This is a story I wrote back in 2009. I was at a balloon gathering and wondered how the housekeeper at the motel I was staying at would react if I were to blow up a lot of balloons and leave them in the room after I checked out.
“You're in room 114. Here’s your key. Enjoy your stay.” A bored looking man said in a monotone voice from behind the desk. He handed a plastic card with a metallic strip on it to a young man with brown hair holding a suitcase.
“Thanks” said the young man as he turned to leave the lobby. He pulled his blue suitcase out the door and called to a man with graying hair and a beard to match sitting in a car. “Thanks for the ride Mark! See you tomorrow!”
“See you in the morning Andy! Try to get some sleep!” Mark called back. He waved and drove off.
Andy rolled his suitcase behind him and searched for his room. He had come to sunny Orlando Florida for a convention. He had been waiting for 2 moths, and finally the big day arrived. All he had to do now was wait a few more hours. After a minute or two of walking, he found his room. He slid the card into the slot and opened the door.
The walls of the motel room were painted a tan color. The carpet was a dark green. The large double bed had a maroon comforter on it. A large window filled the wall be hind him, stopping only to allow room for the door. An armchair sat in one corner. Along another wall facing the bed was a dresser with 4 drawers. On top of the dresser sat a 19 inch TV. A couple books full of information about the Orlando area also occupied the dresser top. A night stand sat next to the bed and held a phone and an alarm clock. The back wall had mirror hanging above a sink. A door next to the sink led to a tiny bathroom.
“Not bad digs for a Super 8.” he commented and started to unpack. He took his clothes out of the suitcase and placed them in one of the drawers. The last he pulled out of the suitcase was a white plastic bag. “Last but not least, the most important part.” he said as he placed the plastic bag on the armchair. He then pulled back the comforter, crawled between the sheets, and tried to get some sleep.
He tossed and turned for a couple hours, but was too excited to sleep. The clock showed 6:00 AM in green numbers. It was still a couple hours until Mark would be there to pick him up, but Andy couldn’t wait.
He grabbed a fresh set of clothes from the drawer and walked into the bathroom area. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, and made the other preparations to start the day. Glancing at the clock he saw that it now read 7:30 AM. Mark would he here in about an hour. “What can I do to kill an hour?” Andy thought. His eyes zeroed in on the plastic bag and he smiled.
Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a tan looking uninflated balloon. He stretched it a little then raised to his lips. It expanded with every breath he blew into it. The latex changed from a tan color to clear as it grew bigger and bigger. The neck area started to inflate, signaling that it had reached its limits. Andy smiled as he tied it off.
Just then his cell phone started ringing. Andy walked over to the night stand and looked at the caller ID. “Hey Mark” he said flipping the phone open.
“Hey Andy. Ready to go?”
“I’ve been ready ever since you picked me up at the airport.”
Mark chuckled. “I’ll be there in a few.”
“Alright I’ll be out front.” Andy said before hanging up. He looked at the clear balloon sitting in the armchair. “I guess I should get rid of you.” he said. “On second thought, I’ve been wanting to try this for years.” He picked up the balloon and set it on the middle of the unmade bed so the maid would have to move it. He then gathered up his stuff, picked up the bag and left the room.
An hour or so later, a young dark haired woman pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies, towels, and linens stopped in front of room 114. She knocked on the door. “Housekeeping!” Not getting an answer, she used her master key to open the door and start working.
The first she noticed was the large clear balloon sitting on the bed. Usually she never laid a hand on the guests belongings, but it was sitting right where she needed to go. She carefully picked it up and carried it over to the dresser. She used to love balloons as a little girl. Never had ever remembered seeing one this large before. The latex was stretched as tight as it could go and gave off a very pleasing aroma. After a minute or so, the maid snapped herself out of her daydream and set the balloon next to the tv. The rebellious balloon kept rolling off, forcing her to place it carefully on top of the for sided card that advertised the local restaurant.
She then set out to make the bed and get the room clean. Every so often, she would glance back at the balloon sitting there. When she finished and was about to leave, she walked over and ran her hand down the balloon. It gave off a loud squeak. The maid laughed and walked out of the room.
