lala was a regular 8 year-old girl, except for one thing: she was not free.

Her biggest dream in life was to leave her cell and go play on the city square with friends, all

day long, without anyone punishing her for that.

A

She was always under the watch of the Captain. He took care of all the slaves from the market, and never let anyone do what they wanted to.

Alala spent all her days under the sun, waiting for someone to buy her. After all, that was the reason why she was always

on that square, where all of the wealthier people went to buy what they needed.

Today was just a regular day for everyone else, but it was Alala’s birthday, so she wished it could be happier.

That’s when she met an old man wearing a hat, Sir. Henry Ellis, as he introduced himself:

–Hello little girl! What are you doing here in this horrible place? I don’t appreciate what this people put you through, and to prove to you that I’ve been listening to your wishes, I am going to let you choose another place to go, anywhere, anytime. Choose wisely, and I’ll take you there!

Alala thought the man was crazy, as no one ever talked to her so nicely. She then told the man:

–I don’t know anywhere else in the city, this is where I’ve lived for a long time. I like it here, I just wish you could make me free…

–Oh dear! –said the man – I can do much more than that! I shall take you to the future, where all your dreams of freedom will come true and people will treat you better. I just need you to close your eyes!

The girl opened her eyes to see a great new world: a place where people rode metal

cages, and houses were so high they could touch the skies. But instead of having her place to play, she saw a huge gray house,

right where the square used to be.

As the girl did so, she felt everything around her start moving, and she could swear her feet were not even touching the ground. At the moment she thought she was going to be sick, everything suddenly stopped.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. What could have happened on that place? And who would build a house full of metal cages on her favorite place on the city?

As an old lady passed by, Alala asked:

–Excuse me Ma’am! Do you know what happened to the square that was right under that big house?

The old lady answered:

–Oh honey, are you talking about that charming square by the city market where everyone used to walk around all day? I remember that! I had great times on that beautiful square, but I can’t remember the name of that place…Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, they destroyed it to build the parking garage!

As the lady went on, Alala couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Why did Sir. Ellis send her to that time if she still couldn’t play on her square?

After being mad, she decided to talk to everyone she could. Maybe people would remember that good old place where they used to go, and if everyone got together they could build it again!

The little girl talked to every person she saw, for 2 weeks. She explained what happened and told them how great the square used to be, before the big house got there. She would only stop every now and then to go to the bakery, ask the kind old man for some milk and a new food she discovered and fell in love with, something people called cookies.

After a while, everyone in the city knew Alala, and everyone missed the square. Most of them hadn’t even seen it before, but they all wished for it to come back. The girl’s plan started working, and because of her hard work, everyone was getting together to fight for her square.

After two months, the people had already talked to the mayor, and it was decided that the parking garage would be demolished and the square would be restored. When the owner of the garage asked what he would do, Alala answered:

–If you people can build big houses that touch the sky, you can also build them under the ground, like a cave!

Alala had solved everyone’s problems, without even noticing. And in no time, she saw her

square start to be restored.

On the inauguration of the square, the Mayor asked Alala what would be the name of her square. She didn’t think twice. As she looked at the crowd that was there for such a special day, she shouted:

–Welcome to Ellis Square!

Designed and Illustrated by Caio Logato

The story and characters in this book are fictional. They were inspired in historical evidence about the real Ellis Square, located in the city of Savannah, Georgia, US.

These evidences can easily be found in many books and on the internet.