The Girl Who Owned a City (20 page)

She sat back down and lit the candle. It was her “thoughtful” candle. Its flame had inspired the plans that had made her city.

The shouts from the hall became insistent. “We want Lisa! We want Lisa!” It sounded as though all the citizens were there, waiting and chanting.

She wanted to please them. But she didn't know what to say. Should she tell them about the Great King, or the “King of Chicago”? Should she mention the army of 5,000 that might attack their city?

She had to speak to them. It was her job. She paused by the door, not wanting to make her appearance and not wanting to spoil her hard-earned peace.

Lisa stood for a long time with her hand on the door latch. I don't know how, she thought, but I'll figure out a way to show them what I know. We have to make plans. We have to prepare.

The girl who owned the city walked through the door into the waiting crowd of happy children.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

O. T. Nelson's initial impetus for writing a novel was to help pay for an expansion of his house-painting business, but his work has gone on to become much more than that to generations of readers.
The Girl Who Owned a City
was first published in 1975 and has been popular ever since. O. T. Nelson explains that he wanted children “to realize that they are important and that they have the ability to think and make a difference.” His own life is reflected in the story. He wrote the book while living in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn, Illinois—the setting of the story—and the novel's protagonists, Lisa and Todd Nelson, share the names of his own children. O. T. Nelson lives in Minnesota with his wife.