The Yellow Balloon
a.k.a.
The Sleeping Buddha
a.k.a.
The Sleeping Buddha
Author's Note: This story was inspired by the title... I've had the title with me for over three months now alongwith the prologue. This was written after a long night in office, to relax. No doubt, was rather shaky and sleepy when wrote it... some part could've been written better, but once I reached the end, I was refreshed enough to work for next 24 hours. Hope you too feel the way I did by the time you reach The End... and if yoy do, you'll know THIS is the only way this should have been written.
[ PROLOGUE ]
Hesitantly, and very slowly, pair of bright lil eyes open and peek from beneath the covers. They take a while to adjust to the light in the room and blink once. The crayon sketches on the wall come a bit into focus. They blink again as they search for something in the colorful little room, the calendar. They follow a trail of red 'X's and rest at the big red 'O' right next to the last 'X'. Suddenly clarity rushes in and a pair of lil feet jump out of the bed and onto the floor, mimicking the heart trying to race away from the grasp of a fragile ribcage. The soft pitter-patter of lil naked feet follows the trail of the lil boy in his pajamas as he runs across the small hallway into the master bedroom, the door is ajar. Pair of eyes, as clear and charming as a vanilla sky reflect the sliver of darkness beyond the door. Suddenly, maybe responding to the whining of feet fighting a losing battle with cold floor, right hand pushes the door open.
The window curtain is slightly off and a solitary streak of silver cuts her into half. She stirs and her left cheek catches some moonlight. The bright lil eyes stare at the angelic face, then at the clock on the wall, time of morning when both hands combine to form one long hand, and then again at the signs of sun about to wake up from its dreamy eyed slumber in the eastern window. As if to help him with his quandary, she curls up a little, with exactly enough space between her chin and knees for him to fit into. He walks up to the bed, rests his chin on its edge and smiles. He takes in the most beautiful sight in the world... the calm bliss on his Momma’s face. He pulls himself up and snuggles into her arms. Momma takes the lil boy in as if she was waiting for him all along. Five minutes ago he was too perked up and excited about the day to even blink for too long. Five minutes later he is sleeping as if he never wants to wake up again.
She wakes up, her arm and bosom warmer than it normally is and they smell different from the perfume she had on her when she went to sleep. A giant invisible hand seems to squeeze her brain, limiting the room for any comprehension that may creep in. But moist footprints left by lil warm feet on cold floor wrings that hand away and warmth fills her body like hot chocolate... and nose too. She follows the aroma as if under a spell. A quick glance at wall clock tells her its just 7:30am, has slept for measly three hours, but even that doesn't weigh on her much. Once she reaches the kitchen, a gasp sprints up and her hand is a bit too late to stop it from escaping. On the dining table are two butter toasts, a pair of boiled eggs and a steaming cup of hot chocolate. And right next to them, a bowl of cereal with only a few cereals left in the milk, which are scooped up by the spoon and gobbled up by a lil mouth. Suddenly, aware of her presence, the lil boy puts the spoon down, looks up at her and smiles. She tries to decipher the smile, angelic, they always are, but they’re more than that. An expectant smile, smile of an obedient child who has not put a wrong foot for weeks and finally day he reaps his rewards has come.
"Oh my God! I totally forgot." she gasps again as realization dawns on her.
The smile still remains, but the light in the eyes begins to flicker out. It doesn't take her a moment to decipher what it means.
"Oh no baby, don’t be sad. Momma promised you and she will keep her promise, this time nothing comes before you." she says as she lifts him form the chair and holds him close to her. Tears streak down her face and wet his right shoulder.
She spends the next half an hour making a few calls, taking shower and then making up and dressing for the big day. She doesn't need to dress up, but she knows her lil boy loves to watch her get all decked up. And she absolutely loves the look of reverence in his eyes when she is all dressed up... like a Barbie doll... though mostly it makes her very sad, afraid how much more time she has before he finds out that... but no, no time for such thoughts. Right now she is dressing up, not for work, not for herself either... but for her solitary source of joy, her beacon. It’s the least she could do for him... more so today... maybe the only thing she can...