Later that night, Andy cam back to the room. He laughed out loud when he saw his balloon sitting next to the TV on top of the card. “I wish I could have seen the maid’s reaction.” he said to himself. “She probably didn’t think anything of it, but it was still kind of funny.” He pulled out a handful of balloon from his bag and started to blow them up one by one. Soon he had a red, purple, green and yellow balloon to join the clear one. He tried to get them all around the same size, but the yellow was slightly larger, while the red was noticeably smaller. Gently batting them around the room, Andy went to bed.
After another sleepless night due to excitement, Andy got up and got ready. Before leaving the room, he picked up the 5 balloons and scattered them across the bed, so the maid would have to move them again. He grinned ear to ear as he left to meet up with his friend again.
A couple hours after he left, the maid once again rolled her cart up to room 114. “Ah yes, the balloon guy.” she said with a giggle. “I wonder if its still there?” She knocked on the door and announced her intentions again. Not getting a response, she used her master key and let herself in. “Not only is he still here, but he brought friends.” she said with a giggle. There were 5 balloons, each of a different color, on the bed this time. Each was blown up to about the same size and tied off. The sunlight that flooded the room caused each to appear to be glowing.
She picked each one off the bed and batted them across the room. The balloons slowly floated down to the floor and gave a tiny bounce as they landed. She set about to her cleaning, but kept eyeing the balloons.
Her cleaning finished, the maid walked back over to the balloons. She picked them up and continued batting them around the room. She rubbed the balloons against her arms and legs and was amazed by how wonderful it felt. Even the smell of the latex was wonderful. Finally she managed to pull herself away. She carefully placed the red and yellow balloons in the armchair, the purple and green balloons next to the TV, and set the clear one in the open area under the night stand. She grinned ear to ear as she walked out of the room.
Later that night, Andy returned from another day of fun with his friends carrying a clear helium filled balloon. He smiled when he saw the new locations of the presents he left for the maid. “Wish I could have seen what went on in here today” he giggled. He had to check out of the motel the next morning, so he gathered up all his belongings. He looked in the plastic bag and saw he still had a lot of uninflated balloons left.
He laid down to try to get some sleep before his last day with his friends. Again he tossed and turned while the sandman ignored him. After an hour and a half of not being able to sleep, Andy got out of bed. “I’ve got several hours until Mark will pick me up, I need something to pass the time. He eyed his bag of balloons and smiled a devilish grin. “I think I’ll leave a going away present for the maid.
Andy spent the rest of the night blowing and tying off all the balloons in his bag. By 6 AM he had at least 100 of all different colors inflated. “That should be enough.” he commented. Satisfied with himself, he grabbed the last set of unpacked clean clothes and headed off to take a shower.
After his shower and all other preparations for the day, Andy packed the last of his things. Mark would be here soon to pick him up, so Andy needed to check out. First he decided to do a little arranging. He covered the entire bed with balloons, then he filled up the bathtub and even left one in the sink. The rest were enough to cover the floor entirely. Finally he found an ink pen and wrote a note on the back of a receipt from 7-11. He taped it to the TV and took a few pictures to savor the moment Then he walked out the door for the last time. He stopped and took one last look at the balloon filled room, laughed and walked toward the lobby. He never would know what became of all the balloons he left.
The young woman checked the board in the housekeeping station and saw that the man in 114 had checked out. She was disappointed. ”No balloons today.” she said with a frown. She pushed her cart toward 114 to get it ready for the next guest.
“I wish I could have asked where he got them from. I’d love to have some of those for my own.” she thought as she opened the door. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked inside. The room was filled with the colorful spheres. They covered the bed, the floor, the bathtub, and even the sink. Balloons of all colors. Red purple green yellow blue pink and clear. There was even a clear helium balloon tied to one of the lamps. The maid saw a white piece of paper taped to the TV and waded across the sea of latex to read it. The note consisted of only one word, printed in all capital letters. It read “ENJOY”.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was almost as if he knew how much she enjoyed the balloons he left behind the other 2 days. “Well I am supposed to clean the room for the next guest, so I better get started” she said grinning from ear to ear. She picked up some of the balloons and dug her fingernails in until they burst with a loud POP. After 10 or of met there fate this way, she grew bored of fingernail popping. “How else can I get rid of all of these?” she wondered.
As she walked around the room, she stepped on a yellow balloon and caused it to burst. She giggled and stomped on more balloons. She was feeling as giddy as a little girl. Some of them flew into the air. She was having the time of her life. After a bit of stomping, her slipped on the remains of one of her victims and fell on her butt onto one of the balloons. She bounced on it 3 times before it gave way.
