FINDING THE BALLOONS

I just play and then I come and hope I have it. It will be good.

Isn’t that pretty, with all these plans, with the fantasy? There are plenty of them there.

All one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one… What is that? I mean, I know what it is. It’s a fanny gan.

First, I did it on that one, and then I did it on that one. Just that one.

Who is this person? Who? You! No, I didn’t. It’s not you? Not usually. It’s almost over. That will be better.

What’s going to happen to her? I’m going for this one. I was just thinking about that. I was thinking there’s more to it.

This one is down, and this one is up. Please don’t tell it. That’s a long mystery. Yes it is, honey. If I live to be a hundred…

That would be pretty.

What’s going to happen to her? She might be pulled up by the balloons. I don’t think so. Get one, just one. They’ll be another one coming someday.

There she is. I kicked mine last night. When I got up to come, I just didn’t get any. It wasn’t real, real good. No, I mean it’s good, it’s good.

Those boys aren’t bad. Where are the boys? One, two, three, four, five boys. It was Friday. I had it one day, and he had it.

What’s a good name for her? I think an excellent name is Maxine. No, I’m teasing.

It scares me. When we came in, it was pretty. He’ll make himself up, I think. I want to hear him.

Her name is What. Everybody else is in this right now.

I want to go over there and pick her up. You want to go with me? Where will we find her? In the bushes.

That’s the way we did it. We don’t take it. The doctor said, “Don’t set so much stuff to eat.” Your leg was pretty.

Let’s take a jump. Okay, you jump and then I’ll jump. I wanted to go! That wasn’t any fun. I wanted to go out there to go to a park.

Do you want to go jump? No, I won’t do that.

I got scared today, under those black ones. I don’t like to look at those. I told my mother to fill it so you can have it.

The girl in the picture is jumping? Just her arm.

There were four of them yesterday. How many of them today? A hundred!

If the balloons lift her up, where is she going to go? She’ll tell you.

All we have to do is go out the back door to find the balloons. We’re going to go find the balloons. Good luck!

That was first. There it is, right there! Here it is, honey. More sugars. Eating good.

I’m going off. I don’t know whether to take her or not. She’s in the garage.

Where did the balloons come from? Evidently, it shows here. They came from here.

We’re going to go outside pretty quick.

Her name is Barb. My goodness, I thought it was Maxine. That’s good.

He loves the sweets. Does Barb love the sweets? No.

You’re going to have to go alone to find out why. She just didn’t. Then the next one is the one we want to use. That’s the little one.

Where is she going to take the balloons? She’s going to take them to the hospital for the sad children. My friend and I took balloons to three or four kids every week or two. If you go to a hospital where children are ill, don’t think for a minute that the kids don’t want one of everything!

I don’t have any balloons here. Well, shame on you! You should carry them around.

Money and birdie. What would birds think of the balloons? In my backyard, the birds come every day and fuss at me. Between you and me, the birds would play around the outside, but they wouldn’t go in.

Someone’s bound to be there with her. If it was a boy, I’d tell you. I have five boys and no girls. There are no boys, just one girl. She’s bound to have a guy there. She can’t handle all that stuff by herself. I don’t see how somebody that little can hold that much. His name is Cecil.

I would like to have her let the balloons go in the air instead of trying to take them home. Then everybody would have one, including me. And me! That’s what it’s for.

Where are the balloons going to go? They’re going up to go nowhere. Will they come down eventually? Yeah, I would think so. What would the balloons see up in the air? Well, they would see a hold bunch of green trees. That’s the way it is. I can do that at home. We’ll get it. Then we can go home.

Yes they are. Some of them are. She doesn’t do that because she goes and works. She’s going to work? With those clothes on? When I used to work, if you came with your shirt open you had to cover it with your boss’s handkerchief.

What is Barb going to do next? I don’t know. Let’s corner her! Figure this out. How should our story end? Very joyfully.

STORY BY: Patricia, Joyce, Vivian, Maxine, Dottie, Ruth

NUMBER FOUR

It’s for four. I have some pretty ones. We have a lot of fun. I don’t know how to do it.

What are they doing? They were the first ones there. She was cute, and she cooked. They’re doing so many things.

Who are they? God knows. I don’t.

That’s not good. Yes, she is. One’s a man, one’s a woman. She got out of there.

Looks to me like they’re standing on their hands. The gang is here!

Why are they standing on their hands? I didn’t know they were.

That won’t taste very good! Wow, that’s hard. You want me to get this out of the way?

What are their names? I don’t know what he does.

The one in pink is Polly. She wants a cracker. They have their hands in the sand.

His name is a number. Four.

What are they doing out there besides standing on their hands? Just to attract attention. Just to get a picture of them doing something different.

I don’t know anything about belly buttons. Those are soft, see. They’re not hard. Can you stand on your hands like that? Yeah. Yes, ma’m. I will tomorrow.

What are they going to do tomorrow? Rub down their aching bones, I guess.

Whose attention are they trying to attract? Just anybody that’s out there. Who else is out there? Just their camera crew.

They see the ocean. The gulf, wherever they are.

Don’t get a car. I’ll stand on my hands. Yes, that was cute. That was beautiful. It was good.

Wherever they’re looking they’re going to see nothing but sand. Looks like they’re going to see everything they could see right here. They’re going to see water.

What do they want? Certainly, they’d have to want the beach. If you can handle that well, good. They just want to have a good time. They’re not going to find it standing on their hands. Don’t tell me. I don’t even want it!

There’s got to be someone that came with them. If they’re out there showing off like this, there’s got to be a couple of photographers, people to say, “Okay, stand on your other head.”

