No-one knows quite how the blue Family Mart balloon ended up tangled in the grass, next to a path in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. It was a sunny day and 5 friends had spent a pleasant afternoon throwing a tennis ball and drinking beer in the very same park. The time came for them to go home. By chance, one of the friends spotted the balloon, and she raced over and rescued it from the clutches of the undergrowth and an unthinkable fate, being pecked by a bird or stamped on by a child. The 5 friends went on their merry way with a new companion and Bernard the Balloon was born.
That night, the 6 of them went out on the town. Tokyo is a big place, and it would have been easy to get lost had they not stuck together. First they visited a rollicking drinking establishment. Everyone ate and drank to their content and maybe a little bit beyond! Except Bernard, of course. Being a balloon, he couldn't eat or drink anything, but he had fun nonetheless. At the end of their allotted time on they tumbled, out into the night and the city and the bright, bright lights again.
Onto the underground system and out to the bay area they travelled, skipping merrily down escalators and dashing all the way. Finally they arrived at their ultimate destination: the night club. Inside, Bernard and one of the 5 other friends made a special bond and spent much of the night dancing and bobbing together. The night club was a splendid place: it even had a swimming pool outside, although no-one swam in it. Instead, everyone danced around it. Bernard and his friend circumnavigated the pool several times.
They had a grand old time. Suddenly, Bernard's friend looked up and saw that the others had all left the swimming pool and gone back inside the night club. Without thinking, he hurled Bernard into the middle of the pool, thinking it a fitting end to such a wonderful relationship. 'I'll treasure the memory of you Bernard', he thought, as he threw Bernard.
Inside, he found many, many people dancing, hundreds and hundreds of them. He knew without help, he would never find his friends. Then he had an idea- 'Bernard! Of course!' So he went back to the pool and fished out Bernard before returning to the club. Together they danced and jigged, Bernard held aloft and his friend weaving between people. 'Hopefully they'll see Bernard and come and find me'. But instead, Bernard led his friend straight to the others, near the front of the dance floor. Reunited at last!
The final chapter of the story is sad. Bernard died, a steady exit, withering and deflating in his friend's hands.
But he had a bloody good innings for a balloon.
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