La Tour Eiffel

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE FREE.

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Sandrine who lived in Paris with a grandmother. Her room was located at the west wing of her grandmother’s little house and from her room she could see La Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower). Every night she would look out from her window admiring the tower, she wondered what it would feel like standing on top of Eiffel; she also wondered how Eiffel saw the world.

One day Sandrine said to her grand ma during dinner, “Grand ma, I will like to go La Tour Eiffel” and her grand ma said “and so would I but I don’t have the money to pay for the ticket”. Sandrine retired to her room really sad, her hopes of visiting La dame de fer (iron lady) as the tower was popularly called has been dashed by their lack of money. She was too sad to sleep so she stayed up all night admiring Eiffel from her window. Just as she was about to sleep, she heard a voice which said, “You are free”. She turned around looking into the night to see who it was “grand ma, is that you?” but no response so she laid down and pondered on what the voice said to her and that was when she realized that nothing should stop her from living her dream.

Sandrine jumped out of her bed, slipped into her slippers and quietly left the house. Once she was outside, she smiled to herself and started out on the most important race of her life. She ran past the meadow in front of the house; she ran as far as her legs could carry her; she ran till she couldn’t feel her legs no more; she ran until she was out of breath and very tired but she kept on running with determination until she got to Champ de Mars which is the open space where Eiffel elegantly stood. She was filled with awe has she stood before La dame de fer, she couldn’t believe her eyes, she has admired the tower for five years from a distance and now that she was close to it, La Tour Eiffel was much more beautiful.

Without wasting time, she ran towards the entrance of the tower but had to stop running because of the security man. He asked, “Where is your ticket young lady?” Sandrine put her hand in her pocket pretending to bring out something but when she saw that the security man was distracted by something, she slipped past him and ran up the stairs. “Come back here” the security man shouted but Sandrine wouldn’t bulge and so, he ran after her but she was faster than him, she wasn’t going to let him stop her from seeing the world from a better view. When she got to the second floor, she entered an elevator and closed it immediately before the security man could catch up with her. Her heart beat increased rapidly as the moment she has been running for was at hand. As the elevator door opened, Sandrine stepped out of it and her life changed forever. All her years of wondering what it would be like seeing the world from Eiffel’s view has finally come and she realized that the world was pretty damn small from where she stood and she was happy knowing just that.

For me, to be free means to do what you desire and not allowing the consequence of your actions deter you from living your dream. 

Nwaizu Lynda