He sits on the bench, his legs dangling down, and looks around. This is what he loves about town fair. Lots of people, colors, sights and sounds. He looks around, trying to figure out how to best spend the money Momma gave to him before she went.
She got a call from work when they were about to leave. She had his head resting on her right shoulder and her cell phone clutched between her left one and head during most of the walk to the fair. Then that uncle came to meet her, he didn't like that uncle, yet he couldn't tell Momma not to go with him. No, he was a brave kid, not afraid to be alone... at least not for long. Besides, he knew Momma would come back, for he was all she had, just as she was all he had... she loved him as much as he loved her, if not more.
It was not so long time ago. And the sights and sounds of the fair kept him busy. He loved the different colorful cutouts put up by the outside different tents, loved the lights on the merry-go-round. Then he sees her, the little girl with the yellow balloon. Most of the kids around, crying or whining, but she... blissfully playing with the yellow balloon. Once she catches his eye, he smiles, she smiles back. He knows what he wants... a yellow balloon. For his Momma, so that she can also be as happy as that little girl.
He stands on the bench, looks around. He spots a few colorful blobs in the distance, red blue green orange... but none yellow. Finally he spots a yellow one too. Gingerly, gets off the bench and carves his path amongst a sea of legs and reaches the balloon seller.
"What do you want?" he asks.
The lil boy points at the yellow balloon.
"This one?" he plucks at the string of the blue one. The lil boy rotates his head left to right and then back again a couple of times and points a lil to the right of blue one.
"This?" but he doesn't wait for answer. The boy's face lights up and he knows he wants the yellow one.
The lil boy hands out the money to the balloon man, takes the yellow balloon and runs back towards the bench, where Momma is standing, talking to another uncle. She doesn't look to happy. He smiles, knows what will make her happy and runs towards her, unaware of outstretched hand of the balloon seller trying to give him change. He sees Momma, she looks a lil anxious as she looks around, at her watch and starts to move away from the bench.
The lil boy breaks into a sprint, eyes a lil wider, if it were possible for his eyes to be wider and bigger than they already were, from worry. He watches Momma go away from him. He runs faster, yet she seems to be moving away. He runs faster, but his feet can't catch up with his mind or heartbeat and he trips. His chin hits the dusty ground, hand lets go of the string.
His vision gets clouded, but not a single tear escapes, he is a strong boy. His Momma is lost in sea of people. He looks up, the yellow balloon flies away from him. He bites his lower lip, gets up and dusts off his clothes. He doesn't like to get his clothes dirty coz Momma has tough time to wash them. He walks upto the bench and climbs it again. He looks upwards, squinting against the sun, his yellow balloon a mere speck. He watches it till it disappears into the sky. Then he looks around. No other yellow balloon. He consoles himself by saying he didn't even have money either. Suddenly the fair feels too crowded, too noisy, and he wants to get away from it.
He gets off the bench and runs to the nearest exit and sits away from it all in the grass, and starts to cry.
"Hello. Why are you so blue?"
He looks around, can't see anyone.
"Tsk... over here."
And there it is, a Yellow Balloon. Not his, but the one that the lil girl was carrying, only it had a pair of eyes, small nose and a mouth too... all yellow, of course.
"You can talk?" the boy said, almost surprised to hear his own voice... he had never spoken a word before, which worried his Momma too.
"Of course I can"
"Are you a magical balloon?"
"Why? Just coz I can talk?"
"Yes. Balloons can't talk. No one ever heard of a talking balloon."
"Well, then you must be magical too."
"Why?"
"Because you can hear me talking. We balloons can talk, all the time, but no one listens. All they ever hear is the hiss sound and they think we're leaking. Pffft... Humans."
