And here it is – the last part of The Berlin Wall!  (See previous chapters here.)  At the end I will tell you a little about the real Berlin Wall.

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Mama! Papa! Korrie! Joyce!” I shouted. They all looked up with startled faces.

Mama was the first to recognize me. “Oh! Greta, Greta darling!” She flew from the table and hugged me hard. Soon everyone was flocking around me and laughing and crying and asking questions.

Before I answered anyone, I led them to the backyard and to everyone waiting in the balloon basket. Everyone was almost hysterical at a reunion so soon.

We spent the rest of that day in exchanging stories, and catching up. Korrie was engaged, and Joyce was still single. Mama and Papa were both in good health and all the more for seeing me again. Joyce and Maria were ecstatic about seeing each other, and Maria introduced everyone to Kristopher who was still a little dizzy, but happy that he could finally meet all the people that Maria and I talked about so often.

The doctor came later and gave Kristopher some ointment to help his head recover. The doctor said that Kristopher would be fine in a few days, but that until then he must rest. The doctor also diagnosed me with a broken left arm, and Maria’s father with a broken ankle. But these were things that would heal. The main thing was that we were together again!

About 18 years later, the Soviets proclaimed that all East Germans were free to go into West Germany if they so wished. At first people were skeptical, but when they saw that it was no trick, people started pouring through the wall. A few people started chipping off pieces of the wall. Nobody stopped them, and soon everyone was tearing down the wall with wild enthusiasm. My family and Maria’s family came too. (Korrie and I were married by that time, and Maria and Kristopher had two children. Joyce stayed single the rest of her life.) We brought pickaxes, our hands, stones, whatever we could find, and attacked the wall. Soon it was all torn down, the wall that had caused so many people misery and death. All that is left today is cobblestones showing where the wall once was. The Iron Curtain as it was called, is now only a bad memory. But as for me, I will never forget that dreadful day of the sleepover and the horrible Berlin Wall.

The End

I hope you enjoyed reading along!  Now for some facts:

Click here to read an article about the Berlin Wall. There are even a few paragraphs about the dangerous escapes people made – one kind of escape really was in a hot air balloon!

This story definitely used true facts, but the characters are fictional, and the whole part about the Berlin Wall is sort of mixed up time-wise.  There really was a Berlin Wall though, and many, many people actually lived the hardships behind the wall.  As I said above, the hot-air balloon escape was an actual event, but lots of people weren’t so lucky.  Doesn’t that make you glad for our freedom in America?!

Thank you everyone for reading, and have a fine day!

***Allison***