The Lost Balloon Affair 
Chapter One 
by Robby G Garner

The sign outside the bar said "Road Kill" and "white water experience."
You could hear water rushing and screaming. So I parked and went inside.
A real giant of a man said, "come with me." The next thing I knew they
had me chained under my car, a 1984 Ford Escort, along with two other
guys that I've never seen before, and I'm being towed underneath my car
behind a huge speed boat. I'm trying desperately to breath and they are
filming it.

Eventually the boat stops and they unchain us and we are taken into a
metal building behind they main bar. It is another bar where a ragtag
crowd is gathered watching a video about how you can make big money
fighting your way out of the bar.

I watched it long enough to realize that I could just leave, and as I
got up and attempted to leave, another huge guy confronted me saying,
"you're not going to bring the cops here are ya loser? You wouldn't want
that." I was going to ask him for their address, but he let me walk past
him out the door. I decided that was good enough when I saw the number
704 on the Dairy Queen across the road, so I figured that was all the
information I needed. Just as I was about to see if my car would start a
girl showed up between me and the exit and said, "Please mister, don't
cause trouble. They said if you do they'll kill me."

I told her, "I just want to get out of here," and she turned to let me
flee. As expected, the car was dead. It wouldn't even turn over. That
big guy was standing near the railing looking at me. I could see
something in his hands.

Earlier, when I thought this was some kind of amusement park, I had
noticed a hot air balloon in the parking lot across the street. It was
still there, but the Dairy Queen was dark. I walked over to the man in
the balloon and said, "Hey! That big guy across the street wants to talk
to you. He said you better hurry or he'll shoot your balloon."

The balloon guy climbed out of the gondola and over his back told me,
"Don't let anybody mess with my stuff. I'll be back in a minute." I
immediately climbed into the gondola and started messing with the ropes,
managing to get them untied. I cranked the heater and the balloon
started rising faster and faster. I could hear them yelling at me down
below, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Then I heard
gunshots. They must have hit the balloon, I was headed down towards a
subdivision a couple of miles away.

I found myself trying to explain how I got on the roof of these people's
house. I told them that my hot air balloon crash landed up there. The
wind swept the gondola away from me and left me stranded up there. It
was swept onto some land behind the cul de sac.

Once inside, I began looking for something, but I couldn't see very well
for some reason. I forget what I was looking for. The man kept asking me
how I got on top of their house, and the woman offered me a bowl of
cereal.

I finally acquiesced and made it 3 spoons into the cereal before I
passed out and fell face first into the bowl.

# # #

Coming Attractions:
Chapter Two 
My Circuit Board is on the Table