floating

Alisa could have had the easy life. Almost as soon as she could walk, she’d been trained as an acrobat in her family’s circus. It was long, hard work for little reward, but she accepted it as her calling and put all her heart into it. Then, when she was 12, a lottery ticket bought on a whim made the family instant multi-millionaires. Almost overnight, her parents shut down the circus and retired to a life of luxury. But Alisa knew she’d never be happy with everything just handed to her on a platter, and after a few months of “retirement”, she ran away from home.

Mario was a simple balloon salesman of humble means. Each day, Mario would push his cart up and down the street, and sell balloons to whoever wanted them. The Italian immigrant didn’t discriminate.

Roxanne was a high-powered advertising executive. She walked past Mario’s cart each day on her brisk walk to work. Every morning she barked orders into her cell phone, coffee in hand.

Wendy took deep, slow, breaths, trying to steel herself for the task at hand.  All she wanted to do was sit inside with the curtains drawn, safe from the prying eyes of her curious neighbors.  But the newspapers had piled up by the dozens at the end of her driveway, and she knew they’d attract burglars unless she took care of them.  And going outside presented profound challenges in her current state.