horizon’s end with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. The challenges of the unknown would soon unfold as the ship sailed closer to the new world with the setting of the sun.

In a matter of days, they would be sitting under a shady grape arbor, surrounded by family they were just introduced to as they prepared to live wholly in another country. A huge table with cold salads, Risotto with Red Chard, fruit, and wine swirling in glasses all raised in a welcoming toast. They were home.

From the Writer’s Workshop: Write a post in exactly 11 lines. Take two books. Open each one to a random page and point at a random sentence. Use one sentence to start your story and the other to end your story. Write the story in the middle. This was a fun challenge which I combined with another, writing my post in eleven lines as well. I reached for two nearby books from the library in my home office, Exploring the Lusitania and Under the Tuscan Sun, chose a sentence (or a bit more) from each and enjoyed my results.