Ellis Unleashed

So the windows are open at my house. Screens pulled across. There is a breeze in my bedroom.

On the ceiling are two helium balloons – the birthday kind- big and metallic looking. One is heart shaped and one is oblong. The balloons are scooting across the ceiling almost randomly – propelled by eddys of air flow. They have come alive.

There are literally half a dozen balloons like this scattered throughout my house – their strings (leashes ?) brush against your face sometimes as they meander about.

Ellis insists on 2 things every time we go the the grocery store – flowers for her Omah and a balloon for herself. Refusing leads to the sort of public meltdown I would just rather avoid.

So my house is filled with these (mostly ignored) balloons. But tonight they have come alive.

Ellis and I are laying on my bed watching them move while we listen to Jack Johnson. We speculate as to where they are going. Ellis is convinced they are trying to “ex-scape”. More than once she walks over to the window to touch the screen, convincing herself they are hemmed in.

We talk about where they would go if they got away. I talk about castles and rivers and faraway places with chocolate rivers and candy trees. I ask Ellis where she thinks the balloons want to go.

“To find their mommies”, she says and pats my head. Then she closes her eyes and goes to bed.