After returning home from a friend’s house, eight year old Inéz Lasa was informed by her parents that they would be spending three days in France. Seńor Lasa had business in France that needed to be done in person. Inéz was excited. She had always been left with her grandparents when her parents went away. This time, however, she was going to go with them.
In the morning the Lasa’s took the train from Santandor, Spain to Paris, France. From the train station, a taxi dropped off Seńora Lasa and Inéz at the hotel and took Seńor Lasa to a business meeting.
After checking into the hotel, Seńora Lasa and Inéz went sight seeing. They went to the Louvre, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, and walked along the Seine River. By the time they returned to the hotel, Seńor Lasa had arrived back at the room and changed clothes to go to dinner.
The following morning Seńor Lasa had a short meeting. Inéz and her mother waited at the hotel room for his return. When he returned, they all went shopping in downtown Paris.
The small family walked in and out of stores and up and down the streets. At one point, Inéz stopped in front of a toy store window. She stopped to look at a little wind-up elephant that had caught her attention. When she turned around, her parents were no longer behind her. At first she didn’t worry. She thought she could find them.
After a few minutes of walking through the streets of Paris, Inéz started calling for her parents. “żMamá? żPapá?” she called, hoping they would hear her. When that didn’t work she found her way back to the toy store, sat down outside, and cried. Every time someone stopped to ask if they could help, she just cried, and mumbled in Spanish. No one seemed to understand what she was saying.
After an hour of being alone and scared, a teenage boy walked up to Inéz. “żEres espańola?” He asked her if she was Spanish.
“Sí,” she replied quietly. She had stopped crying once she had heard him speaking Spanish.
“What is wrong?” the boy wanted to know.
“I am lost and I don’t speak French.”
“I will help you find your family,” the boy replied. “My name is Nicolas.”
“I am Inéz Lasa,” Inéz told Nicolas.
“Why don’t we start by back tracking through the stores you and your parents were in.”
They went back to all of the clothing and novelty stores that Inéz could remember going into. At each store, Nicolas asked the clerk if a young couple had been in the store looking for a little Spanish girl about eight years old. The reply, though, was always the same; There had been no Spaniards in the store since a family had been in shopping earlier in the day. When all seemed hopeless, Nicolas spotted a policeman on patrol. He pulled Inéz through the street, almost dragging her behind him. Nicolas asked the policeman if he’d seen a Spanish couple looking for their daughter. The officer told the boy he had seen no such couple, and that he would escort them to the police station. That was the best place to be if you were lost.
Upon entering the police station, Inéz spotted her parents talking to an officer. “ˇMamá! ˇPapá!” the girl cried. She ran into her parent’s open embrace. The reunion was heart warming. Inéz explained how she had stopped to look at a toy in a toy store window and how Nicolas had helped her. Seńor and Seńora Lasa thanked Nicolas for being such a thoughtful person and taking care of their little girl. To show their appreciation, the Lasa’s bestowed upon the young man, a small monetary gift. The following day the Lasa’s returned to Spain.