(Based on the song ‘99
Red Balloons’ by Nina)
A short story by
William DeSouza
Summer was in full swing, and in
the little section of Berlin near the Volkspark on the tiny street Senegalstraße,
the sun was high in the blue cloudless sky. Song birds competed with each other
and a slight breeze caused the grass and trees to sway only slightly.
The toy shop was practically empty,
only a couple of other young people with their parents, and the shop owner.
Henry and his younger sister, Brigitte, stood at the shop window looking in;
each one having their hands pressed against the glass peering inside at all the
toys.
Toy sail boats, wooden and metal
trains sitting on their tracks, kites hung from the ceiling flowing slowly by
the breeze from the fan. You could not miss the dolls, stuffed animals and a
stand with boxes of puzzles with bright pictures on the covers.
It was all too much for the two
youngsters to hold back their excitement. Brigitte turned to her brother, “You
know mom and dad will not give us more money, but I see so many things that
would look wonderful in my room.” She beamed.
“I agree. We should just go and see
what we can get with the money we have. It’s not much, but I’m sure we can have
some fun with it.”
Their parents were visiting friends
nearby, only a couple of houses down the tree lined street, and this left Henry, ten years, and his eight year old
sister time to wonder. They pushed open the large red door and went inside the
little toy shop, one of the only stores on the narrow street of mostly single
homes. A tiny brass bell above the door rang to announce their entry.
Inside they passed shelve after
shelve of handmade toys, dolls and stuffed teddy bears. There were of course
the factory built toys but for Henry and Brigitte, the handmade items held their
interest. With only five marks to spend, they settled on a bag of red balloons.
They had just enough to also get a can of helium and intended to set all of the
balloons free to float in the summer sky.
“We’ll have to wait till tomorrow
morning though, Mom and Dad wanted us to get back for dinner soon.” The two
young children thanked the shop owner and went on their way, only slightly
disappointed they would have to wait to play their game.
In the morning the two youngsters
woke early, and with their bag of balloons and little can of helium set
themselves up in the back yard. One by one the two kids blew up the red
balloons. Brigitte blew them up and Henry tied each one, making sure that there
was no leaks.
It was finally time to set them
free one by one, to float in the summer breeze. And in time they were gone; to
the delight and joy of the kids.
Henry and Brigitte watched together
as the ninety nine red balloons floated away; first clumping together then
spreading out as they rose higher in the summer sky.
Back at the nearby air force base, in
a back room deep in the underground bunkers, technicians worked on the early
warning computer system. Three tech’s, dressed in their work uniforms and
wearing white lab jackets, attempted to diagnose a bug in the programing. At
first they thought it was a virus but after several verification checks,
realized it may be part of the original coding in the program itself.
An officer opened the door slowly,
peaking inside from the main Command and Control room, “How long are you boys
going to be with this thing? We need access as soon as possible.”
The lead tech, a flight Sargent,
spoke up, “Sir, I think we can let you have access to the main sensor and radar
data. I don’t think the issues are with that. I’ll release the lock out and you
can power up the early warning terminal.”
It was all very normal for the men
and women on duty in the early warning station at the base. They were
considered a back up to the main radar network that would alert the West of any
aggression by the Eastern Block. Something that was not likely to happen
anytime soon.
At least that’s what Captain
Sommer, the officer in charge, believed.
A senior sergeant at the computer
terminal called Sommer over, “Sir! I think you need to see this.”
“What is it sergeant?”
"The system just flashed the
message that there is something out there.”
“What do you mean something is out
there? What is out there?”
Trying to remain calm, the sergeant
adjusted the radar to a wider field. He typed in commands to the computer and
it came back with the same alert. “Sir! The computer still says that there is
something there; but just a few minutes ago there was nothing,” he paused and
turned to face his captain directly. “Whatever it is, its moving south toward
us.”
“Right, no need to panic lads!” the
Captain seemed to be doing all the panic for everyone in the early warning
room.
“Alert condition Red. Focus all
assets on the sky. I want to know what’s out there.”
The base sprang to life as the red
alert signal ran out. Ninety nine decisions needed to be made and every facet
of base life stopped to focus the war machine eager eye on what was seen as
clear threat. War Ministers had to meet, scurrying around trying to decide if
they needed to call the troops out in a hurry.
Captain Sommer paced back and forth
waiting for confirmation when the sergeant shouted, “Sir! The President is on
the line and we’re getting confirmation that there are multiple contacts heading
this way.”
“This is what we’ve been waiting
for; this is it boys, this is war!” Sommer straightened to attention, pulled
his tunic down on both sides, and walked toward the handset with the waiting
President.
After a few minutes on the line
with the President, Sommer hung up and shouted, “Scramble all jet fighters!”
Back at the air base, ninety nine super
high-tech jet fighters were readied for takeoff. Ninety nine jet pilots,
everyone a Captain Kirk, ran toward their waiting chariots to take these ninety
nine knights of the air on their mission. With orders to identify and to
clarify, they scrambled into the summer sky; chasing down ninety nine red
balloons as they floated by.
On the other side of the ‘wall’,
ninety nine other pilots scrambled, not knowing why. It was said that they also
saw something out there, but that didn’t matter, for in the end, they had to
stop the threat. Each plane was armed and loaded with bombs, and each pilot
released there bombs where they were told.
Life changed that day for everyone.
No one was innocent and no one was spared as the carnage swept around the world.
No one would know why it happened, when ninety nine red balloons floated by.
Its been years since that faithful
day, when Henry and his younger sister, Brigitte, stood at the shop window. Henry
stood alone now, in the dust that was a city. Not knowing what happened, he
looked over the rubble, missing his sister.
In the years since they played in
the park, he has had ninety nine dreams; and in each dream everyone had a red
balloon. They were happy, content and alive.
The wind blew dust around him now,
loose paper flew by along with ripped up clothing and anything light enough to
get carried away. Dark clouds hung low in the summer sky, an orange glow off in
the distant horizon and a chill in the air.
“I miss you Brigitte, and mom and
dad. If I could find just a souvenir, something to prove that the world was ever
here…”
As he turned to walk away, he
spotted something. It was round, red, handing just above the ground and caught
on a string. There it was; there was the sign, a red balloon. In all this death
and despair, he found his dream.
Henry walked over, lifted the rock from
the string and held the balloon in close to him. “I see this red balloon and
think of you, pretty Brigitte.”
Then he let it go, watching the
tiny red balloon float off in the summer sky, never to be seen again.
