Five

 

The children came as usual after school. For quite sometime now, they only had the old balloons to play with and were beginning to get bored with them. Word had got around that Balloon Uncle was making the biggest balloon in the whole world.

Could such a balloon really and truly exist, they argued with one another. Impossible, said some. But what if it did, asked the others. It would be such fun to be able to fly such a balloon! Who, they wondered, would be the lucky one.

When they saw the enormous, colourful balloon lying on the ground, they gasped in awe and shouted in excitement, ‘Fill it with air, Uncle! Hurry up!’

‘Do you like Balloon?’ the old man asked softly.

‘Like it? We don’t just like it. We love it,’ all the children replied.

‘This balloon is called Balloon, with a capital “B”,’ the old man said, ‘because she is the Mother of all Balloons, for she is the biggest balloon in the whole world. She can take you to places of great magic and mystery. But only if you can fly her.’

The children were so excited. Not only would they be able to fly the balloon but they could even fly in it! How delightful and extraordinary this is, they told themselves.

‘I shall give her away,’ said the old man softly, ‘to whoever can make her fly.’

He did not tell the children about his dream, or how the flute player had said that the balloon was destined only for the little girl known as The Awaited One. If one of the children did succeed in flying the balloon, he would know that she was most certainly the one the flute player had spoken of. The old man’s wife smiled, for she knew what her husband was thinking.

Could it be true, the children wondered, that Uncle was willing to give away such a lovely balloon which was bigger than all the other balloons they had ever seen. They were all so excited at the very thought, that they fought with one another to blow air into Balloon.

Seeing their fervour, the old man’s wife asked them to form a line, with the smallest child in front. Then, one by one, the children took turns as they huffed and they puffed, and they puffed and they huffed.

A lot of air must have gone into the balloon, but it was far from enough. Balloon lay on the ground and looked victorious, as if saying, ‘I’m not that easy, you know.’

The children gave up after a while, totally exhausted, and promised to come back the next day.

Once the children returned home, they could talk of nothing else but this wonderful balloon. Their mothers paused in their card games and pretended to listen to their chatter. They advised them to eat well, so that they would be strong and able to fill the balloon with air. The children, who normally made all kind of excuses about finishing their dinner, thought about what their mothers had said and ate everything that was put on their plates, including the vegetables. Some even asked for second helpings!

The next day, the children literally ran from school to the old couple’s house. They stood in a line and took turns with inflating Balloon. This time, they could see Balloon do funny things. She went a little wobbly-wobbly as more and more air went into her. ‘It’s working! It’s working!’ the children shouted happily. But, there was still not enough air.

Several evenings passed this way. Balloon lay on the ground, and none of the children, nor indeed all of them together, could fill enough air to help her fly.

Long after the children had gone home, the old man sat with his wife on the porch, looking at the star-filled sky. ‘She is not among them,’ the old man’s wife said. ‘I really wonder where she is or who she is.’

The old man shook his head and said, ‘We both asked the flute player about her in our dream. He told us that she would be different from the others. We must wait.’

Unseen by the old man and his wife, an enormous, hooded shadow swayed from side to side, before it slithered away hissing. It had suddenly become cold, a wet and clammy sort of cold.