“What's it like to be a loon? / I liken it to a balloon.”
December 08, 2003, 02:18 pmI can't believe I hadn't previously written about this...
When I was a little kid, like 6 years old, I was having fun at the Heartland Festival (for those of you not in the know, the Heartland Festival is in August at Freeman Lake and there are all sorts of activities like canoe races, balloon races, guys doing chainsaw sculptures and whatnot. and there are people selling arts and crafts type crap and there's typical state fair type food and dunking booths and there's a fireworks show at the end). It was getting late and the sun was setting as the hot air balloons were landing. I was hanging out with a bunch of random kids (I had no problem making temporary friends from random kids, as I was incredibly extraverted at the time). One of the hot air balloons had landed and the fabric of its envelope was spread across a grassy hill where many kids were sitting and laying on it.
I also laid on it, but people were pulling the balloon, preparing it to be put back into its storage trailor. Despite the fact that the fabric was moving below me, I did not get up.
Somehow, I ended up inside the envelope! I wasn't worried, instead thinking, “Oh, I'll just go back the other way to get out.” But it was not that easy. I became trapped inside, crawling on my hands and knees trying to get out. I began to get hot (as it was filled with hot air!) and frustrated and desperate! I thought to myself, “I'll never get out of here in time! They're going to stow me with the rest of the balloon and won't discover me until their next stop. (I was thinking that maybe balloonists were like circuses, travelling from town to town.) I'll never see my family again. I'll have to start a new life!”
At this point, some mother saw my frantic clawing inside the balloon and screamed, “There's a kid in there!!” Naturally, a crowd of spectators formed to see what dope kid got trapped in a balloon. I'm sure my parents were embarassed to see me plunge out of this hot air balloon. I was just relieved to have survived.
So that's my story.