A little girl in a dark red coat stands waiting on the shore. Her eyes are fixed on the horizon where it kisses the sea so far away. Her red coat goes down to her knees and dark red tights of the same color cover the lingering baby fat on her legs. She wears dark shoes with tiny silver buckles and her hair is clipped back out of her face. Despite the clips, the wind whips her hair in all different directions as if trying to cloud her view of the sunset. The rest of the beach looks pale and grey in comparison to the girl’s vibrant coat. Paired with the dark orange of the setting sun the other beachgoers seem worn and tired, their faces bathed in shadow and their clothing dull. A tall woman puts a hand on the girl’s shoulder. She joins the girl in waiting for the sun to disappear behind the waves. Neither of them speaks, and even the voices of the other patrons seem muted as the pair stands in the sand. All they can hear is the quiet lapping of waves over the shore, and the slow wane of the tide as the moon peeks its head behind the dark layer of clouds.
A little boy in a red shirt stands in the shallows of the ocean. His feet tickled by nearby fish and kicked up sand. He shoots a green water gun up into the sky, as if trying to hit one of the newly visible stars above. His red shirt is drenched in sea water, and clings tightly to his chest. When he had arrived at the beach earlier that day his mother had pulled the shirt down over his head and advised him of the strong rays from the sun that would burn his soft skin. He only wore it now because it was cold on the beach and he felt hesitant to leave the warm embrace of the sea as it glistened invitingly in the sunset. The boy’s brother breaks the surface of the water, coming up to breathe, and splashing the younger boy who shoots his water gun in retaliation. The boy looks back to the shore, seeing his mother sitting on a blanket. Her woven hat’s wide brim blocks her face from the setting sun, and the scarf tied around her waist does nothing to keep her warm. She looks up from her book and waves at her son, pointing to the bag of food she has at her feet. He shakes his head in response and shoots his brother with the water gun once again.
And suddenly, the sun touches the water, bursting at the seams and spraying beams of orange light across the sky. Then as soon as it began, the sky dims again and the sun ducks below the waves in bashful timidity. The orange turns to purple and the clouds thicken, allowing the dim white light of the moon to illuminate the nearly deserted beach. A mother calls her sons. A little girl turns away from the sunset. All at once, the people leave and the beach peacefully quiets. A faint chirping of crickets in the distance is barely heard over the calm lapping of the waves. The moon shines onto the water and stars flicker in and out of view behind the clouds. A quiet so tranquil could be disturbed only by 1001 red balloons entering the sky all together night by night and covering the layer of clouds with a red glow. Then, all at once the balloons would pop, creating a deafening wall of sound that would break the silence, frighten the crickets, and force the stars into hiding, but only just for a moment. Then the 1001 red balloons would fall from the sky and sink into the depths of the ocean where they would hide forever, never again to make a sound.
And if the 1001 red balloons came back to the beach each night, again floating up to the sky in an attempt to reach the stars above, and popping all at once with a bang louder than a brigade of gunshots, would the crickets begin to anticipate? Would the stars stop coming out? Would the moon take on an orange glow in an attempt to overpower the sudden redness of the balloons? Would families and their children stay on the beach until late at night to watch the balloons and say it was the experience of a lifetime? Or, would no one even notice? After the novelty of the strange phenomenon wore off would people forget? Would it etch itself into their consciousness until the only thing people thought about when they were reminded of the 1001 red balloons be “oh yes, I saw that once.”