Who else is at the beach with them? Nobody. I don’t see anybody else.

Are there any animals at the beach? I don’t know why there would be. I would say yes. Well, could be a dog, and a rabbit. Why in the hell is a rabbit there? Ask him. One thing: rabbits don’t like water, so they wouldn’t be anywhere near the ocean. Well, somebody was dumb enough to take him out there in a cage, because they sure didn’t take him out there any other way. The minute they let him out, he’s gone.

They’re just waiting for the man to come home.

We can do it. It’s right in there. They couldn’t get there.

“Now I have to go get my rabbit!” They didn’t bring the rabbit, but they didn’t do anything about it.

I knew it, but I can’t take it.

Who brought the dog to the beach? He enjoys bringing himself. Nobody’s pushing him around.

When they came back, they were fair. They just all got it together in the sun, all six. They were coming up. Would she have stopped them? That’s the way they did. They’ll come.

The dog thinks the beach is a great place to run and play. He’s not too fond of the water necessarily.

The starfish is nice. You can put it on anything. If you wanted to glue it to the paper, you could glue it to whatever you’re writing. The shell is too lumpy. You could put a sticker on the starfish and put it anywhere.

Would they find shells on the beach? Depends. You wouldn’t find shells on the beaches in Florida. Those kind of shells don’t wash up on a beach like this. They would be on a beach where there are cliffs or rocks. They’re in any east coast state. In Florida. Some of them don’t have nice, smooth beaches like that.

Those are stupid clothes to be wearing on a day at the beach. Might be a real cold day. You can’t tell.

How should our story end? They get down and go home.

STORY BY: Ruth, Dottie, Barbara, Patricia, Vivian

PATRIOTIC DOGS

Their names are Bow-Wow and Poo-Poo. They’re in St. Louis. They are two different kinds. They’re not the same, anyway. What are they doing? They’re just sitting there waiting for their masters to come back. They’re at a dog show, obviously. They’re masters are here to put them in the show. They’re two entirely different kinds of dogs, so they’ll have to be in different classes of dog.

Bow-Wow is the big one. They’re not there just to see the show? First they’re going to compete. I’ve seen them. What are they thinking right now? They wish this damn thing would get over with. They’re wondering about something. The big dog is, but not the other one. Usually the only thing a dog thinks about is when am I going to eat? They’re thinking let’s do away with this. Poo-Poo looks interested.

What do you think he’s watching? They’re watching a dancehall girl. No, no, no! That’s me! I don’t think Bow-Wow is interested in candy right now. What is he interested in right now? Anything he can see. What are they dressed for? They’re dressed for something they didn’t know about before.

You’re wrong. I saw Poo-Poo going when I was going across the whatever, and he was just sitting in there. He turned to look at me, and so I left.

I’d like to know who gave them the shirts. Why do they have shirts on? I’ve seen dogs with shirts on. Because they’re patriotic! What does Poo-Poo have on his head? A scarf of some sort. Red, white, and blue, so it’s patriotic. Maybe they’re at a Fourth of July party. Yeah.

Bow-Wow looks amazed to me. If you go down, Bow-Wow comes right to you. You can’t help but pet him. It’s fun. Is Poo-Poo male or female? Male. Are they both boys? Yeah. He’s saying, “Oh Poo!” And Poo says, “Oh Bow!”

She’s saying behave yourself. The other day, those dogs , I can’t tell you what they really did, but they were running around, but not bad. Just playing. I just stood there and just watched them and it was fun. They were just run run run run and it was fun to watch them.

They’re sitting on a stage. Poo Poo said, “See, I told you so.” What does Bow-Wow say back? “Yeah, that’s what you always say. So what?”

Are Poo-Poo and Bow-Wow friends? Yeah. How did they meet? At a dog show, obviously.

They both go to dog shows a lot. They’ve won all sorts of prizes. Never the best in the show but always the runner-up. Poo-Poo does a lot of tricks. He’s very agile, he jumps, he turns summersaults. Bow-Wow’s a thumper; he just walks across the stage.

What class are they going to compete in today? Best in show. I’ve been there, and I’ve seen them. It’s funny. They don’t run away, they don’t do anything, they just do what they want to do.

What else would they see at a dog show? Dogs. They want something good to eat. What do dogs like to eat? Anything! Within reason. Dogs don’t usually look like they’re eating, they just gobble it up. Has he got a hole in his neck? No, that’s part of his ear. His mouth is open. They’ll see lots of people. What do they think of people? I don’t know, but they think! They do, they really do. You can just see it.

Bow-Wow is amazed at what he’s seeing, but I don’t know what he’s seeing. He’s bored, though. He wants to go outside and run around and get some exercise, which he was told when he got taken out of his kennel. But he hasn’t gotten any yet.

Poo-Poo’s not an excitable dog.

What do their ties represent? Well, I know one of them is patriotic. Their shirts represent the kennel they belong to.

What are they going to do next? Just sit. There’s not much they can do without their masters there to handle them. They’ve been told to sit and stay, so that’s what they’re doing. Their masters will take them back home next, because the show will be over. I’ve seen people looking at them and just watching them. They just talk with them, and that’s it. They say, “Come here, come here.”

Do they win the show? No. They don’t actually do it. Do they have any problems? Just how to get out of there and go back home. So our dogs are going to go home and eat? They wish they were at home eating. This one said, “I told you you wouldn’t get anything to eat over there.” Poo-Poo’s a prissy pot. She knows best. Bow-Wow just doesn’t give much of a damn. Excuse me. He just goes along because sometimes there’s extra food there and he likes it.

Barbara, Joyce, Betty Kelly, Patricia, Betty, and Tony