The boy thinks about it. Even he never talks to anyone, but his Momma. Momma. He starts to cry, rather sob.
"Why are you sad?"
"I lost my balloon." he lies.
"Maybe you didn't lose it, it went away coz you didn't treat it well. Maybe it wanted to be lost. Where did it get lost?"
"Means?"
"Like look at me. You saw the lil girl who was playing with me? She was nice. But she doesn't know how to play with balloons. She would hit me gently and throw me up in air. I would go up and then come back to her. She would hit me again, this time harder than before, but still gently enough. I went even higher, but still came back to her, coz she was a nice girl. But all balloons have a limit to how much they will take. If you hit them more strongly than they can take... they will go really high, catch the tails of some passing wind and then go away, never come back to you. So one has to be very careful with balloons. I kept explaining same to her, but she won't listen, too old to listen to what a balloon has to say, already has her mind made up about most things. So, she kept hitting me harder and harder, laughing and jumping with joy each time. I came back to her every single time, because she was a nice girl. But then she went too far, so I just caught some wind, bounced off a few people's head and got out of there. The trick is to know when to stop, or know the limits. There is only so much we balloons can take. Now, you can hear us, so I don't think it would have been problem with you. So, what happened? Was your balloon a dumb?"
Dumb... the word sounded familiar, isn't that what other kids used to call him and tease him?
"One who can't speak...?" The boy still had a confused, rather pained expression on his face. "Okay, tell me where did your balloon go?"
The boy points his finger towards heavens.
"Aha! That explains it. Don't worry about that one. They are the worst of the lot. Obnoxious. I mean, we all balloons have big heads full of air, in fact heads are all we have, but their heads are full of hot gas. Yep, nothing but hot gas in there which makes them very 'floaty'" The balloon twirls his string into a loop as he says the word floaty. "They think they're smarter than all other species. Well, in fact all we balloons think so, and in fact consider it beyond our dignity to talk to lesser species like humans and all who are too deaf to even listen to words of wisdom we have to offer, that's the main reason why you mostly don’t get to hear any balloon talking as it was decided during the... wait, am digressing here. Oh my folly, you don't even know the meaning of the word digressing..."
"I know what digressing means, don’t be so condescending."
"Oh my, you are a smart one. Well, all in all, don’t worry about that one. Eventually he will run out of gas and fall and be trampled and ground to dust. But you can't own me forever either. Even I will eventually wear out and lose all the air. That is the fate that awaits us all." A distant pensive shadow falls across the balloon's face. "Of course, when I deflate, they can inflate me again, but it won’t be me. I'll be part of the atmosphere, till someone breathes me in and I'll become part of him or her.. or it. That's why I said we're a higher species... the yellow skin is just temporary, it’s the air that truly defines us. We can become humans, animals, birds... anything and everything that can breathe... or we can be just part of atmosphere in our purest form, unlike any other being. And only the truly blessed ones, are breathed in by a human and breathed out into a rubbery skin..."
"I found you!"
Just when boy has forgotten everything but joy of the moment, he hears a voice. He turns around.
It’s the lil girl. Her eyes are red and puffy and cheeks are full of stains running down them... she's been crying. Her expectant stares go from the lil boy to the yellow balloon.
The lil boy looks at the balloon, who nods and smiles at him. The lil boy gives the yellow balloon to the girl. The girl smiles and says thank you to him. She turns back to look at him once as she goes, then once more, and then again. The boy waves goodbye to them, both. The lil boy slowly walks past the crowd, which suddenly seems very quiet. He feels as if he is walking through a sea of mannequins. He still doesn't know the words to describe what he feels. But he doesn't need them. He walks to the bench, climbs and sits on top of it. Looks around, sea of mannequins, moving around. He waits for his Momma to come back, wonders if she will come back. He takes a deep breath, lies down and closes his eyes.
