Mike and Joan Larson rented the apartment on the first floor of a two-family attached building, and the bedrooms were at the rear of the house facing the garage where Joanna now stood. The bedroom her mother and father shared was right above the basement door. Her mother was up already, preparing breakfast, but her father was asleep, and wasn’t expected to rise for another hour or so, which gave Joanna enough time to surprise him with a pristine driveway. She hoped he wouldn’t be awakened by the sound of the shovel scraping the ground and then peek out from behind the curtain and ruin her surprise.

She was looking at his window and thinking about how pleased he would be, and what a big deal he would make of her handiwork, when suddenly she felt a tingling come over her body. It was almost as if she could feel her father’s presence, but she knew he was still in the house, asleep. Then she noticed a blue haze that appeared to emanate from the top of the window. It quickly grew into the shape of a large, slender bubble that began to dance back and forth as if blown by the wind, while it continued to grow brighter and larger. Finally it broke free of the window and shuttled into the air until it reached the roof line, and then rapidly flew upward through the sky until it became a speck and disappeared into the clouds.

She dropped the shovel and ran toward her front door and into the house. She was overcome by the certainty that her father had just died. Once she was inside, she shot past her mother who was standing at the kitchen sink and threw open the door to her parents’ bedroom. The room was dark, and she saw her father lying there, his back to her, on his side, his hands folded under his head, facing the window.

“Daddy! Daddy!” she yelled and began to leap onto the bed.

Just before her feet left the floor, her mother grabbed her around the waist and harshly whispered “Shush, Jo, let your father sleep. It’s his birthday.” Then she dragged her out and closed the door.

“What’s the matter with you? Can’t you see he’s sleeping?” her mother asked, annoyed.

“Mom, I know something’s wrong. I saw this big blue balloon come out of the window and go into the sky!”

“What are you talking about, sweetie? What do you mean about a big balloon?”

“A big blue balloon! It flew away and took Dad with it!”

Joanna’s mom squatted down on her haunches and looked into her little girl’s eyes. Joanna had a vivid imagination and often saw strange things and said even stranger things. “Don’t worry. Dad is okay. Just let him sleep a while longer, and we’ll get him up when the waffles are ready.”