Titanic 2012 Part 21

"Are you ready?"

"You really are a G.o.dd.a.m.ned taskmaster, aren't you?" He said this last statement with a smile, though I could detect a note of bitterness and fear in his voice. He'd spent his whole life being the charismatic charmer. Now, there was nothing left but the truth....

Harlan nodded toward the iPod touch. "Go ahead, shoot."

I pressed the start b.u.t.ton....

17.

Interview with Harlan Astor Location: Suite B-52/54 "Christ, where do I begin, anyway?"

"That's up to you."

"That's certainly the truth. Everything's always been up to me.... You remember a little while ago, when you asked me if all those fancy words I spoke at the launching were just so much bulls.h.i.+t? Well they didn't used to be. None of it used to be. Now, I can hardly remember when it wasn't.

"t.i.tanic has always loomed large over my branch of the family. We were the black sheep, the poor relations no one liked to acknowledge.

"When I was little, I remember my grandfather talking about how the tragedy ruined us, how our financial fates were sealed almost from the moment the s.h.i.+p sank.

"You see, my great-grandmother was Colonel Astor's second wife. She was barely nineteen and five months pregnant with my grandfather when they boarded the s.h.i.+p in Southampton. And when Colonel Astor died, she inherited income from a five million dollar trust fund and use of the mansions for life, as stipulated in his will. A great deal, except for one thing: if she remarried, she'd lose it all. A few years after the sinking she did exactly that, sacrificing everything, and creating a permanent rift in the family. My grandfather never forgave her, or that "b.l.o.o.d.y boat," as he put it.

"I'll tell you, Trev, from the time I was a kid, all I ever wanted to do was to put us back on top, show the rest of the family we measured up-that we deserved the Astor name and all it carried and implied. I can remember the moment it all started....

"When I was ten, I went out and spent all my allowance on a model kit of the t.i.tanic, the kind that are made from balsa wood. Not these plastic pieces of c.r.a.p. I was curious; you know how kids can be. You hear all this stuff about something, you want to know more about it. Anyway, it took me months to build it, which I did in the attic of our townhouse in New York. Spent all my spare time on it. Finally, with the paint barely dry, I brought it down to show my parents. It was gorgeous, and I sure was proud of myself." Harlan laughed humorlessly.

"My mother got up and left the room, and my father...he took it from me and examined it as if it were some kind of bug, then he tossed it into the fireplace, right on top of a burning log. With all that fresh glue and paint, it caught fire immediately. It all happened so d.a.m.n fast. In an instant, it was gone.

"You know what my father said to me then? 'It figures a little worm like you would like that G.o.dd.a.m.ned boat. That's why I know you're never going to make it in this world.'"

"What did you say to him?"

Harlan grinned. "It was one of those defining moments, kiddo, ones we look back on either with pride or regret. I looked my old man square in the face and said, 'You should talk. All you ever do is moan about what we've lost, instead of doing something about getting it back-like Uncle Bill. Seems to me, you're the one who's not going to make it. Seems to me it's already pa.s.sed you by.'

"You should see the look on your face, Trev, it's absolutely priceless. And my sainted father had the exact same look. He had no idea a kid so young could spell it out like that, and be dead-on right. You see, as a family, we'd lost our guts, our drive. I wanted to shake him up, make him see that we had no place to go but up."

"But, it didn't work."

Harlan shook his head. "No. Things got worse. We finally had to sell the townhouse, and a few of our antiques, as well. We moved into an apartment on Sutton Place an eighth of the size, at a rent that was ruinous. It also meant I had to stop private school and go to one of the public ones on the Upper East Side. And that was an education, believe me.

"Still, I did my best to learn all I could. I also started researching the family history. My great-grandfather was quite the real estate magnate, it seems, and for his day was one of the richest men in the world. I think only that old rascal J.P. Morgan was wealthier.

"Anyway, from about age thirteen on, I studied the market. After school I would hang out with real estate salesmen, ask them questions until they threw me out of their offices. And I soaked it all in. Did I ever tell you the time I met Trump?"

"No, when was that?"

"Oh, man, that must have been around 1987, or so. I hung around the lobby of the Trump Tower and waited until he was leaving one day. He came striding out of the elevator, wearing that trademark red tie of his, and I went up to him and said: 'Mr. Trump, you've just met the man who's going to buy you out.' You should have seen me, kiddo, this skinny seventeen-year-old wisea.s.s telling Trump I was going to whip his b.u.t.t.