She let out a loud squeal and bounced on more. An hour or two passed as she clawed, stomped and bounced the remaining balloons into submission. Finally, the last one met its maker. “AWWWW there’s no more.” she said with a disappointed tone. Now came the time to clean up all the latex shards on the floor. This proved to be hard work, and kept her busy the majority of the day. As she cleaned, she noticed one uninflated balloon hiding in the mess.
“Lets see how big you can get.” she said picking up the red straggler. She stretched it out and raised it to her lips. She watched I enjoyment as the balloon grew larger and larger and the latex grew more transparent.. She started to feel some resistance from the latex, but refused to stop. The man who occupied this room got his much larger. She wanted hers to be just as big, maybe even bigger. Each puff caused the balloon to stretch more until it reached it 17 inch diameter. “I bet I can go a little bigger.” she said. She blew one last puff into the balloon. Being pushed beyond its limits, the balloon popped with a loud BANG. The shards flew across the room. The maid laughed so hard from glee that she fell off the armchair.
Regaining her composure, she pick up the last of the latex shards. One seemed almost completely unharmed. Printed in large white letters and symbols was a smiley face made of balloons and a website address. “www.kaboomballoons.com” she read “Is that where you came from? I’ll have to look it up then.” She shoved the shard in her pocket. She untied the helium balloon and tied it to her cart as she left the room. In the 3 years she has been a maid for the motel, this was by far the best day of work she’s ever had.
Across town, Andy sat at the kitchen table of the house his friends had rented. “So you filled your whole room with ‘loons before checking out?” Mark asked.
“Sure did. Got the pictures right here.” Andy said, withdrawing digital camera and finding the pictures. “Wish I was there to see what happened to them.”
“The maid probably saw it, cursed you out and popped them all quickly.” Mark said laughing at Andy’s gall. He himself mentioned something about how funny it would be to fill a room with balloons for a maid to find. He had no idea that Andy would actually do it.
“Ya that’s probably what happened, but I like to think that maybe she was one of us. I like to think that she had a lot of fun popping them all. Some where KBI prints, so if she is one of us she won’t have a problem finding more.”
"That would be cool if that happened. To bad we’ll never really know.” Mark replied.
“Yep.” Andy said staring at the window. He wondered what became of his gift he left.
“You're in room 114. Here’s your key. Enjoy your stay.” A bored looking man said in a monotone voice from behind the desk. He handed a plastic card with a metallic strip on it to a young man with brown hair holding a suitcase.
“Thanks” said the young man as he turned to leave the lobby. He pulled his blue suitcase out the door and called to a man with graying hair and a beard to match sitting in a car. “Thanks for the ride Mark! See you tomorrow!”
“See you in the morning Andy! Try to get some sleep!” Mark called back. He waved and drove off.
Andy rolled his suitcase behind him and searched for his room. He had come to sunny Orlando Florida for a convention. He had been waiting for 2 moths, and finally the big day arrived. All he had to do now was wait a few more hours. After a minute or two of walking, he found his room. He slid the card into the slot and opened the door.
The walls of the motel room were painted a tan color. The carpet was a dark green. The large double bed had a maroon comforter on it. A large window filled the wall be hind him, stopping only to allow room for the door. An armchair sat in one corner. Along another wall facing the bed was a dresser with 4 drawers. On top of the dresser sat a 19 inch TV. A couple books full of information about the Orlando area also occupied the dresser top. A night stand sat next to the bed and held a phone and an alarm clock. The back wall had mirror hanging above a sink. A door next to the sink led to a tiny bathroom.
“Not bad digs for a Super 8.” he commented and started to unpack. He took his clothes out of the suitcase and placed them in one of the drawers. The last he pulled out of the suitcase was a white plastic bag. “Last but not least, the most important part.” he said as he placed the plastic bag on the armchair. He then pulled back the comforter, crawled between the sheets, and tried to get some sleep.
He tossed and turned for a couple hours, but was too excited to sleep. The clock showed 6:00 AM in green numbers. It was still a couple hours until Mark would be there to pick him up, but Andy couldn’t wait.
He grabbed a fresh set of clothes from the drawer and walked into the bathroom area. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, and made the other preparations to start the day. Glancing at the clock he saw that it now read 7:30 AM. Mark would he here in about an hour. “What can I do to kill an hour?” Andy thought. His eyes zeroed in on the plastic bag and he smiled.
Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a tan looking uninflated balloon. He stretched it a little then raised to his lips. It expanded with every breath he blew into it. The latex changed from a tan color to clear as it grew bigger and bigger. The neck area started to inflate, signaling that it had reached its limits. Andy smiled as he tied it off.
Just then his cell phone started ringing. Andy walked over to the night stand and looked at the caller ID. “Hey Mark” he said flipping the phone open.
“Hey Andy. Ready to go?”
“I’ve been ready ever since you picked me up at the airport.”
Mark chuckled. “I’ll be there in a few.”
“Alright I’ll be out front.” Andy said before hanging up. He looked at the clear balloon sitting in the armchair. “I guess I should get rid of you.” he said. “On second thought, I’ve been wanting to try this for years.” He picked up the balloon and set it on the middle of the unmade bed so the maid would have to move it. He then gathered up his stuff, picked up the bag and left the room.
An hour or so later, a young dark haired woman pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies, towels, and linens stopped in front of room 114. She knocked on the door. “Housekeeping!” Not getting an answer, she used her master key to open the door and start working.
The first she noticed was the large clear balloon sitting on the bed. Usually she never laid a hand on the guests belongings, but it was sitting right where she needed to go. She carefully picked it up and carried it over to the dresser. She used to love balloons as a little girl. Never had ever remembered seeing one this large before. The latex was stretched as tight as it could go and gave off a very pleasing aroma. After a minute or so, the maid snapped herself out of her daydream and set the balloon next to the tv. The rebellious balloon kept rolling off, forcing her to place it carefully on top of the for sided card that advertised the local restaurant.
She then set out to make the bed and get the room clean. Every so often, she would glance back at the balloon sitting there. When she finished and was about to leave, she walked over and ran her hand down the balloon. It gave off a loud squeak. The maid laughed and walked out of the room.
Later that night, Andy cam back to the room. He laughed out loud when he saw his balloon sitting next to the TV on top of the card. “I wish I could have seen the maid’s reaction.” he said to himself. “She probably didn’t think anything of it, but it was still kind of funny.” He pulled out a handful of balloon from his bag and started to blow them up one by one. Soon he had a red, purple, green and yellow balloon to join the clear one. He tried to get them all around the same size, but the yellow was slightly larger, while the red was noticeably smaller. Gently batting them around the room, Andy went to bed.
After another sleepless night due to excitement, Andy got up and got ready. Before leaving the room, he picked up the 5 balloons and scattered them across the bed, so the maid would have to move them again. He grinned ear to ear as he left to meet up with his friend again.
A couple hours after he left, the maid once again rolled her cart up to room 114. “Ah yes, the balloon guy.” she said with a giggle. “I wonder if its still there?” She knocked on the door and announced her intentions again. Not getting a response, she used her master key and let herself in. “Not only is he still here, but he brought friends.” she said with a giggle. There were 5 balloons, each of a different color, on the bed this time. Each was blown up to about the same size and tied off. The sunlight that flooded the room caused each to appear to be glowing.
She picked each one off the bed and batted them across the room. The balloons slowly floated down to the floor and gave a tiny bounce as they landed. She set about to her cleaning, but kept eyeing the balloons.
Her cleaning finished, the maid walked back over to the balloons. She picked them up and continued batting them around the room. She rubbed the balloons against her arms and legs and was amazed by how wonderful it felt. Even the smell of the latex was wonderful. Finally she managed to pull herself away. She carefully placed the red and yellow balloons in the armchair, the purple and green balloons next to the TV, and set the clear one in the open area under the night stand. She grinned ear to ear as she walked out of the room.
Later that night, Andy returned from another day of fun with his friends carrying a clear helium filled balloon. He smiled when he saw the new locations of the presents he left for the maid. “Wish I could have seen what went on in here today” he giggled. He had to check out of the motel the next morning, so he gathered up all his belongings. He looked in the plastic bag and saw he still had a lot of uninflated balloons left.
He laid down to try to get some sleep before his last day with his friends. Again he tossed and turned while the sandman ignored him. After an hour and a half of not being able to sleep, Andy got out of bed. “I’ve got several hours until Mark will pick me up, I need something to pass the time. He eyed his bag of balloons and smiled a devilish grin. “I think I’ll leave a going away present for the maid.
