23.

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The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

Mara had lived on the rocky island all her life, and she knew every sound of the sea. Her father, Mr Dahl, was the lighthouse keeper, and every evening he climbed the one hundred and twelve steps to light the great lamp. Mara used to follow him, counting each step aloud.

One stormy night, her father slipped on the wet stairs and hurt his ankle. He could not stand. "The lamp, Mara," he said through his teeth. "The ships will not see the rocks without it." Mara looked at the stairs and swallowed hard. She was afraid of the dark top room, where the wind howled through the glass.

Slowly, she began to climb. At step forty, a wave of thunder shook the tower, and she almost turned back. Then she remembered her father's voice every evening: "One step is easy. It is the thinking about a hundred that is hard." So she stopped thinking about the top and counted only the next step.

When she reached the lamp, her hands were shaking. She lit it, and a white beam swept across the black water. Far out at sea, a small ship changed its course away from the rocks. Mara watched until its lights disappeared. Then she sat down on the cold floor and began to laugh and cry at the same time.

Later, when the doctor had bandaged her father's ankle, he said nothing for a long time. Finally he took the old brass key from his pocket and put it in her hand. "It was never mine to keep," he said.

What is the most likely meaning of the old brass key that her father gave her?