Blowing It, part 2

Meet Sebastian, a balloon artist... And prepare to let out a chuckle or two as Prithri "introduces" herself to the competition in part 2 of Blowing It by Nina Miller

In case you missed part 1, get caught up here: Blowing It, part 1

Blowing It, part 2

Sebastian furiously shaped a balloon into an elaborate flower for a two-year-old girl. He pushed his light brown hair aside with his forearm. He knew that if he took too long, someone would start whining, usually a parent.

“There you go, Princess,” he said. “Tell your folks I do parties!”

Being downwind from the port-a-potties was not ideal, but it was all Mayberry’s Farmers’ Market offered so late in the season. The previous occupant, Pie Hole, shut down for obvious reasons: their fruit was not locally sourced. Sebastian took the spot as an opportunity to get his balloon business off the ground. Kids always needed to pee.

He quickly twisted up two swords for a set of twins.

“Arrrgh,” he said to their unimpressed faces. He then made animals for throngs of children, each shouting their favorite color. He was halfway through an orange octopus when a shadow eclipsed his field of vision.

“Can you make, like, a tree?” asked a curvaceous black-clad woman.

“In a sec,” said Sebastian, completing the octopus and handing it to a child.

“And leave,” she continued.

“Excuse me?” asked Sebastian. He shook out the knots in his tired hands.

“Make like a tree and… leave,” she whispered.

“Okay, so no. Thank you, next,” Sebastian said. Weirdo.

She held back the waiting children to irritated groans.

“Name’s Prithi from Prithi’s Puppet Theatre. Mayberry’s a puppet town.”

“Actually, it’s not. I’ve paid for the season, so step aside so I can entertain children who clearly prefer to be here.” Sebastian made a great show of pulling out a single thin blue balloon from his pocket. He handed it to her, whispering, “Mr. Balloon says, ‘Blow me.’”

Ninamillerwrites