Lujain and the Hot Air Balloon Morning

It was still dark when Lujain's mother woke her up. The stars were twinkling outside the window, and the house was cold and quiet.

"Wake up, sleepy bird," whispered her mother. "It is balloon day."

Lujain's eyes flew open. Balloon day! For her seventh birthday, her grandparents had given the whole family a special present: a ride in a hot air balloon over the valley. Lujain had been waiting for weeks.

She pulled on her warm sweater, her trousers, and her sneakers. She ate a few bites of bread and cheese in the car, and then they drove through the dark to a wide, flat field at the edge of the valley.

When they arrived, the sky was turning pale gray, then pink. And there, in the middle of the field, lay something enormous. It was a huge, flat heap of cloth in stripes of red, orange, yellow, and blue, spread out across the grass like a giant sleeping rainbow.

"That is our balloon," said her father.

A team of people in warm jackets was busy around it. One of them, a woman with a long braid and a friendly face, came over to say hello.

"Good morning! I am Captain Reem," she said. "I will be your pilot today. Would you like to watch the balloon wake up?"

Lujain nodded so hard her hat nearly fell off.

First, a big fan blew cold air into the balloon. It began to puff and wobble and grow, rising off the grass in soft, billowing hills. Lujain could even walk inside it for a moment, holding her father's hand. It was like standing in a gigantic colorful tent.

Then Captain Reem lit the burner. WHOOSH! A tall orange flame roared up into the balloon with a sound like a dragon's sigh. Lujain jumped and covered her ears.

The hot air filled the balloon. Slowly, slowly, it lifted itself off the ground and stood up tall, round and bright against the pink sky. Underneath it was a big wicker basket, like a picnic basket made for giants.

"All aboard," called Captain Reem.

Lujain's father lifted her into the basket. Her mother climbed in, then her grandparents, then her father. The basket creaked under their feet. Lujain held tight to the edge.

Suddenly, her tummy felt fluttery. She looked at the ground. She looked at the big balloon above her. She thought about how high they would go.

"Mama," she whispered, "I think I feel a bit scared."

Her mother put an arm around her. "That is all right," she said. "New things can feel scary. Hold my hand, and we will look together."

Captain Reem pulled a handle. WHOOSH! The flame roared again.

And the basket lifted off the ground.

It did not jerk or bump. It just floated, gently, like a soap bubble drifting up from a bubble wand. The grass slid away beneath them. The people on the field waved and grew smaller and smaller.

Lujain held her mother's hand tightly and kept her eyes closed for a moment. Then she heard her grandfather laugh softly.

"Lujain," he said. "Open your eyes. You will not want to miss this."

She opened one eye. Then the other.

They were floating high above the valley. Below them, the whole world was spread out like a picture book. There were green fields in neat squares, and a winding silver river. There were olive groves with tiny trees in rows, and a village with white houses and red roofs. There was a road with a little blue truck crawling along it like a beetle.

And there was the sun, coming up over the far mountains, huge and golden. It painted everything with warm light.

"Oh," breathed Lujain.

It was so quiet up there. Between the roars of the burner, there was no sound at all. No cars, no voices, no wind. They were moving with the wind, so it felt perfectly still.

Lujain let go of her mother's hand, just a little, and looked over the edge of the basket.

She saw a farmer in a field, waving his hat at them. She waved back with both hands. She saw a flock of white birds flying below them. Below them! She had never seen birds from the top before.

"Look, Teta!" she cried to her grandmother. "There is a dog chasing our shadow!"

Sure enough, the round shadow of the balloon was sliding across a field, and a little brown dog was running after it, barking happily.

Everybody laughed.

Captain Reem let Lujain help her pull the handle for the burner. WHOOSH! This time, Lujain did not cover her ears. She grinned as the warm air rushed up above her head and the balloon rose a little higher.

"You are a natural balloonist," said Captain Reem.

They floated for a whole hour over the valley. They passed over the river, where the water sparkled. They passed over a hill covered in yellow flowers. They passed over a school, and Lujain imagined all the children who would arrive there later, not knowing a balloon had floated over their playground at sunrise.

At last, Captain Reem let the air cool, and the balloon drifted down, lower and lower, toward a wide meadow. The basket touched the grass with a soft bump, then another, and then it stopped.

The team came running to help. Lujain climbed out onto the dewy grass. Her legs felt funny, as if they still thought they were floating.

Her grandfather knelt down beside her. "So," he said, "were you scared?"

Lujain thought about it. "At the beginning," she said. "My tummy was fluttering. But I held Mama's hand and opened my eyes. And then I saw the whole world."

Her grandfather smiled. "That is how it is with many new things," he said. "The scary part is short. The wonderful part is long."

That night, Lujain drew a picture of the balloon. She drew the red, orange, yellow, and blue stripes. She drew the basket, with six small people waving. She drew the river and the village and the little brown dog chasing the shadow.

And above it all, she drew a huge, golden sun.