Judy knelt on the floor of her brother's room. She looked down curiously at the red balloon. It was just lying there next to a pile of her brother's clothes.
"Weird," she said. "What's this doing here?"
She picked up the balloon. It seemed normal enough. She stood up holding the balloon in her hand absentmindedly as she strolled around her brother's bed, looking for any other sign of him. Where was he? He had promised their parents he would stay home. He was usually pretty reliable about that kind of thing. She even peeked under his bed for a moment only to find an old pair of shoes there, which she would not even touch with a broom let alone her fingers. She opened his closet, but he was not there either.
"Fine," she said to the seemingly empty house as she closed his closet. "You can play hide and seek if you want, but it's dumb. I'm not playing along, and you won't scare me by jumping out at me." She walked out of his room, and then ran down the stairs. She decided to get some juice and watch TV while she waited for her parents to come home. She looked forward to telling on Jim for disappearing when he was supposed to be watching her.
In the kitchen, she noticed an open bag of colorful balloons her parents had brought out for her birthday party tomorrow. She dropped the red balloon next to the bag and poured herself a glass of orange juice. She smiled as she carried her drink to the living room and said, "Jim is going to be in so much trouble."