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THE QUEEN MARY AT LONG BEACH
By Bryant Irawan
 It
was a windy yet bright, warm Saturday. Birds were chirping
as I opened my weary eyes that seemed to be glued together.
Outside my bedroom window was a clear view of the white
puffy clouds in the clear blue sky where flowers carried
by the wind danced with the birds. Fresh air raced to my
face as I opened my window and took a giant breath trying
to devour as much pure air as I could in one gigantic breath.
I knew my adventure was close and I couldn’t wait until
later on.
 It
was supposed to be a surprise from my parents but I slyly
overheard their conversation last night. Today was the day
when my parents planned to take our family to the majestic
ocean liner, the Queen Mary. Today would mark the first
day of my sister and me to actually climb aboard on top
of the Queen Mary. I’ve always stood outside its majestic
presence before, but today my parents bought tickets for
special tours to take us inside and on deck of the Queen
Mary.
As soon as I woke up, I quickly dressed up
and hopped aboard our crowded van eagerly to get to Long
Beach. Traffic was smooth and I fell asleep as soon as I
got in the car. I floated in my dreams as I waited for the
car trip to end.
 I
was pushed and shoved by my little sister when we arrived
at our destination. I stepped out of the car only to be
blown down by the mighty wind of Long Beach. I put on my
jacket and stared up. To my amazement, the Queen Mary was
larger than I expected. My family stared in awe as we admired
its beauty. After that was over, we rushed to the ticket
booth to grab our tickets and start our long tour. We waited
in line while staring at the giant titanic cruise in a closer
view. As soon as the clerk handed our tickets, I snatched
them and ran directly to the cruise as soon as I could.
 At
the front entrance, a security guard stood in the way asking
for tickets. I quickly flashed my tickets and he gave me
permission to enter. Inside was a circular museum showing
the history of the Queen Mary. I soon discovered a small
stair case leading to a room filled with pipes. I asked
permission if I could enter and snatched my sister and forced
her to tag along.
 Inside
the room was a maze of pipes and dizzying hallways leading
to complicated valves and pipes. The room was cold, humid,
and mysteriously dark. The further we went the more my sister
got scared. So I planned a little devious scheme. It’s a
simple prank actually to scare her. I pretended to walk
normally and stop to look at some valves. But on one intriguing
spot that caught her attention, I ditched her! I left her
alone and stalked her closely behind. At first she didn’t
seem like anything was wrong, but then she realized I disappeared.
She cowered in fear hugging to a pipe on the verge of crying.
I found a dark spot near her and started making moaning
noises and faint screams. All of a sudden, she started crying
and I jumped right in front of her laughing my heart off!
She quickly saw the situation and discovered my sly scheme.
Rage flowed in her teary eyes and she pounded on me and
tried to beat me. I quickly ran away before she could still
laugh. My parents stopped the chase and blamed me for causing
the problem. I still think my parents misunderstood the
problem and blamed the wrong person for the scheme.
 We
went up to the museum again and went outside. We headed
for the top and stop by the deck. We took the elevator where
my sister and I have a classic fight on who will push the
elevator buttons. I always seem to win.
On the top of the deck, the wind was blowing
its mightiest and my hair blew in the wind wildly. I didn’t
mind because on the deck you could gaze at the marvelous
view of the blue, sparkling ocean. Huge devices such as
a huge radar antenna resided on the very top of the cruise.
One thing caught my attention as soon as I arrived at the
top of the of the deck. That was a gigantic gun specially
designed by the military to take down anything that challenged
the mighty Queen Mary. We did a little quick tour and stepped
inside the Queen Mary to see the stores. It was like mini
corner mall inside and there was even a Starbucks. Other
rooms were royal rooms like a huge royal dinner room for
parties. Our tour was about to start so we hurried and as
always we were far more than early. But my mom loves that
so we just sat there trying to figure out how to make the
time pass by. But the tour soon started so we joined the
tour group and the group walked around the cruise led by
a tour leader.
 The
tour was a historical one describing the Queen Mary’s past
life and the next tour we soon enjoyed was an art tour.
Art items from all over the world were displayed at the
Queen Mary museum. Marvelous masterpieces from around the
world collected from each stop the Queen Mary has made.
Sadly, the tours were over. This didn’t stop our family
from exploring the Queen Mary further. We went back to the
ground four floors below us to visit an uncomfortably tight
submarine, The Scorpion. This sub was used by Russia on
naval wars sneaking torpedoes and sinking many ships. Although,
the submarine was tight and very uncomfortable to operate,
the sub housed more than 50 people!
 Unfortunately,
the submarine only had 25 beds so lower class crew members
had to “hot bunk.” 2 or more crew members often slept in
a tight hammock or bunker. Short crew members were only
allowed to be stationed in a submarine for easier maneuvering
inside the submarine to operate valves a room away. To get
to another room quickly, short crew members often had to
crawl or even jump through a hole leading to the next room.
Valves and pipes surrounded each and every room. It seemed
impossible to remember what each one does. My sister and
I enjoyed jumping through holes while laughing at our parents
that barely could fit through them. After a rigorous journey
through the submarine, we headed back to the Queen Mary
and found an intriguing tour that would haunt your mind
forever. I knew this was the perfect opportunity to frighten
my sister beyond anything else. I eagerly found the tour
and joined the group while my family cowered in fear as
we were about to start. I frightened my sister even before
the tour started as a warm up if you will to scare her.
 The
tour eventually started in no time and the tour leader made
us watch a video describing all the ghost sightings and
explaining which rooms had the most ghost activity. Even
the bar had a ghost sighting of a beautiful lady in a green
dress sipping a late night coffee. One woman reported she
saw her drinking her coffee and mysteriously faded away
smiling. I saw my sister shivering throughout the tour even
in rooms where nothing was happening. After we visited each
room and discovered its ghostly history, we traveled downward
to the boiler room. I had to admit the staff added many
fake props and they were really obvious, but the setting
and darkness of the room easily topped the fake props. The
room was dark and freezing, but I wasn’t scared one bit.
I will admit I might have been scared if the group wasn’t
around me, but other than that I saw many fake props so
I wasn’t scared. My sister on the other hand, was shivering
and crying throughout the tour. I couldn’t help but laugh
my heart off once more. After we completed our little dark
and “fake” ghost tour, we took one last glance of the Queen
Mary and bid farewell to its majesty.
During my visit to the Queen Mary, a
new version of the Queen Mary was being launched soon. This
larger and grander cruise liner is the elegant sister ship
of the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary 2 was soon to be landing
in the Long Beach port and will begin a world tour very
soon. I was so excited that there will be a new grander
version of the Queen Mary, the public can enjoy. The Queen
Mary 2 is not only a little larger; it surpasses the length
of the Queen Mary by a long run. The Queen Mary 2 is 113
feet longer. The Queen Mary 2 is able to be boarded by 2,620
passengers and a top notch crew of 1,253. The Queen Mary
2 will be visiting its sister ship and will be parked right
next to the Queen Mary around February or March. Although,
the world will be allowed to set eyes on such a rare beauty,
this beauty is far from cheap. The Queen Mary 2 is estimated
to cost $800 millions to build.
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