"That was the beginning. As soon as I turned eighteen, I bought my first building in one of those no-money down schemes that most of the time don't work. It was a grimy little hole-in-the-wall in a part of the city I knew was due for gentrification.

"See, one thing I realized, even with all the knowledge I'd acc.u.mulated, is that to really succeed you've got to have the knack, you've got to be able to feel it. And when I saw that rundown piece of garbage, I didn't see it as it was, I saw what it would become. I knew in my bones this property was the cornerstone, the linchpin to the whole block. It was a steal.

"Sure enough, six months later, I turned it around for double my money, and I was off and running. That's how I was able to go to Harvard that fall. I paid my way through all four years doing the same kinds of deals. Over and over again."

"I remember you were always reading the trades, always looking for opportunities."

"That's right. And while you, Solly, and Ken were pulling your puds, I was making two million a year in pure gravy. And once I'd socked away my first ten, I decided to get into development. That's where the action really is.

Besides, the one thing I always wanted to do was create things with style that would last. I built my first building off Fifth Avenue, leveraging myself to the hilt. It was a real gamble. I stood the chance of losing it all. It's still there, by the way, looking as good as ever."

"What about t.i.tanic?"

"That was something that was always with me, something that was refueled when Cameron's film came out. I remember skipping out of a board meeting to go see it for what must have been the sixth time by then. I tell you, kiddo, that man outdid himself when he made that film, pulled something magical out of himself that he was never able to repeat in quite the same way. And why the h.e.l.l should he? He made the best film ever made.

"I began thinking about rebuilding the s.h.i.+p even back then, but I didn't have the financial resources. I knew it would cost hundreds of millions. I suppose I could have gotten investors. h.e.l.l, after my first few successes, they were lining up for anything I wanted to do. But I wanted it for myself. I wanted to do it all. It was just like having that balsa wood model back, only this time my Dad couldn't destroy it."

"But you could."

Harlan looked at me with a level stare, and for a moment I thought he would end the interview right then. Instead, he smiled. "Touche, kiddo. You're right, but that wasn't how it started. What I said back at the Harvard Club was true at the beginning. I wanted to honor my great-grandfather, the man I'd modeled myself after. I've often wondered if he and I share the same soul, you know? It's kind of a nifty thought. History coming full circle.

"Anyway, as my fortunes rose, I solidified my plans. I even bought the cruise line that blocked all the other t.i.tanic projects back in the nineties, clearing the way for me to rebuild the s.h.i.+p in time for the centennial. For her maiden voyage I intended to invite as many descendants of the original pa.s.sengers as I could find, and together we would finish what our ancestors started."

"It's a nice thought."

Harlan nodded. "Yes, it was."

"What happened, Harlan?"

"It was two years ago, right after I'd laid the keel in Gdansk that I started feeling lousy. I put it down to overwork, at first, but when days would go by and nothing changed, I went to my internist. He told me flat out I was going to die if I didn't stop working the hours I was putting in and start chemo immediately. The construction on the s.h.i.+p was proceeding smoothly, and most of my other projects were under control, so I booked into a sanitarium in Switzerland, and for the next six months went through the worst h.e.l.l of my life. I'd only been back for two weeks when we saw each other at the Harvard Club."

"You left the program early, didn't you?"

"Yeah.... I'd responded to the drugs, at first, but after a while when it didn't get any better, I got tired of paying all that money just to feel like s.h.i.+t. Then it became a matter of racing against the time I had left. I had all these projects going. Some I dropped altogether, told the people to go ahead and sue me. Others I pushed like h.e.l.l to complete."

"Like the s.h.i.+p."

"Especially the s.h.i.+p. I wanted to see it completed. I wanted to walk her decks, see her sail this one time."

"When did the original purpose change?"

He looked at me a moment, then nodded.

"Sorry, didn't understand you for a second. It was about two months before the launch, and I'd already been flooded with inquiries from people wanting to book pa.s.sage. I got this one letter from a young girl, maybe you've interviewed her, saying that it was her dying wish to sail on the t.i.tanic. And that got me to thinking. Why not have all the pa.s.sengers be those with no hope left? And there you have it."

"I'm really sorry, Harlan. I didn't get a chance to tell you that."