Andy spent the rest of the night blowing and tying off all the balloons in his bag. By 6 AM he had at least 100 of all different colors inflated. “That should be enough.” he commented. Satisfied with himself, he grabbed the last set of unpacked clean clothes and headed off to take a shower.
After his shower and all other preparations for the day, Andy packed the last of his things. Mark would be here soon to pick him up, so Andy needed to check out. First he decided to do a little arranging. He covered the entire bed with balloons, then he filled up the bathtub and even left one in the sink. The rest were enough to cover the floor entirely. Finally he found an ink pen and wrote a note on the back of a receipt from 7-11. He taped it to the TV and took a few pictures to savor the moment Then he walked out the door for the last time. He stopped and took one last look at the balloon filled room, laughed and walked toward the lobby. He never would know what became of all the balloons he left.
The young woman checked the board in the housekeeping station and saw that the man in 114 had checked out. She was disappointed. ”No balloons today.” she said with a frown. She pushed her cart toward 114 to get it ready for the next guest.
“I wish I could have asked where he got them from. I’d love to have some of those for my own.” she thought as she opened the door. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked inside. The room was filled with the colorful spheres. They covered the bed, the floor, the bathtub, and even the sink. Balloons of all colors. Red purple green yellow blue pink and clear. There was even a clear helium balloon tied to one of the lamps. The maid saw a white piece of paper taped to the TV and waded across the sea of latex to read it. The note consisted of only one word, printed in all capital letters. It read “ENJOY”.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was almost as if he knew how much she enjoyed the balloons he left behind the other 2 days. “Well I am supposed to clean the room for the next guest, so I better get started” she said grinning from ear to ear. She picked up some of the balloons and dug her fingernails in until they burst with a loud POP. After 10 or of met there fate this way, she grew bored of fingernail popping. “How else can I get rid of all of these?” she wondered.
As she walked around the room, she stepped on a yellow balloon and caused it to burst. She giggled and stomped on more balloons. She was feeling as giddy as a little girl. Some of them flew into the air. She was having the time of her life. After a bit of stomping, her slipped on the remains of one of her victims and fell on her butt onto one of the balloons. She bounced on it 3 times before it gave way.
She let out a loud squeal and bounced on more. An hour or two passed as she clawed, stomped and bounced the remaining balloons into submission. Finally, the last one met its maker. “AWWWW there’s no more.” she said with a disappointed tone. Now came the time to clean up all the latex shards on the floor. This proved to be hard work, and kept her busy the majority of the day. As she cleaned, she noticed one uninflated balloon hiding in the mess.
“Lets see how big you can get.” she said picking up the red straggler. She stretched it out and raised it to her lips. She watched I enjoyment as the balloon grew larger and larger and the latex grew more transparent.. She started to feel some resistance from the latex, but refused to stop. The man who occupied this room got his much larger. She wanted hers to be just as big, maybe even bigger. Each puff caused the balloon to stretch more until it reached it 17 inch diameter. “I bet I can go a little bigger.” she said. She blew one last puff into the balloon. Being pushed beyond its limits, the balloon popped with a loud BANG. The shards flew across the room. The maid laughed so hard from glee that she fell off the armchair.
Regaining her composure, she pick up the last of the latex shards. One seemed almost completely unharmed. Printed in large white letters and symbols was a smiley face made of balloons and a website address. “www.kaboomballoons.com” she read “Is that where you came from? I’ll have to look it up then.” She shoved the shard in her pocket. She untied the helium balloon and tied it to her cart as she left the room. In the 3 years she has been a maid for the motel, this was by far the best day of work she’s ever had.
Across town, Andy sat at the kitchen table of the house his friends had rented. “So you filled your whole room with ‘loons before checking out?” Mark asked.
“Sure did. Got the pictures right here.” Andy said, withdrawing digital camera and finding the pictures. “Wish I was there to see what happened to them.”
“The maid probably saw it, cursed you out and popped them all quickly.” Mark said laughing at Andy’s gall. He himself mentioned something about how funny it would be to fill a room with balloons for a maid to find. He had no idea that Andy would actually do it.
“Ya that’s probably what happened, but I like to think that maybe she was one of us. I like to think that she had a lot of fun popping them all. Some where KBI prints, so if she is one of us she won’t have a problem finding more.”
"That would be cool if that happened. To bad we’ll never really know.” Mark replied.
“Yep.” Andy said staring at the window. He wondered what became of his gift he left.
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