People just walk past the bench near the western exit of the fair. But a few stop for a few moments, to look at the lil boy sleeping on the bench. A calm and serene glow on his face. A few take pictures of him. Soon they would appear on postcards and websites, with the caption... The Sleeping Buddha. But if they really knew the truth, if they could hear the balloons talking, they would caption them...
[ PROLOGUE ]
Hesitantly, and very slowly, pair of bright lil eyes open and peek from beneath the covers. They take a while to adjust to the light in the room and blink once. The crayon sketches on the wall come a bit into focus. They blink again as they search for something in the colorful little room, the calendar. They follow a trail of red 'X's and rest at the big red 'O' right next to the last 'X'. Suddenly clarity rushes in and a pair of lil feet jump out of the bed and onto the floor, mimicking the heart trying to race away from the grasp of a fragile ribcage. The soft pitter-patter of lil naked feet follows the trail of the lil boy in his pajamas as he runs across the small hallway into the master bedroom, the door is ajar. Pair of eyes, as clear and charming as a vanilla sky reflect the sliver of darkness beyond the door. Suddenly, maybe responding to the whining of feet fighting a losing battle with cold floor, right hand pushes the door open.
The window curtain is slightly off and a solitary streak of silver cuts her into half. She stirs and her left cheek catches some moonlight. The bright lil eyes stare at the angelic face, then at the clock on the wall, time of morning when both hands combine to form one long hand, and then again at the signs of sun about to wake up from its dreamy eyed slumber in the eastern window. As if to help him with his quandary, she curls up a little, with exactly enough space between her chin and knees for him to fit into. He walks up to the bed, rests his chin on its edge and smiles. He takes in the most beautiful sight in the world... the calm bliss on his Momma’s face. He pulls himself up and snuggles into her arms. Momma takes the lil boy in as if she was waiting for him all along. Five minutes ago he was too perked up and excited about the day to even blink for too long. Five minutes later he is sleeping as if he never wants to wake up again.
******
She wakes up, her arm and bosom warmer than it normally is and they smell different from the perfume she had on her when she went to sleep. A giant invisible hand seems to squeeze her brain, limiting the room for any comprehension that may creep in. But moist footprints left by lil warm feet on cold floor wrings that hand away and warmth fills her body like hot chocolate... and nose too. She follows the aroma as if under a spell. A quick glance at wall clock tells her its just 7:30am, has slept for measly three hours, but even that doesn't weigh on her much. Once she reaches the kitchen, a gasp sprints up and her hand is a bit too late to stop it from escaping. On the dining table are two butter toasts, a pair of boiled eggs and a steaming cup of hot chocolate. And right next to them, a bowl of cereal with only a few cereals left in the milk, which are scooped up by the spoon and gobbled up by a lil mouth. Suddenly, aware of her presence, the lil boy puts the spoon down, looks up at her and smiles. She tries to decipher the smile, angelic, they always are, but they’re more than that. An expectant smile, smile of an obedient child who has not put a wrong foot for weeks and finally day he reaps his rewards has come.
"Oh my God! I totally forgot." she gasps again as realization dawns on her.
The smile still remains, but the light in the eyes begins to flicker out. It doesn't take her a moment to decipher what it means.
"Oh no baby, don’t be sad. Momma promised you and she will keep her promise, this time nothing comes before you." she says as she lifts him form the chair and holds him close to her. Tears streak down her face and wet his right shoulder.
She spends the next half an hour making a few calls, taking shower and then making up and dressing for the big day. She doesn't need to dress up, but she knows her lil boy loves to watch her get all decked up. And she absolutely loves the look of reverence in his eyes when she is all dressed up... like a Barbie doll... though mostly it makes her very sad, afraid how much more time she has before he finds out that... but no, no time for such thoughts. Right now she is dressing up, not for work, not for herself either... but for her solitary source of joy, her beacon. It’s the least she could do for him... more so today... maybe the only thing she can...
[ The Yellow Balloon ]
He sits on the bench, his legs dangling down, and looks around. This is what he loves about town fair. Lots of people, colors, sights and sounds. He looks around, trying to figure out how to best spend the money Momma gave to him before she went.
