I stepped out of my car to a sunny spring day. The sky was a clear crystal blue and there were no clouds to be seen. I looked ahead and there it was, ‘the Ship of Dreams’- as they called it. I always heard that it was big but I wasn’t expecting it to be that big! All I could hear were little children screaming with excitement: and all I could see were the thousands of people saying (what they didn’t yet know) their last goodbyes.

I walked slowly and anxiously to the ship. A sudden chill of anticipation washed over me as I became just a few steps away from entering the ship. I was going to New York to visit my older sister who was soon to be married. The next thing I heard was my mother calling for me to hurry up onto the ship. I didn’t realise that I had stopped half way up the stairs daydreaming, and was holding up all the contented passengers. I was inside now and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was incredible, like something I’ve never seen before! Everything was so clean and tidy. I could even see my own reflection in the floor! I looked up and it seemed as if there was no ending to the ceiling.

The bellboy escorted us up to our deluxe suite, shortly along with our luggage. The room was astounding, far beyond anything I’d ever expected. My four-poster bed sat in the middle of my room with the bathroom and living room on each side. As my mother turned her back, I jumped onto the humungous bed in joy. That’s when I became aware of how comfortable the bed was. Unfortunately my mother turned back around before I could get off and sort out my dress again. She stared with an evil glint in her eye and then went over the same lecture she tells me nearly every day: “You are a young lady now Elizabeth, you cannot be going around acting the fool. That’s not upper class behaviour…blah blah blah!” I was only fifteen; I didn’t want to be like