Thursday, March 03, 2005


Vance and Vera invited an inflatable man to their house. When he arrived they sat him down on the sofa and ran through their act of hospitality. Refreshments were served, cake and coca cola. A half an hour went by gilded with small talk banalities. They conversed on the subject of helium-filled balloons. They asked him where he got his air. They inquired if he would like some fresh air at their window, a baldly audacious gesture, as the nearby highway billowed smog at tragic levels, and of course they knew that. The inflatable man had already noticed the bad air but concealed his perception, for fear of insulting his hosts. But his hosts were perceptive enough, especially now, and well aware that he had held his breath upon arriving, not that that concerned them. Nevertheless the inflatable man was becoming sluggish. He felt giddy and unable to move. The nitrous oxide Vance had carbonated into the coke and the aromatic glue solvents Vera stirred into the cake mix had done their job well. Before long he was defenseless. At sunset, heralded by the chimes of the wall clock, Vance and Vera fell upon their guest and sucked all the air out of his paralyzed form.

Story #176

7 comments:

The Mushroom said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
The Mushroom said...

I was walking up Sixth Avenue when Balloon Man came right up to me
He was round and fat and spherical with the biggest grin I'd ever seen
He bounced on up toward me but before we could be introduced
He blew up very suddenly, I guess his name was probably Bruce
-- Balloon Man, Robyn Hitchcock

PoweredBy said...

Thanks for the comments on my blog. You're always welcome, and I always enjoy learning from other writers.

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Anonymous said...

Perhaps the inflatable man owned the only breathable air left and they were looking for it badly to be able to survive all the pollution they had been in for such a long time... M.P.

Anonymous said...

Stop blowing this out of proportion.

Hargrimm said...

This is a very neat idea. Bookmarked!

Cori said...

shhhh.... I think I heard an evil laugh...