The ship was sinking, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. The captain called first mate Calvin to his side, and informed him of the coming tragedy. The captain said that some would certainly perish, though it grieved him that this was the case.
"Unfortunately, many will not make it into the life boats in time," the captain grimly told Calvin. "Some will stubbornly refuse to believe that the ship could be sinking and will therefore ignore the call to enter the life boats. Some will be so paralyzed with fear, they'll remain in their cabins. Nonetheless, go on and get the word out to all souls aboard."
"Which passengers shall I go to first?" Calvin hurriedly asked.
"Simply tell all who will to board the life boats. We have twenty-four life boats on deck. That is enough to save all souls aboard, but some will not be saved. You don't know who will be saved and who will not, so just let everyone aboard know about the life boats. Better some saved than none at all."
"Aye aye, captain!" first mate Calvin dutifully shouted.
Calvin left the captain's bridge and grabbing a bull horn on his way to the passenger's quarters he then began considering the dire circumstances of all the passengers and the crew. Calvin also began to mull over bits and pieces of the conversation he'd had with the captain.
"Hmmm," Calvin thought, "the captain says that he wants all on board to be saved, but then again he says that all won't be saved... he says some of them are stubborn and afraid and therefore they won't be saved... I wonder how the captain knows that? Well, no matter... he's the captain so I'm sure he knows a lot more than I know. I wouldn't save those stubborn ones either if it were entirely up to me, so I see the captain's point. And the scared ones will just get what's coming to them too. That just means more room for the rest of us..."
Calvin then walked the hallways and common areas of the ship, shouting:
"This ship is sinking! The captain says that some of you will be saved! Get into the life boats immediately so that those who will be saved can be saved!" Calvin felt a sense of authority that he'd never felt before as he shouted this message all over the ship.
But a woman with a very young child came to him and said: "My brother is on board somewhere and I cannot find him. You said that some of us would be saved. Will my brother be saved?"
"Only the captain can answer that," Calvin smugly informed her. "The captain has said that not all will be saved. I'm sure he knows which ones will be saved and which ones won't. He has a complete list of all souls on board, and I'm sure he has a list of the ones who will be saved."
"But I won't leave my brother behind. Can't he, too, be saved?" the woman desperately wondered aloud. "Where is this list?"
"You can't see the captain's list," he told her. "You, your child, and your brother may all be on that list. But then again, only some of you may be. Or possibly all of you will die. It's all up to the captain."
"Well, what if we go on and get into a life boat now? Will that mean that we're probably on the list?" the woman asked.
"No," Calvin said. "Your act of climbing into the life boat means nothing in and of itself. If you're not on the captain's list and he finds you in one of his life boats you'll be thrown out. There is nothing you can do to ensure that you're on that list--it is entirely up to the captain."
And so with that Calvin again raised the bull horn to his lips and continued shouting his warnings to all souls on board.
A middle aged man approached Calvin and asked: "Why are you telling everyone that only some of us will be saved? Shouldn't you just call everyone into the life boats? Isn't there enough room in the boats for everyone?"
"There is enough room for everyone, but the captain says that all won't be saved," Calvin said. "That's not my rule, that's his rule. I'm just the messenger."
But the man was not satisfied with Calvin's answer. "Do you mean to tell me that everyone on board could be saved, but that the captain has declared that only some will be saved? How do we know who will be saved and who will be lost? What can I do to ensure that I'm one who will be saved? And what about my wife, can I bring her onto the life boat with me?"
First mate Calvin paused a moment and pondered these questions. He did his best to remember the words that the captain had spoken to him, and made the best sense of those words that he could. "Only the captain knows who will be saved and who won't. It is not up to you or your wife whether either of you will be saved," Calvin said. "There is nothing either of you can do to affect the captain's decision--it is entirely up to him who will be saved and who will go down with the ship. So don't attempt to get into good graces with the captain now because unless you are on his list to be saved, you're going to be lost."
Continuing, Calvin then said: "But I have some good news! If you are on the captain's list to be saved, you cannot lose! So rejoice! He's a great and wonderful captain because he has picked a few of us for his good pleasure to put into the life boats. The rest of you will drown, as you well deserve to!"
"We deserve to drown?" an elderly woman shouted? "Is that what the captain said?"
"Well... yes," Calvin replied. "If you're not on the captain's list, you deserve to drown."
"And do you deserve to drown?" the woman asked Calvin.
"We all deserve to drown," Calvin said, because we're all on this ship and we're all bad people. Remember this is a casino ship, and all of us on board are gamblers. We all deserve to drown, but it is the captain's good pleasure that some of us be saved."
The woman then asked "What if we go now and beg the captain to put us on his list? Will he then do that, and so save us?"
"No," Calvin was certain. "If you were not on the captain's chosen list when you came on board, then you're not going to get on that list at all. You can't ask the captain to add you to his list because it is not up to you whether you are on that list or not. You're either on it, or you're not on it. If you asked him to put you on that list, that would mean that it is something which you did which got you onto the list. And that is not how it is. So don't waste the captain's time."
"This isn't making any sense" another woman said. "First you tell us that there is enough room in the life boats that we all could be saved. Then you say that the captain has wished that we would all be saved. Then you tell us that only some of us will be saved, and that the rest of us will perish. Then you say that it is not up to us whether or not we can be saved--you say it's entirely up to the captain no matter what we do or don't do. But you have already said that the captain would like us all to be saved. How can he wish that we all be saved and at the same time sentence some of us to drown?"
"Captain's orders," Calvin smugly replied. "That is just the way it is, and he's in charge of this ship. Deal with it."
