When We Were Very Young

She must have squinted hard into the bright morning sun, as the green balloon escaped from her tiny fist and rose quickly into the sky, along with all the other balloons. The air was bright with color, as she shielded her eyes with her other hand and waved to the balloon as it disappeared over the farms and railroad tracks.
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Some days later, a woman, a kind of crazy artist who was collecting bits of colored glass and other junk from a Belle Isle beach happened to see the tightly bundled plastic sandwich bag among the flotsam.

She almost passed it by, as just another piece of trash, then stopped when she spotted the scribbles on the paper inside the baggie. She noted the bit of burst green rubber still clinging to the long colored ribbon and guessed that it all meant something. Reaching into the pocket of her hoodie, she fished out her camera and snapped a picture of the thing in place.

The woman didn't have a knife and the knot was very tight, so she tossed the bag into her collection of glass and other odds and ends and took it home.

And this is what she found...