Back from the Balloon Store

It had been just over a week since Elliot had been taken from the balloon store to his new home and he could hardly believe how quickly he had taken to his new existence.  He felt like he should have found the whole experience a bit more degrading-being a human balloon was hardly empowering.  But he loved the feeling of being an empty, immobile sphere of air, with his rubbery skin stretched nearly as far as it could go.  He loved belonging to Dianna, as playful and gentle an owner as a balloon could ask for. She played with him every day, filling him with helium to walk him through town or filling him with oxygen to toss him around the backyard. Her parents wouldn’t let her keep a giant balloon in the house and Dianna wouldn’t risk leaving him outside, so he spent his nights deflated and folded up in her bedroom closet. But this just meant that every morning he got to be reinflated from an empty skin to an enormous ball.  As Dianna walked through the park on a fine summer day he felt totally at peace floating above her.  He saw another human balloon floating its way toward him, and while he lacked the capacity to smile at his fellow balloon, let alone wave, he hoped the other guy was enjoying the day as much as he was.  But his peaceful feeling vanished as he saw who was holding the balloon, and he cringed inside as she recognized Dianna and jogged over.

Elissa, the girl who had bought six balloons to pop while Elliot had floated in the store, had come over to talk to Dianna.  “Hey, Di, I see you’ve got yourself a balloon!  I’m surprised, I didn’t think you’d come around!”

“Oh, yes,” Dianna responded happily.  “I did think it was kind of weird, and I wasn’t sure I’d really want one.  But this purple balloon boy was so cute floating in the store and I just had to have him.  We’ve been having so much fun ever since.”  Dianna enthusiastically waved Elliot’s string around, sending him into some excited acrobatics.

“Well, I’m so glad.  So…” Elissa lowered her voice mischievously.  “Have you thought about how you’re going to pop him?”  Elliot wasn’t surprised to hear the conversation take this turn but he was still less than happy about it.

Dianna took a step back.  “Umm, pop him?  What do you mean?”

“You know, pop him!  Blow him up till he pops, stick him with a pin!  Hey, why don’t we pop our balloons together?  I’ll buy you another one if you want.”

Elliot couldn’t see Dianna’s reaction over his ballooned body but at least Dianna sounded unhappy about the idea.  “I really don’t think I want to pop him.  I mean, I’m having so much fun with him!  Besides, I’d feel terrible about popping him.  He’s done nothing but be a good balloon, so why treat him like that?”

Elissa sighed.  “Dianna, let me tell you about human balloons.  They were people like you and me once, but now they’re toys.  They’re big, empty balls of air for us to play with.  We can do whatever we want and they can’t do anything about it."  She jerked on her string for emphasis, causing her balloon to wobble in place.  He was incapable of any form of physical expression but Elliot thought he saw a defeated look in his eyes.  “You don’t have to feel bad for them, no matter what you do, because they’re just our toys.  They’re delicate, helpless things that can only survive as long as we let them.  And believe me…” Elissa drew a pin from her purse and ran it’s tip gently along her balloon, causing him to close his eyes and wait for the end, “it’s sooooo much fun to pop them.  One minute they’re just floating along on their little strings, and the next…” With one quick, slight motion she put the pin through her balloon.  He offered no resistance, no struggle.  There was a bang and a few pieces shrapnel scattered in the breeze.  And in an instant the balloon that had been directly in front of Elliot had disappeared. 

“Wow,” breathed Dianna, and Elliot thought that he heard excitement in her voice. “Maybe…”

“Come on, look at him, floating up there just for you. He’s yours to do whatever you want with, and there is nothing more fun to do with balloons than to pop him. I’m telling you, just pop him and you’ll want to pop fifty more.”

The next moment was an eternity as Dianna contemplated what to do. Finally, she replied, “No. You can pop all the balloons you want, but I like mine and I’m keeping him.” And with that she turned and briskly walked away, her incredibly grateful balloon bobbing along behind her.

That night, and in many that followed, Elliot thought about Elissa’s words, and the effect they had on his owner. While Dianna continued to treat him with care he knew she must have been considering his fate herself. He wondered if, when the morning came, Dianna would fill him with helium and let him float away, or stick him with a pin while playing with him, or simply blow him up until he was more full than he could take. But strangely, as Elliot considered Elissa’s words each night, they became less and less frightening. In fact, he started to agree with them. He was only dimly aware of it, but Elliot came to think of himself not of as a high school student that had been turned into a balloon, but as an actual balloon. And as a balloon, he cared about two things. He cared about being inflated and pleasing his owner. So it only made him happy when, as time went on, Dianna began to inflate him with more and more air each morning. And the next time Dianna bumped into Elissa in the park he felt none of the apprehension that had gripped him before.

Elissa seemed taken aback by Elliot’s size-she may never have seen a balloon quite so large. He easily dwarfed her latest balloon. “Looks like you’ve still got your old balloon boy there. Been working on him, have you?”

“Yep,” Dianna responded proudly. “Easily beats any balloon of yours, I bet”.

“Hmph, I can make any balloon bigger than that boy of yours. Watch this.” Elissa pulled her latest balloon-boy out of the air, put his face against hers, and blew in a breath-and he promptly exploded. Elissa turned red as Dianna laughed. “Well fine, let’s see just how special your balloon is!” Dianna watched as Elissa grabbed her balloon, rotated him face down, and began blowing him up.

Elliot grew bigger and bigger. He had no idea what his limits were, but that wasn’t important to him. He just closed his eyes, relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of his skin growing ever tighter and thinner, his head and stubby digits stretching their way into his body. He grew bigger and bigger, until…

Elissa pulled her head back, an astonished look in her eyes, gasping for air. “What in the world is that? No balloon can hold that much air! Look at him, you could fit five full balloons in there! The girls at the balloon store need to see this, they need to look at him and figure out how to blow other balloons this big! No, even better, let me take him to my party this weekend. Can you imagine me showing up carrying a balloon boy the size of a house? Nobody will ever forget it! Come on, I’ll give you whatever you want, just hand him over!”

Dianna took her balloon boy back from Elissa’s hands. She held him with her fingertips, afraid any more pressure would burst his translucent skin. She gazed lovingly at his body for a moment before saying, “Sorry Elissa. You said it yourself. He’s my toy for me to play with, and I can do whatever I want.” Elliot realized what she was about to do a moment before she lowered his body to her lips.

Elliot’s final thought was that he was happy to have been Dianna’s balloon.