IRJ-CP#14
The Boy in the Silver Balloon: An Irresponsible Intrigue
Richard loves the media spotlight. He follows weather and calls himself a storm chaser, and had been working on a weather balloon type apparatus in his backyard. He decided to use his six-year old son Falcon to garner the attention he craved. Falcon’s father told the press that his son had crawled into his weather balloon just before it had taken off. The balloon left the ground precipitously and no one knew how it had lifted off. The balloon rose and once it had gained enough altitude, it started desultorily flying on wind currents. As the balloon continued to climb, people around the world became frightened for the boy’s life, especially when the balloon reached a pinnacle of seven thousand feet. With fear of disdain and punishment from his father, six-year-old Falcon allegedly waited in his family’s attic until he thought his father Richard would calm down.
When he finally reappeared, his father held him piously in front of the cameras and started to weep. The people of the United States soon realized the whole episode had been acted, and they felt deplorably towards the father’s action. Richards’s intrigue caused the government to lose thousands of dollars and he faces trial for what he has done. He could get years in prison for his irresponsibility which cost the government time and money that could have been diverted to real emergencies. His murky motives left many people wondered why he even created the fluke in the first place.