She got a call from work when they were about to leave. She had his head resting on her right shoulder and her cell phone clutched between her left one and head during most of the walk to the fair. Then that uncle came to meet her, he didn't like that uncle, yet he couldn't tell Momma not to go with him. No, he was a brave kid, not afraid to be alone... at least not for long. Besides, he knew Momma would come back, for he was all she had, just as she was all he had... she loved him as much as he loved her, if not more.
It was not so long time ago. And the sights and sounds of the fair kept him busy. He loved the different colorful cutouts put up by the outside different tents, loved the lights on the merry-go-round. Then he sees her, the little girl with the yellow balloon. Most of the kids around, crying or whining, but she... blissfully playing with the yellow balloon. Once she catches his eye, he smiles, she smiles back. He knows what he wants... a yellow balloon. For his Momma, so that she can also be as happy as that little girl.
He stands on the bench, looks around. He spots a few colorful blobs in the distance, red blue green orange... but none yellow. Finally he spots a yellow one too. Gingerly, gets off the bench and carves his path amongst a sea of legs and reaches the balloon seller.
"What do you want?" he asks.
The lil boy points at the yellow balloon.
"This one?" he plucks at the string of the blue one. The lil boy rotates his head left to right and then back again a couple of times and points a lil to the right of blue one.
"This?" but he doesn't wait for answer. The boy's face lights up and he knows he wants the yellow one.
The lil boy hands out the money to the balloon man, takes the yellow balloon and runs back towards the bench, where Momma is standing, talking to another uncle. She doesn't look to happy. He smiles, knows what will make her happy and runs towards her, unaware of outstretched hand of the balloon seller trying to give him change. He sees Momma, she looks a lil anxious as she looks around, at her watch and starts to move away from the bench.
The lil boy breaks into a sprint, eyes a lil wider, if it were possible for his eyes to be wider and bigger than they already were, from worry. He watches Momma go away from him. He runs faster, yet she seems to be moving away. He runs faster, but his feet can't catch up with his mind or heartbeat and he trips. His chin hits the dusty ground, hand lets go of the string.
His vision gets clouded, but not a single tear escapes, he is a strong boy. His Momma is lost in sea of people. He looks up, the yellow balloon flies away from him. He bites his lower lip, gets up and dusts off his clothes. He doesn't like to get his clothes dirty coz Momma has tough time to wash them. He walks upto the bench and climbs it again. He looks upwards, squinting against the sun, his yellow balloon a mere speck. He watches it till it disappears into the sky. Then he looks around. No other yellow balloon. He consoles himself by saying he didn't even have money either. Suddenly the fair feels too crowded, too noisy, and he wants to get away from it.
He gets off the bench and runs to the nearest exit and sits away from it all in the grass, and starts to cry.
"Hello. Why are you so blue?"
He looks around, can't see anyone.
"Tsk... over here."
And there it is, a Yellow Balloon. Not his, but the one that the lil girl was carrying, only it had a pair of eyes, small nose and a mouth too... all yellow, of course.
"You can talk?" the boy said, almost surprised to hear his own voice... he had never spoken a word before, which worried his Momma too.
"Of course I can"
"Are you a magical balloon?"
"Why? Just coz I can talk?"
"Yes. Balloons can't talk. No one ever heard of a talking balloon."
"Well, then you must be magical too."
"Why?"
"Because you can hear me talking. We balloons can talk, all the time, but no one listens. All they ever hear is the hiss sound and they think we're leaking. Pffft... Humans."
The boy thinks about it. Even he never talks to anyone, but his Momma. Momma. He starts to cry, rather sob.
"Why are you sad?"
"I lost my balloon." he lies.
"Maybe you didn't lose it, it went away coz you didn't treat it well. Maybe it wanted to be lost. Where did it get lost?"
"Means?"
