joyful!

Messages

by

Terry Pearce

The helium canister shone with excitement; a gleaming chrome cylinder of joy. Daddy outdid himself every year for Hannah’s birthday – nothing was too good for the apple of his eye. She had always loved balloons and inflatable things – on her fifth birthday she had tied a helium balloon to her finger and carried it around all day. Her friends all lost theirs, with tears; Hannah kept hers until it fell to the floor, lifeless, and only then did she cry. On her eighth birthday an inflatable castle allowed her to be a bouncing princess.

This year, with a whole canister, there were more helium balloons than they knew what to do with, and after they’d played all day, her older brother Darryl had an idea.

They took nine balloons, one for each of Hannah’s years, out to the lake shore. To each balloon was tied a message, a message only a child could have written, sending love and innocence to a stranger. It was the kind of message that spoke of a simplicity that couldn’t fail to melt the most hardened of hearts.

As the sun fell into the lake and the mists rose to meet the glow, they let go their balloons and watched them sail into the haze, gassy carrier pigeons with notice-bound legs. The pair stood by the lake as the stillness grew, and saw the balloons lose colour, then shape, then finally disappear altogether..

Walking back, Hannah felt like the glow from the sunset had settled inside her, and she went to bed without protest. As she drifted off, she imagined the balloons crossing the lake and making their way into the world. Her eyes grew heavy, and her train of thought derailed gracefully, balloons scattering as she began to dream…

Separating from the crowd, the green balloon floated down just the other side of the lake, on the verandah of a woman with a complexion of faint but deep shadow. The test results were not back yet, but she knew what they would say. Serenity eluded her; she felt as if she was being mocked for always having claimed to lack fear. She wandered absently outside and was surprised by the inflatable messenger. The serenity which spoke from its missive, so clearly drawn in a child’s hand, inspired her to reach further within herself. There she found what, she realised belatedly, she had once known.

The red balloon found a woman who was standing on her front step, looking up at stars, hoping her husband could also see them. He was half a world away in a strange country, surrounded by those who wished him harm, and she waited every day for news, awash with fretfulness. She had not heard from him for a month now. When she read the message, she felt a surge of relief travel the length of her spine; something within her knew he was all right.

The pink and blue balloons became entwined and travelled together. They distracted a couple who were arguing. The argument had reached the point of heavy silence, but it had far from ended; it had lasted weeks, months perhaps, with the occasional armistice. The balloons wafted down into the garden where the silence hung. Surprised out of their tension, they took a balloon and a message each. As the woman read it she was reminded of the love letters he used to write for her, and her stomach did something it hadn’t done in years. She looked up tearfully to see her thoughts in his eyes, mirrored through the wetness.

The yellow balloon came to a man, barely more than a boy, walking home from his girlfriend’s house, where a little pink sign on a little white stick had jolted his world. He wanted to do the right thing, but he was scared. As he read the message, he imagined having a daughter who could write such a thing, and his fear began to thaw.

The brown balloon floated right past a boy who was sitting at his attic bedroom window, wondering if he would ever be loved. His friends had all been kissed; his face was not favoured with what these strange creatures seemed to be looking for. He reached out and grabbed the balloon.. Reading the message, he vowed to find the girl who’d written it. A little voice told him it would be hard. Another told him it would be worth it.

The orange balloon eventually became caught in a tree. A teenage couple passed. The boy had finally plucked up the courage to ask the girl out, and they were walking back from the movies. Nerves had seen the date go stiltedly. They walked in silence, the boy desperately thinking about how he could salvage things, the girl wondering if he liked her. Seeing the balloon in the tree, he clutched at a final opportunity to impress, and climbed, quick and agile, to the prize. He didn’t notice the message, but as he handed the balloon to her with a smile, she did. Reading it, her nervous smile widened to a beam which turned its light on him. She’d been looking for a sign, and she’d found it.

The white balloon lodged in another tree, and attracted the attention of a man out looking for his daughter’s lost kitten. As he looked up, he noticed it, high up next to the balloon, too frightened to move or call out. Walking home with kitten, balloon and message in his arms, the pleasure he knew would greet this bounty advanced him a broad smile.

The purple balloon sailed on into the night and out of the dawn.  It could have landed anywhere. It could have landed with anyone.

If Hannah could have known her balloons had reached, she would have been as happy as their recipients. But Hannah knew none of this, because she was sound asleep.