One Pink Balloon

Once upon a lovely time, there was a town where humans lived named Ferthwagen. This town was like any other town. People lived in houses, there were stores and schools and playgrounds, it even had a mayor. The only thing a bit strange about this small little place was that everyone carried around a large bunch of special balloons that would never pop or run out of helium. 

Why do they have these balloons? Well. Lemme tell you. These magical balloons would change colors depending on what your mood was like. For instance, if the balloons were red, you were rather ornery, a bit angry, and ready to punch something. If your balloons were green, you were very relaxed and chill, just going with the flow. 

Well there was this little boy who lived in Ferthwagen. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Banks, were very rich. They owned the giant mansion up on Gooseberry Hill. So our boy, Sam, was very spoiled ever since he was born. His parents gave him everything he wanted. At age three, he became quite the punk. He would pull girls hair, steal all the toy trucks, and throw mud at his babysitters. When Sam was six, he started his first year at school. It only took 2 hours until all his teachers and classmates loathed him. He was always calling names, never behaving, and fighting with all the other boys. 

As you can imagine, Sam hardly had any friends. No one ever wanted to play with him. So he spent his time at home after school most days. His parents owned a large lake. They called it Goliath Lake. It was so big, you couldn't see the neighboring town on the other side of the water. Sam would sit on the deck with his blue toy truck and his balloons. He didn't care that no one would play with him. He never felt lonely. He had everything he wanted. His parents loved him and that was enough for him. 

Then, three years later, the new girl moved in. Penelope Marvin moved into the little white house on main street. She always wore a pink dress with white socks and black shoes. She was about Sam's age. Her curly brown hair hung loosely around her shoulders and her balloons were always pink. That was the color of love. Penelope would find something to love in everything and everyone. Even in creepy crawly bugs that usually frightened most little girls. 

Our Little Penelope instantly made loads of friends. The old people loved to watch her play tea with the other girls and race with the boys. She would go butterfly catching with her best friend, Kelli Brown. One day, they saw this most magnificent butterfly. It was big and a bright blue color. They chased it all over town. They followed it up Gooseberry Hill. They watched it fly over the gate into the Banks's yard. Penelope opened the gate and ran in. "Wait!" Kelli called, "That's where Sam lives." Confused, Penelope turned and looked back at her friend. "He's the mean boy at school." Kelli continued, "He pulls my hair and calls me names." Miss Marvin thought about this for a second. She looked at the butterfly, who had landed on a white day lily, then looked back at Kelli. "Oh c'mon, Kelli. He's probably inside playing with his truck. He won't bother us if we don't bother him." Kelli hesitated. After a minute or two she followed Penelope into the Banks's yard. 

The butterfly was now flying towards the back of the house. The girls kept after it like a lion after a gazelle. When the winged creature landed on the rose bush, they thought they finally had it. But then they heard the gate open and close. Kelli gave a small shriek. "Shh!" Penelope said as she covered her friend's mouth. They snuck around the corner of the house and peeked at the front door. There was a postman delivering a letter. He handed it to the nanny and left. The nanny closed the door. "Whew." Kelli sighed. "I was afraid it was Sam." 

Penelope giggled and said in reply.  

"You really don't like him, huh?" 

Kelli shook her head. 

"Well. Let's go get that butterfly and we can go home."

So the girls found the butterfly once again and hunted after it. It flew across the yard and down the garden path. It led them to the banks of Goliath Lake. Finally, the girls had to stop at the deck. The butterfly flew out above the water, out of their reach. "Aw, man." Kelli said. "I wanted to show my mum." Penelope didn't reply. She just stood there with her butterfly net and pink balloons watching the insect fly away. 

"What are you doing here?" they heard a voice say. The girls whipped around and saw Sam standing at the edge of the land before it hit the deck. Penelope could tell he had been crying. His eyes were all red and puffy. His balloons were black. "We were just trying to catch a butterfly." Kelli said as she hid herself behind Penelope. Penelope rolled her eyes. "Get out." Sam said rudely. 

"Hey! We were just catching a butterfly. You don't have to be mean." Penelope replied. 

"Just-" Sam paused. "Just get out." he said a little more softly. Kelli pulled on Penelope's dress. Penelope took Kelli's hand and led her off the deck and towards the front of the house. 

They came to the gate. Penelope handed Kelli her butterfly net and opened the gate for her. Kelli hurried her way out of the Bank's yard. Her friend didn't follow. "Are you coming Penelope?" 

"You just go on without me. I'm going to go help Sam."
"What? Why?"

"Didn't you see his balloons? Couldn't you tell he was crying? I think something terrible happened."

Kelli looked at Penelope, then at the Banks's house, then back at Penelope. "You're brave." she said.

Penelope laughed. "Oh, I'm not brave. I just don't like sad things. See you tomorrow, Kelli."

Kelli waved and started walking towards home. Penelope shut the gate, turned around, took a deep breath and started back towards the deck and Sam. When she got there, Sam was sitting on the edge of the deck with his black balloons, letting his feet hang over. "Sam?" the girl called out to the boy. Sam didn't even turn around. "I thought I told you to go away." 

"You did." Penelope said brightly. "But I came back. Are you okay?"

Sam hunched over lower. He didn't say anything. Penelope looked at him with big eyes, wondering what the matter was. She sat down sat next to him and breathed in the lake air. After a while, Sam finally spoke. "I won't have any friends." Penelope didn't reply. She just looked at him with her big eyes. "I heard Nanny talking to my parents about me." Sam continued, "She said that I was a mean, spoiled little boy and no one would ever love me except for mom and dad." He looked at Penelope. "Is it true?" And then the boy burst into tears. 

Penelope immediately wrapped her arms around Sam and hugged him tight. She looked up at her pink balloons. She pulled out the biggest one and without saying a word, she handed it to Sam. He turned and looked at her through his teary eyes. "I'll love you." she whispered quietly. 

After that, Sam became one of the nicest boys in all of Ferthwagen. Kelli would even invite him to tea. He gained lots of friends and would share his blue truck. But his favorite friend was Penelope. And in his bunch of balloons, whatever color they may have been, there was always one pink balloon.