"Like look at me. You saw the lil girl who was playing with me? She was nice. But she doesn't know how to play with balloons. She would hit me gently and throw me up in air. I would go up and then come back to her. She would hit me again, this time harder than before, but still gently enough. I went even higher, but still came back to her, coz she was a nice girl. But all balloons have a limit to how much they will take. If you hit them more strongly than they can take... they will go really high, catch the tails of some passing wind and then go away, never come back to you. So one has to be very careful with balloons. I kept explaining same to her, but she won't listen, too old to listen to what a balloon has to say, already has her mind made up about most things. So, she kept hitting me harder and harder, laughing and jumping with joy each time. I came back to her every single time, because she was a nice girl. But then she went too far, so I just caught some wind, bounced off a few people's head and got out of there. The trick is to know when to stop, or know the limits. There is only so much we balloons can take. Now, you can hear us, so I don't think it would have been problem with you. So, what happened? Was your balloon a dumb?"
Dumb... the word sounded familiar, isn't that what other kids used to call him and tease him?
"One who can't speak...?" The boy still had a confused, rather pained expression on his face. "Okay, tell me where did your balloon go?"
The boy points his finger towards heavens.
"Aha! That explains it. Don't worry about that one. They are the worst of the lot. Obnoxious. I mean, we all balloons have big heads full of air, in fact heads are all we have, but their heads are full of hot gas. Yep, nothing but hot gas in there which makes them very 'floaty'" The balloon twirls his string into a loop as he says the word floaty. "They think they're smarter than all other species. Well, in fact all we balloons think so, and in fact consider it beyond our dignity to talk to lesser species like humans and all who are too deaf to even listen to words of wisdom we have to offer, that's the main reason why you mostly don’t get to hear any balloon talking as it was decided during the... wait, am digressing here. Oh my folly, you don't even know the meaning of the word digressing..."
"I know what digressing means, don’t be so condescending."
"Oh my, you are a smart one. Well, all in all, don’t worry about that one. Eventually he will run out of gas and fall and be trampled and ground to dust. But you can't own me forever either. Even I will eventually wear out and lose all the air. That is the fate that awaits us all." A distant pensive shadow falls across the balloon's face. "Of course, when I deflate, they can inflate me again, but it won’t be me. I'll be part of the atmosphere, till someone breathes me in and I'll become part of him or her.. or it. That's why I said we're a higher species... the yellow skin is just temporary, it’s the air that truly defines us. We can become humans, animals, birds... anything and everything that can breathe... or we can be just part of atmosphere in our purest form, unlike any other being. And only the truly blessed ones, are breathed in by a human and breathed out into a rubbery skin..."
*******
"I found you!"
Just when boy has forgotten everything but joy of the moment, he hears a voice. He turns around.
It’s the lil girl. Her eyes are red and puffy and cheeks are full of stains running down them... she's been crying. Her expectant stares go from the lil boy to the yellow balloon.
The lil boy looks at the balloon, who nods and smiles at him. The lil boy gives the yellow balloon to the girl. The girl smiles and says thank you to him. She turns back to look at him once as she goes, then once more, and then again. The boy waves goodbye to them, both. The lil boy slowly walks past the crowd, which suddenly seems very quiet. He feels as if he is walking through a sea of mannequins. He still doesn't know the words to describe what he feels. But he doesn't need them. He walks to the bench, climbs and sits on top of it. Looks around, sea of mannequins, moving around. He waits for his Momma to come back, wonders if she will come back. He takes a deep breath, lies down and closes his eyes.
[ EPILOGUE ]
People just walk past the bench near the western exit of the fair. But a few stop for a few moments, to look at the lil boy sleeping on the bench. A calm and serene glow on his face. A few take pictures of him. Soon they would appear on postcards and websites, with the caption... The Sleeping Buddha. But if they really knew the truth, if they could hear the balloons talking, they would caption them...
The Yellow Balloon.
[ The End ]
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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