When I was little my mom would take me shoe shopping at this cute little shoe store in Lake Forest called The Forest Bootery. When you got your shoes, the salesperson would give you a big bright helium balloon. Helium balloons always made my mom nervous because when she was little she attended a birthday party and one of the boys bit into a helium balloon and when it popped a piece of the balloon got lodged in his windpipe and he died. It was a horrific freak accident but since then my mom has never been a big fan of balloons and didn't like them in the house. So it was kind of a big deal when I finally got to keep my balloon, of course promising I would NEVER bite it or even put it anywhere near my face. And forget about sucking the helium. Had to sneak out of the house to do that.
So here I come bumbling in from shopping with Mom, no more than 4 or 5 years old. I've got the balloon tied around my wrist squealing as it bounces in the air behind me while running around the house. My Dad had some baseball buddies over, Whitey being one of them, and they were swapping stories drinking manhattans and smoking cigars in the den. I can remember exactly where Whitey was sitting, on the ottoman next to the fireplace, when he called me over.
"Hey you! What you got there?" (pointing to my balloon with his cigar)
"It's my balloon."
"Oh come on over here, let me take a look at that."
As I approached he grabbed the string with one hand pulling the balloon between us and with the other, butted the cigar right up to the side of my balloon - and it popped with the loudest bang. It hurt my ears and made me jump.
Of course I burst into tears and ran to my mom screaming "That mean man popped my balloon!" and she tried to her best to comfort me while sharing some choice words and an evil eye with my Dad. After that I wasn't allowed (nor did I WANT) to step foot in the den when his buddies were over. Although, sometimes I would sneak down and hide just outside the room and listen to them talk. They used "bad words" which fascinated me, and at the innocent age of five, I had the vocabulary of a ship wrecked sailor.
I really miss that fucking balloon.
3 comments:
Why are some adults so mean to kids? That was just plain silly of him - and pointless. Maybe he was a little bit drunk? I'm so sorry he did that. If he knew what it meant to you, I'll bet he'd be sorry, too.
OMG!! What an assbag!! You should have BHFFI!!!!
Seriously, how traumatizing for a little girl to have something like this happen. It's still upsetting to you nearly 30 years later, which really says something. I'm sorry that happened. And, I'm sorry your mom didn't direct her nasty words at HIM instead of your dad. ;-)
Popping is a taught behavior, and can affect children at younger ages (which is where a phobia of the noise begins). Being rude and mean like this to her was totally uncalled for! I have seen some nasty comments such as "kids do not deserve to be happy" from such arrogant and ruthless adults :-( . Whatever happened to common courtesy and respect for one another? I feel for that affected person a lot.
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