"You mean before or after you tried to brain me with that bottle?"

He laughed, then coughed wetly.

"I'm sorry about that, too."

"Don't be, kiddo. I should've told you the truth. But would you have come along if I had?"

"I don't think so."

"Are you glad you did?"

"To be honest, I don't know," I replied.

"Maddy?"

"Maddy." I watched for any kind of sign from him, then decided to ask the question that burned uppermost in my mind. "Was she a setup, Harlan? Was she supposed to keep me here, if I found out the truth too early?"

"You really think I would do that? Do you think I could make her love you?"

"I don't know what to think."

"I've only known her for a short while, Trev. She truly cares for you."

"Too bad it's all for nothing."

"Is it? I would say you're the richer for knowing her, and she for knowing you. And isn't that what it's all about?"

"Harlan Astor, the philosopher?"

Harlan laughed again, stifling a cough with the back of his hand.

"When you've got the grim reaper staring you in the face, you tend to spend a lot of time pondering your life. And I'll tell you, kiddo, there's a few things I'd do differently if I had the chance to make things right."

"The way I see it, you've got nothing to feel sorry about. You've done a lot of great things. You've remade your family's fortune."

Harlan's tiny smile was fraught with irony. "Yes, but I've no one to leave it to, Trev. I spent so much time consumed by ambition, I never bothered to find anyone to share it with." He fell silent for a moment, the emotion flus.h.i.+ng his face a pale crimson. "Can we stop now, I'm getting tired."

"Sure, no problem."

Sadly, I reached for the stop b.u.t.ton.

18.

"What time is it?" Harlan asked.

I glanced at my watch. "Just after six."

"Will you open the curtains for me?"

I walked over and threw aside the heavy drapes covering the large rectangular windows. The sky was a riot of color, and the sun stood poised just below the horizon, though its rise would be hidden from our view by the stern of the s.h.i.+p. Harlan stared out at the sea, preternaturally calm in those predawn moments, his eyes bearing ineffable sadness. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," I said.

"Captain Pierce tells me the weather tomorrow night will be much as it was a century ago. I find comfort in that."

I turned from the window, no longer able to remain silent.

"Maddy's going with me."

He nodded. "I thought she might. Her little boy, now you. Two very powerful incentives." He grimaced as a pain shot through his ravaged body.

I approached the bed. "Maybe there are others teetering on the edge, like the ones who got off at Cobh. Maybe they'd like another shot at whatever they have left. You don't have to do this, either, Harlan. Disarm the bomb. Let the t.i.tanic complete this voyage."

He looked up at me then, tears running down his cheeks. "I-I can't, kiddo. If I try to turn it off, it'll blow; it's sort of a fail-safe."

"Then let everybody off in the boats. With only five hundred of us on board there's more than enough room for everyone."

"They won't go."

"How do you know that? Tell them. Let them know it's okay. If they know you're going, the rest will follow."

"I can't," he said, his compressing into a tight line. "After the others left, I gave them my word the rest of us would all go together."

My anger boiled over then. "You gave them your word? Jesus Christ! What the h.e.l.l kind of a thing is that?"

Harlan pushed himself up, and I could see it took monumental effort. "IT'S THE ONLY THING I HAVE LEFT!" He collapsed back onto the bed, coughing uncontrollably, and I went to him. I felt awful, yet I did not regret a word I'd said. "Are you all right?"

"I think, sir, that you'd better go."

I looked to the door and saw Henry standing there, immaculate in his white steward's jacket, the White Star Line burgee embroidered over his left breast. His expression was grave, and not without a touch of menace, something of which I would never have thought him capable. I turned back to Harlan who now had his eyes closed, his breathing rapid. His skin was pale to the point of translucence, and a sheen of sweat covered his skin.

"You have the power, Harlan. You're the only one who can change what's going to happen...."

Henry moved further into the room. "Mr. Hughes, if you please."

I walked out, stopping in front of Henry only a moment. "He can stop this, Henry, if he really wants to."

The older man's features softened. "I know, Mr. Hughes. I'm just not sure I want him to."

His words shocked me, but they shouldn't have, for I knew a good many on board felt exactly the same. But maybe if Harlan let them know that he bore them no ill will, that it was okay to change their minds, some of them, however small a percentage, would join me and Maddy in that lifeboat. If that happened, I knew I'd be able to leave the rest with a clear conscience.