Brevity is the name of the game this week.
The Prompt
Write a story that is exactly 500 words long.
That means you have about 50 words to set things up, 100 words send your character out on their adventure, 200 words to introduce a complication, 125 words for the crisis and climax, and 25 more words for your pithy summing up.
If you need a theme, use this: your character needs to do something/get somewhere quickly. Time is brief, as is your word count.
Go!
The Red Balloon
John wanted a balloon, not just any balloon either, but the red balloon that floated high above his head attached to the stroller. The wind started to pick up and the balloon danced behind the group, the string pulled taut.
“I wanna hold my loon,” said John, reaching out to take the balloon into his own small hands.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, John. It might fly away,” said the tall man and he went back to his conversation with John’s brother, Simon.
“But, I wannit,” said John loudly, “It is my loon!” John put his feet down and the stroller stopped abruptly. The tall man pushing the stroller stumbled at the sudden loss of forward motion. John held out his hands again.
“John, it is windy and the balloon might fly away if you hold it. It will be safer if it stays attached to the stroller,” repeated the tall man.
“Don’t care. It is my loon. I wanna hold my loon,” insisted John loudly for the first time drawing the attention of passersby to the conversation.
“John, if I give it to you then you have to promise not to get upset if it flies away,” said the tall man with a resigned sigh.
“I promise,” said John as he held out his small hand.
“This is not a good idea,” said John’s older brother, Simon. “You know he is going to let it go and then spend the rest of the trip crying.”
“I not!” said John indignantly. “I not let my loon go. I love my loon.”
“Simon, he is going to cry if I don’t give him the balloon too,” said the tall man as he untied the balloon from the stroller and attached it to the little boy’s arm where he immediately reined the balloon in and gave it a hug. “There you go John, now put your feet back in the stroller so we can go.”
John snuggled his balloon closer as the group made its way through the rest of the zoo.
Amazingly the rest of the trip was quite uneventful. John carefully kept track of his balloon as he peeked around it to see the various animals and fish on display. Even Simon was impressed by the dedication of his little brother to the care and protection of his precious loon.
Finally it was time to get into the car and go home. The balloon had survived the entire afternoon and John hadn’t cried even once.
“I’m sorry I told Flip not to give you your balloon,” said Simon as they got into the car. “I didn’t know how much you liked it.”
“I love my loon, Fimon,” said John and crawled into his seat in the car still cradling the precious red balloon in his arms unwilling to let it go even for a little while.
John gave the balloon an extra squeeze and was startled by the loud “Bang!” moments later. The crying started immediately.