Laramie was smart, but nobody liked him. Once a day somebody kicked or shoved him. “I must go away,” Laramie realized sadly. After months of toil, he invented a serum to let him fly like a balloon. When he tested it, he scraped the ceiling.
Outside, he prepared to drink a mug of serum and float far from home. The pink sun peeked from behind the mountains. “I can’t leave this beautiful place!” he sobbed. So instead, he poured the serum into the stream and watched everyone else drink up and fly away.
Alone and unmolested, Laramie enjoyed the sunset.
Author’s note: Bully Balloons is an homage to Shel Silverstein, whose poem Long-Haired Boy allows a bullied child to escape by flying.
It’s funny how this story manages to start with one conflict, gain a solution, add another piece of conflict, then use the original solution in a different way in order to solve both conflicts at once.
I loved it. It made me laugh out loud. Very good