The red balloon came out of the wall of trees and I knew I wasn't alone.
I thought I was cool, smoking at the elementary school playground by myself. My house was blowing up, the girl at school was making out with that jerk, and I had nothing better to do, so I went to my usual place. The park looked like a very large child had spilled his wooden toys and decided he didn't want to pick them up. There was half a pirate ship that you could lounge on and smoke or mess around on.
It was my senior year of high school and I dreaded the future. I couldn't wait to get out, but damn if I knew what I wanted to do. College wasn't a trend in my family and I had no prospects of moving out of the state. So, I laid there and tried to smoke away any worries.
The park was quiet, school was out for the day and the normal families were eating dinner. My lighter was deafening when I lit another cigarette. I watched the clouds and birds fly free, a slight breeze rustled the leafs.
It was after my second cigarette when the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. Someone was watching me. I looked around to see if the custodian was back to yell at me or if maybe someone came home from work and was wondering what this punk was doing on the kids' playground. There was no one. I started to lay back when I heard someone giggle. The giggle echoed off of the jungle gyms and monkey bars. It pierced my ears and tore at my chest. My stomach tightened.
I got off the pirate ship and started to walk towards my car. That's when I heard a loud crack from the forest on the other side of the soccer field behind the playground. It didn't sound like someone was cutting down a tree, it sounded like something snapped a tree. I looked at the forest and that's when I saw the red balloon. A shiny red balloon. It floated out of the woods and up toward the sky. The balloon felt wrong. It did not belong there.
Then I heard the rubbery sound of a balloon rubbing close against something. I turned toward the sound and saw a yellow balloon float out from under a slide in the playground. Another balloon appeared from under a wooden platform that kids could climb on. Four balloons floated out from under the pirate ship I was just on. I started to back away from the playground until I heard the sound of the wooden bridge attached to the wooden platform creak. A man that wasn't there before was on one side of the bridge.
"These are all of your problems, Billy." His voice was creaky and hoarse. He was in a red and white candy striped suit with a straw hat.
"Let me help you get rid of some of these problems. It's so easy, look at this..." And the balloon man pulls out a large needle, the shine off the tip catches in my eye. He grabs a yellow balloon, smiles at me and pops the balloon. A distant scream comes from where the balloon was and some red liquid splatters the balloon man in the face and on the suit. "I think if you asked Kristie out tonight, she'll probably say yes." His smile lights up his whole face and I feel confident that she would say yes.
"I can do this for you all day. I hate seeing you sad and lonely, your future is so bright and these problems shouldn't stand in your way."
"Why are you doing this? Who the hell are you?!" I tried to sound tough, but I was freaked out and wanted to run.
"You know who I am. I'm the balloon man. I'm a problem-solver and let me tell you, my favorite thing in this world is to pop these damn balloons." Then he sagged down to lean on the chains that held up the bridge. He looked a lot older than he did a minute ago. With his thumb he pushed the hat up off of his brow and wiped off some sweat.
"Listen, I hate balloons. I know where they come from, what they stand for, and it pains me to know it. They follow me everywhere, and it seems that whenever I think I've popped them all, more appear. These are yours. And I know you don't know me from a hole in the wall, but can you do me a favor? Help me pop them. These are your issues. Each one I pop will get rid of one of your problems. So, you do me a favor, I do you a favor. Can you do that?"
A chance to get rid of a problem. I couldn't pass that up.
"Are you, like, a genie? What happens to the problem? How long do I have you? What if, I get another problem?"
There was a twinkle in his eye as he smiled and stood up straight again. I think he knew I was already planning on what problems I wanted to get rid of.
"Son, I'll be with you as long as you have problems. I'm not a genie. I'm just someone that likes giving people what they want. If a problem comes up, you'll see me out of the corner of your eye. As for the problems, well, I don't know how much you want to know. I think a demonstration will work the best. Go home and let's test it out."
At home my parents were fighting. I stood on the step next to the door on the side of the house and could hear them. The balloon man was leaning against the wall holding two balloons. He held the large needle in his hand and looked at me. Mom was written on one balloon, Dad was written on the other. I nodded toward the balloon marked Dad. He lifted up the needle and pressed it against the rubber until it exploded.
A scream came from within the house. I ran in to find my Dad on the ground laying in a pool of blood. He had a hole in his forehead. My mother was on her knees staring in shock at the gun in her hand.
"We don't own guns. We don't own guns. We don't own guns." She kept repeating it, even after the cops came.
"The problems take care of themselves." He said.
He left me alone for the night. I didn't know how to feel at first, but then as I laid there in bed and started to think of my future and all the things that have been holding me back I swear I could hear the hiss of an air tank filling up more balloons.
Who wouldn't want the ability to easily remove any problems that came their way? Only now I know that I wasn't getting rid of my problems, but was feeding the balloon man. He lived on giving people what they wanted until they had gorged themselves on it and he offered them one final solution to their problems, death.
When the balloon man showed up the next day, I was ready to help him get rid of those balloons.
The balloons covered the ceiling of my room. He stood there ready to grab one, any one I wanted.
"Surprise me." I said to the Balloon Man.
---
It's been a while, I know. I'm actually working on writing a novel on top of all the other stuff that takes up my days. I'm aiming for a 50,000-60,000 word novel, so a lot of my time is focused on that. I hope to finish it in a month, it's about a quarter of the way done.
Thanks for reading.
