Liverpool, England

'Liverpool is a fair enough city', Mickey thought to himself. 'It has nothing on London though.'

London was beyond his wildest dreams. It was a beautiful, modern city, and he was reluctant to leave it. His friend John escorted him to France, and he took a shuttle across the channel to London. When he arrived, he had a week before the Lusitania departed to New York City, and he made the best of it.

He saw everything he could, from Buckingham Palace to London Bridge. He fell in love with it, but he knew he had to go to America.

He arrived in Liverpool the morning it was to depart. It reminded him of Munich, only younger, and slightly poorer. It took him an hour to find it, but he made it to the dock.

"Mein Gott!" he gasped out loud. In front of him was The Lusitania, the largest and most beautiful ship he had ever seen. Any doubts he had about Liverpool vanished at the sight of the ocean liner.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?" a man said behind him.

"Yes, it is," Mickey replied, turning around.

"I'm Nathaniel Lancaster," the man said, smiling.

"Mickey Muller," he replied, and they shook hands. Nathaniel was short, with light brown, almost blond, hair. He was wearing simple clothing, most likely he was from middle class. The thing that stuck Mickey most, however, was his eyes. They were green/blue, but not turquoise. They were almost impossible to describe.

"It is a nice liner, but not the biggest. The Mauretania, its sister ship, is bigger. But I heard that another ship is being built, The Titanic. Now that is supposedly going to be the biggest ship in the world, and the fastest. I've never been on a ship before, I am quite excited. What about you? Have you been on an ocean liner before?" Nathaniel rambled.

"Wh... What?” Mickey asked. He was fluent in English, but that went completely over his head.

"English isn't your first language, is it. You do have an accent. Where are you from?" He asked, slower than before so Mickey could understand him.

"I'm from Munich, in Bavaria," he said. Sure he wasn't born there, but at least Nathaniel might have heard of it.

"Bavaria, I've heard it is beautiful there. I'm from Cambridge." He replied. "Have you ever been to America?"

"No. What about you?" Mickey asked.

"Never been there. I'm planning on living there the rest of my life though. It is supposed to be the land of opportunities, and I could use them." He said cheerfully. "We better go get on board now. What class ticket do you have?"

"First. What about you?"

"I have first as well. My family has some money, but we're not rich. It took me ages to save for it, I didn't want anything less. If you're gonna go, you might as well go in style." Nathaniel said.

Mickey tried to suppress a laugh, but it came out.

"Don't try to stop a laugh, we need it to survive. A good laugh never hurt anyone, except a man with broken ribs." Nathaniel continued. Again Mickey couldn't help but laugh at one of Nathaniel's theories.

"You're crazy," Mickey said half jokingly.

"Maybe I am. I haven't ended up in the nut house yet though, so I must be doing something right," he replied.

After getting inspected, they made it to the platform. After getting incredulous looks from the guard, they were let on.

"Why did he look at us that way?" Mickey asked.

"It was probably because we're wearing second class clothing, have third class luggage, and first class tickets," Nathaniel answered. After figuring out the sentence, Mickey had to agree. A horn sounded, and the boat was being untied from the dock.

"Come on," Mickey said, “let’s wave to everyone. We'll probably will never see Liverpool again."

"With any luck," Nathaniel replied, and they ran to the side of the ship. They waved until the ship cleared the dock, and Nathaniel seemed to be slightly depressed.

"What is it?" Mickey asked.

"I've lived my whole life in England. Farthest I’ve ever been from home is London. Now I'll probably never see it again. I'm just going miss it, that's all." He said.

"Don't be so depressing. Look on the bright side, we're going to America! Be happy, or think of something funny. Laugh! It never hurt anyone- except a man with broken ribs," Mickey said in the best British accent he could get.

Nathaniel burst out into laugher. "That had to be the most ridiculous and horrible English accent I have ever heard," Nathaniel managed to say through his hysterics. Once he calmed down he continued," I know your right. New York is going to be amazing. Do you think the streets are really paved with gold?"

"I doubt it. Everyone in America would be millionaires, and we'd be better off living in Europe."

Nathaniel gave one last look at the shores of Great Britain, and then went with Mickey to find their rooms. It took them a while, but eventually they did. The rooms were enormous. They were not the best first class rooms offered, but the silk couches, private decks, marble floors, and master bed rooms were more glamorous than they ever though possible.

"Next stop the United States," Nathaniel cheered they headed toward the dining room. It was the happiest either of them had ever felt in their life.