The Little Blue Balloon

The Little Blue Balloon

There once was a little blue balloon, named Billy, who was very unhappy. He was unhappy because he was only filled with air. He couldn't float around like all the other balloons; he had to bounce. They were lucky...they could float above buildings and trees but no...he could only roll along. The others picked on him because of it, so one day he kissed his family goodbye and left to be what he called “cured”. He wanted to float s-o-o-o bad.

After many miles of rolling, he came to a small town. It was quite a sight to see. There were cars driving everywhere with dogs chasing them. And little boys played baseball in the park while little girls took their babies for a stroll. Billy saw a dog who was just lying in the grass. It was Sam, the mutt, who was taking his afternoon nap in the sun. The little blue balloon just had to find out about who could help him. So he rolled right over to Sam and woke him up.

“Excuse me sir, do you know where I can find someone to help me?”

“Huh?” Sam asked sleepily, “Oh, oh, well, yes. There is a doctor down the street. A, uh, Dr. Smith.” Sam yawned and started to close his eyes again.

“Oh, I'm not sick, mister. I just need somebody to fix me so I can float.”

“Oh, uh, well, sorry son. I can't really help you there. Try climbing on this here fire hydrant and jumping off. You might float then.”

The little blue balloon took his string and climbed to the top. He held his breath and shut his eyes tight then jumped. For a few seconds he floated and he was so happy, he could have burst with joy...that is...until he fell to the ground once again.

“What am I going to do?” Billy asked himself sadly.

Sam opened his heavy, sleepy eyes again and offered some more advice, “You might want to see Joensie the cat. He runs so fast he could probably lift you into the air.”

Billy excitedly thanked Sam and quickly rolled away in search of Joensie. As he glanced back to thank Sam one more time, he saw that Sam was fast asleep again and beginning to snore. After searching high and low, Billy finally found Joensie, but...he was busy trying to learn how to climb a huge tree.

“Excuse me sir,” Billy began to speak.

Suddenly startled, the cat lost his hold on the tree and fell to the ground with a thump!

“Darned tree! I've been trying to climb that thing for nigh on ten years now. Almost made it too,” he chuckled painfully as he rubbed his bottom. Joensie turned to Billy, who was a stranger to him and he asked a little too gruffly, “What do you want, son?”

Billy gulped hard then took a deep breath, “I, uh...that, that is,” he stuttered but had to take another breath because he was so nervous. “Could you help me float?” he quickly blurted out to the cat who was looking at him so funny.

The cat eye-balled him for a minute then replied, “Well, of course I can. Just tie that string of yours to my tail. They don't call me Jet Joensie for nothing!”

Billy tied himself to Joensie's tail and then the cat ran. He ran and he ran and he ran. As Billy floated higher and higher, he laughed with happiness. He was so happy that he could finally float, he let go of Joensie's tail.

But alas....instead of continuing to float, he slowly fell to the ground with a soft bounce. The cat plopped down on the grass with his sides heaving for air and Billy sat next to him.

He was very sad and could feel the tears in his eyes.

Joensie saw the tears too and this time spoke softly to Billy, “Well.... I... tried...boy.” He was still out of breath. “Maybe Gail... the... bird... could... help... you. She flies naturally...you know.”

Once again, Billy could feel his heart jump with hope. Of course! He should have asked for a bird's help in the first place! Billy thanked Joensie and started to roll away. He turned back to thank the cat again only to see him trying to climb the tree and falling. Then Billy left.

After many hours of hard searching, the little blue balloon at last found Gail. Since it was Spring, she was teaching her hardheaded babies to fly. Billy was very impressed. “Excuse me mam, could you teach me how to float?”

Gail looked down at the small round blue balloon with the sweet smile and felt sorry for him. How could he expect to stay in the air without wings? That poor youngun didn't even have a single tail feather. Nevertheless, she came from a long line of well-known teachers so perhaps it would be possible to help the poor lad.

“Maybe you could flap your string a little, dearie. That might work.”

She flew to Billy and carried him to the top of a high, high tree branch. Billy gulped as he looked down at the ground below which was far, far away. The bird nudged him to the end of the branch and he knew what he was supposed to do. Billy flapped and twirled his string as hard and as fast as he could then Gail pushed him off of the branch. Billy, Gail, and the baby birds held their breaths while the little blue balloon stayed in the air. The baby birds cheered him on saying, “You can do it! You can do it!” But then Billy became tired with all that hard work so silently he fell to the ground. Billy was so ashamed of himself, by now, that he rolled away as fast as he could and didn't even look back to say anything.

He rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled until finally he got tired and came to rest in a little gutter...a gutter which happened to be right in front of a toy store!

But Billy did not see the store. He was very unhappy and now he cried. Poor Billy cried big wet tear drops until he couldn't cry anymore then...he heard footsteps behind him!

The little blue balloon turned and saw a man walking out of the toy store right towards him! Billy got very quiet and the man picked him up. “This would be a nice balloon to put in my shop,” the man said to himself. “But I'm going to need to put some magic air into it so it can float.”

Billy thought he was going to pop with joy right then and there! The man said that he was going to put some magic air in him! He was going to float and was so excited he started rolling around. Finally, in some confusion, the man got a better grip on Billy's string and took him inside the toy store. He untied the little blue balloon's string and placed him on a weird looking machine. When Billy was finally filled up, he felt so light headed and couldn't even float straight. But he was floating...and all by himself!!

The little blue balloon was very happy...at least for a little while. He didn't like being tied indoors and wanted so bad to float outside and back to his home. Luckily, one of the little town boys walked into the shop wanting a balloon. “Oh, what a pretty balloon!” he said...then he bought Billy.

Now was Billy's big chance! As soon as they got outside, Billy pulled hard on his string. And amazingly, the little boy let go of him and smiled as he watched the balloon float into the sky. Billy waved his string at the little boy, who probably didn't know what he had done, then floated up and up and up higher into the sky. He was so homesick for his Momma and was ready to float home...but he couldn't control his floating. It was so new to him, he never learned about what he should do if ever he was able to float. He couldn't stop going up. “Momma, Momma, look at me!” he yelled excitedly as he now passed over his house...but no one heard.

Soon all he could see were clouds...then the worst happened. His string started to come loose. It must have happened at the toy store when he pulled to get away. Now he didn't move up anymore and his magic air was running out! He got real scared and started crying. “Help me, somebody help me!” he cried out in fear.

It just so happened that one of God's little angels was playing nearby and he heard Billy's cries for help. And as Billy began falling from the sky, the little angel caught him and brought him back to heaven with him. He wanted somebody to play with so he gave Billy one of his tiny extra pairs of wings...for keeps. Now he could fly or float anytime he wanted to!

Billy finally got what he had always wished for and more! And now he had a new friend to play with too! Billy smiled real big as he flew home to show his Momma his wings and new friend.

The little blue balloon didn't feel so blue anymore.