Up, Up, and Away

Indian River, Michigan is a small town located in the northern part of the states lower Peninsula. It is a town where nothing much of note ever really happens. Most crime is limited to driving violations and the occasional break in perhaps, that is why the events of the escaped Helium balloon thought to be carrying a small boy in Colorado affected the residents of this town so profoundly.

The local restaurant where I work in Indian River, was about half full of customers when the news came on regarding the balloon with the news that a six year old boy was thought to be inside. The kitchen help stepped into the dining room to catch a glimpse of what was going on as the there are television sets in the kitchen area.

My first sight of the balloon showed it high above the ground, moving at what looked a fast rate of speed. Murmurs of worry rose among the staff as customers of this small establishment. Most were saying that the hoped that somehow the little boy would land safely.

After watching for a few minutes the kitchen help returned to their duties, but the waitresses and the bus boy kept us all updated as to the news. When word came, that the balloon was down but there was no child in balloon, I and my co workers felt a sinking feeling in the pit of stomachs. The image of a small boy falling thousands of feet, burned in my mind.

A few moments later the first faint murmurings began. There was a suggestion made, that perhaps the father had harmed the little boy, and then set the balloon a flight to hide what he had done. Before long speculation among the help and customers grew rampant.

At first I was shocked that someone would ever think such a thing given the circumstances. I wondered what the terrified parents would think if they knew, that barely minutes after discovery of the empty basket, people were speculating on their guilt.

Sometime, later I heard the sound of applause, and the dinner crowd grew noisy. I went to the doorway dividing the kitchen from the dining area and saw people clapping and smiles alighting their faces. A few had tears in their eyes.

The child, Falcon Heene had been found, safe and sound hiding in an attic.

It didn’t occur to me until much later what exactly it was I had witnessed. It was only after I returned home and was telling my husband what had occurred that I really understood what the clapping, the smiles, and the tears were all about.

It was relief. Not only relief that this small child was found alive and well, though that was certainly reason enough to celebrate. It was also the relief, that their worst fears, that this little boy might have been harmed by someone he loved, had not been realized.

So many times lately the newspapers, Internet, and television has carried the news of a missing child only for us all to learn later that the child die at the hands of someone they knew, a parent, a sibling, a neighbor, that whenever people hear a child is missing they automatically fear the worst.

So it was in this case.

These people, were celebrating the fact that the man in this story was just who he appeared to be. A worried father.

For a short period in time, the world became what it should be, a place where parents loved their children, worried about them, and feared when they were missing, and rejoiced when they were found.

They were recalling how life had been when they were children and the world was a much safer place to live.

This story gave them hope, that despite the news we hear now a days, there are still loving parents and small mischievous children. That mistakes will happen, but that once in a while there is a happy ending.