An elderly man named George stepped forward and addressed the first mate: "Then why are you telling us these things? Assuming you are right--assuming you have not misunderstood the captain--why are you telling us these things? If the captain's list cannot be changed, why tell those of us who are not on the list that we are about to drown? Why cause such discord among the passengers? If what you say is true--if nothing can be done to affect the captain's decision as to who goes and who stays--why fret those who will drown? Why take their hope now? I see that one young man has already returned to his cabin to drown. He was about to board that life boat over there, but then he heard your words. I heard him say as he passed by me that he's sure that he can't possibly be on the captain's list. He has returned to his cabin to drown because of what you have said."
Calvin was contemplating a reply when a young woman yelled: "We want to speak to the captain ourselves. This cannot be the way of it!"
Just then a woman named Mary ran to join the crowd. "I have already spoken to the captain" she said. "I've just come from the captain's bridge and if I understand the captain correctly, it is up to each passenger whether or not they board the life boats. Room on the boats is plentiful, the captain says. He does not want any of us to die--but he says it's up to us whether or not we avail ourselves of the life boats."
"Not so fast!" Calvin scoffed. "That's not what the captain told me. And who are you anyway--some mere passenger? And you have dared to approach the captain to bother him at such a time as this?"
"The captain was very gracious to me, even loving," Mary said. And I did not get the impression that I was bothering him at all. I could feel just from being in his presence that he is very concerned for every one of us. 'Tell all who will be saved to enter into the life boats!' This is what he told me to say."
"Well I don't believe you," Calvin flatly stated. "The captain has a list and I'm sure of it. Some of you aren't on that list so you just deceive yourselves into thinking that you can ask the captain to put you on that list, even at this last minute, and he will. Ha! Go on and think such foolishness! You'll die anyway!"
Then the elderly man named George asked the first mate: "What if Mary is right? Wouldn't that be good news to you? What if any of us could ask to be put on the captain's list, and so find a place on the life boat? You seem as if you would not be happy if the captain had so arranged things."
"It doesn't matter whether I'm happy with that or not," Calvin retorted. "The captain will only save those whom he will."
George asked "What about the crew? What about you, first mate? Are you on the list? Do you plan on being in one of the life boats?"
"Certainly I do," Calvin said confidently. The captain would surely not allow me to be lost. I'm his messenger to all on board. He has confided in me, and I'm so very respectful of his authority and his total sovereignty. I believe this pleases him."
"Have you seen the captain's list?" George wanted to know.
"Well, not exactly," Calvin admitted. "But since I'm the one who the captain first told about the list, I'm certain that I'm on that list. Otherwise I'm sure he wouldn't have told me about it. And besides, I have very strong admiration for the captain and I especially revere his total authority because I know how much he likes that... so I'm sure I'm on that list."
"What did you do to get on the list?" George wondered.
"Nothing. It was just the captain's good pleasure that I be on that list! That's what's so great about it! But I'm beginning to suspect that you, sir, are not on the list and you're just jealous because you're not. That's why you keep badgering me with all this nonsense! It's not my fault you're not on the list. And it's too bad for you that you can't do anything to get on the list. Too bad indeed!" The first mate seemed quite happy with himself.
And so Calvin continued, going all about the ship as it slowly sank, shouting to everyone on board that if they were one of the lucky ones--one of those chosen by the captain--they could be saved. But no one--not even those who were already seated in the life boats--could understand how Calvin could so gleefully--even pridefully--tell everyone on board that only certain ones were designated by the captain to be saved. This caused a great deal of confusion among the already frightened passengers.
Then Mary turned from the crowd and announced: "I'm going into the passenger's quarters to tell everyone what the captain has told me--that they can be saved if they'll just come up and board the life boats."
"Knock yourself out," Calvin sneered. "The ones who are actually on the captain's list are already in the boats. There's no hope for the rest of these hapless souls. You're just wasting your time!"
But within a half hour, when the water was beginning to flood the ship's deck, Mary emerged from below, leading a dozen passengers who had believed there was room on the life boats for them too. These were soaking wet, humble, and afraid, but so very thankful that someone had shown them that they could still be saved. As they boarded the life boats, first mate Calvin strolled over and announced:
"These were obviously on the captain's list the whole while! Thank goodness the captain has chosen these also!"
"We thought sure we would all drown," a man named Paul said. "We had been told that it was not the captain's will for all to be saved. Earlier this day, I had stolen money from another man's cabin while he was having his lunch. When the ship's officers came around to question me about the theft, I lied and said I had nothing to do with it. But I knew that the captain suspected me. Therefore, when I was told that only those on the captain's list could be saved, I was certain that I would not be on that list. But this woman," he said, pointing to Mary, "assured me that the captain still had room for me--even me--in one of the life boats. And this made me very happy, but also very sad. I was happy that I might not die, but I was very sad about the crime I had committed. I wanted to tell the captain that I was guilty, and would pay back double for what I had done. I wanted to apologize to the man whose money I had taken. I wanted to make things right. And I still feel terrible to even be here with you fine folks, trying to save myself from drowning. But I'm so glad that there are enough boats! I praise the captain that he will not allow me to perish for this awful thing I've done."
"Are there any other souls below deck?" George asked Mary.
And Mary's eyes welled with tears. "I called out to one young man and I told him that there was still time for him to be saved. He said that he did not deserve to be saved, and therefore he was sure that he wasn't on the captain's list that the first mate had told everyone about. I told him to just come, and not to worry about any such list. I told him I had spoken to the captain and that anyone who was willing to come would be saved." She paused a moment, her tears now streaming down her cheeks. "But he wouldn't believe me. He's still down there."
Dan Newberry
