Red Balloon

Once upon a time in Paris (actually Arizona) there lived a boy named Pascal, I mean Wyatt. He had only one brother, and sometimes he was very sad and lonely at home because his brother would be off playing.

Once he brought in the messy dump truck from outside, and some time later the shovel from the garden. But his mother said outside toys brought dirt into the house, and so Wyatt was soon alone again in his mother’s well-kept rooms. (Ha!)

Then one day, on his way home from school, or his cousin’s birthday party, he caught sight of a fine red balloon, tied to a lamppost. Okay, in reality a chair. Wyatt laid his toy on the ground. He held his hands up and cried until his grandpa untied the balloon, and Wyatt ran off with it.

Wyatt quickly made friends with the red balloon and vice-versa, and the balloon followed him around through the halls of his home. The pair drew inquisitive looks from adults (just his mom) and the envy of other children, just Dax, as they wandered the house.

Wyatt soon realized the balloon had a mind and will of its own, and it began to follow Wyatt wherever he went.

In the real story, the Red Balloon, by Albert Lamorisse, the balloon magically follows Pascal. In our story, the balloon honestly and truly followed Wyatt.

But it wasn’t magic.

It was all about the static cling.

The End.