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Sudden POPs #2:- Harry's Party- B= 100; S= 0
Being pressed into a balloon bursting contest
is a major trauma for many males, especially a seven year old boy.
Our final scheduled balloon game was my worst fear; balloon busting. They had us line up in a row, handed us each a 12 inch balloon, and at the signal we were to blow them up until they burst. Harry's youngest cousin and one of the girls from our class had excused themselves from the contest. For me, a seven year old boy, to admit that he was afraid to blow up a toy balloon until it would burst would surely mean the ultimate disgrace, so I had no option other than to participate.
When the signal was given I started blowing away along with the rest of the kids, but my heart definitely was not in my work. Most of the other kids were really puffing away doing their best to turn their brightly colored toys into rubber confetti. As I had expected, Harry's older brother who was about 14, finished his off first. It let go with a loud BANG and shreds of rubber sprinkled on to the lawn. Even though I knew the pop was coming, because I was keeping an eye on his balloon through the translucent rubber of mine, the sudden loud BANG caused me to jump and my balloon almost squirted out of my hand. About half of us stopped blowing because, after all, Harry's brother was already the winner. At that point Harry yelled out, "No, no, everyone keep blowing. Lets see who takes the longest to bust theirs."
I was dead. What to do. I put the balloon to my lips again as the distended balloons in the faces of those that had continued blowing started bursting one by one. The violence of the bursts was manifested in the hundreds of shredded pieces of rubber that flew away from the contestant's faces and fluttered to the ground like colored snow flakes when they popped. Although I was terrified that my balloon was about to follow suit I was nonetheless stimulated by the utter destruction of toys that I found to be so sexually stimulating.
The balloon of one of my classmates was the next to go followed by Harry's and then his sister's. She was a tom boy and the smile on her face indicated she was pleased with her balloon destruction. I thought at the time she would look better wearing shorts like we boys were rather than the sun dress she was sporting.
We were soon down to those of us who had stopped blowing when Harry's brothers balloon had popped. Since I had never busted a balloon this way I had no idea how much more it would take, but I knew I couldn't take any more. I just knew it was going to explode right in front of my face and scare me to half to death, so I pinched it off and pulled it away from my face. At that point the fates stepped in and as I held the balloon in front of me it burst by itself. It happened so suddenly I didn't even have time to jump. Phew, off the hook. Two of the boys who belied their terror on their faces toughed it out, and with eyes tightly closed finished off their balloons. Four of the others, who were like me, didn't have the guts to finish theirs off. Two of them released their balloons which went zooming about the yard. One, while holding the neck closed, put it on the ground and just stepped on it. The forth kid just let the air out and went running off crying in utter humiliation to a corner of the yard. He and the other two were immediately teased, especially by the girl from our class who had had no trouble popping her balloon off. I had never been around balloons that were purposefully inflated until they burst, and although the scene excited me, my own fear prevented me from enjoying the moment to the fullest.
Apparently Harry had planned on multiple balloon busting contests for his party, with the winner of each dropping out for the next, because he immediately said, "OK, who's ready to go again." I was terrified. I would surely be next to have my balloon fear exposed. Harry's dad, however, sized up the situation and suggested to Harry that he should just hand out the balloons and let each of us each play with them and break them any way we felt comfortable with. What I really wanted was to take them home for my bedtime fun and games, and I was able to pocket three of them at this point for later fun at home. 9/99. Post on 11/5/99