“That’s Ryan, his mom and dad got sick,” one of the twins said. “Timmy told us to watch him until he got back.”
Spinning around, “Got back?” Wendy gasped. “People have left this ship and left you here?”
The twins nodded as one spoke. “Daddy said he was going to shore and make sure it was okay because some army guy said we couldn’t get off the ship for two weeks.”
“Did any of the crew stay?”
Both nodded and the other twin spoke. “The captain, but we can’t find him.”
Glancing at the door, “Girls, we can’t stay here,” Wendy told them.
“Ryan ran out of the powder to make his milk,” one twin said. “We were hiding in our room.”
“What’s your names?”
“Jo Ann,” one said.
“Sally,” the other answered.
“When’s the last time you saw Anthony?” Wendy asked, moving to the office.
“Yesterday, when he got Timmy,” Sally answered.
Turning on the office light, Wendy grabbed the file cabinet and opened the top drawer, grabbing a folder. Of the three thousand and seventeen passengers, Wendy had been told that eighty-four were children under the age of twelve. Wendy knew for a fact, thirty-three were dead because they died on her shift.
Opening the folder, she flipped through the ID pages that parents had to fill out for their kids, complete with a picture in the upper left corner. Finding the twins’ info sheets, Wendy found out they were eight and lived in Nashville.
Continuing through the pages, she pulled out two Timmys. The two-year-old she remembered dying and put that one aside. The next was a picture of a ten-year-old boy with a big grin. Putting that sheet with the girls, Wendy continued through the stack until she found Ryan.
Ryan was seven months old.
Putting his with the others, Wendy folded them up and shoved them in her pocket. Looking around, she saw a backpack and dumped it out. Seeing the stuff on the desk, she knew the pack had belonged to a woman.
Walking back into the nap room, Wendy headed to the cabinets and opened them up. She glanced at the counter, seeing a can of opened formula. She took the other four of that kind and then grabbed diapers and wipes. “Girls, how did you know how to take care of a baby?” she asked, filling the pack up.
“We helped Aunt Lisa take care of her baby,” one said and Wendy could almost hear the smile.
“Girls, is your mom in your cabin?” Wendy asked, zipping the pack closed and looking over at the girls.
Both had watery eyes as they nodded. “Girls, we can’t go back there because if Anthony is still on the ship, he can find out where you are,” Wendy told them and they both gasped. “You can come with me until someone comes back.”
The twins looked at each other, then back to Wendy and nodded. “Okay,” one said and Wendy looked around on the counter and saw barrettes. Grabbing a yellow and pink one, she handed them over.
“Sally put the yellow one in your hair and Jo Ann, put the pink one in yours,” Wendy pleaded, then smiled. “Please? Until I learn to tell you apart.”
The twins smiled, grabbing the barrettes.
“Do you two have any trouble carrying Ryan?”
“No,” Jo Ann answered, moving over to the crib. She lowered the side rail all the way down and picked up Ryan who was just cooing away. “Ryan, you have to hush,” Jo Ann whispered, grabbing a pacifier and putting it in his mouth.
Ryan stopped cooing as he sucked away on the pacifier and Jo Ann moved back beside Sally. Wendy saw Ryan was either big for his age or the girls were really small for their age. “Stay close because we are going to the crew passageways,” Wendy told them, moving out to the playroom.
Looking out the windows, “Let’s go,” she said, heading for the door. Leading the girls out, Wendy forgot the infirmary and moved to a small door that was tucked back in a recess in the wall marked ‘Crew Only’.
Swiping her card, Wendy ushered the girls in and closed the door behind them. “These are the crew passageways,” she told them, walking down the hallway. When one of the crew showed them to her when she’d gotten her card, Wendy had been amazed that this many passages were tucked and hidden away on the ship.
Stopping several times to rest, Wendy saw the twins passing Ryan to each other as one got tired. “We are stopping at the kitchen and will load up a cart with some food. I know a room we can hide out in,” Wendy told them and they smiled.
Reaching the kitchen, Wendy grabbed a serving cart and moved to one of the refrigerators. Loading up several prepared trays, Wendy tossed a case of bottled water on the bottom and then grabbed a case of sports drinks, shoving them beside the water.
Closing the fridge, Wendy leaned over the cart panting and felt the fluid rattling in her chest. “Hold on, girls. I need to catch my breath.”
The girls nodded with smiles as Ryan laid his head on Sally’s shoulder, closing his eyes. “We didn’t know this was here,” Jo Ann said, looking around.
“Passengers aren’t allowed in these passageways. I was shown them, so I could help out,” Wendy explained, reaching down and pulling a bottle of sports drink out. She drank several gulps, then put the top back on. “That elevator there moves between all levels and that’s where we are
