Baby Balloon wanted to play tag with his family, but every breeze stole him away. He was a small green balloon on a string, lighter than Sissy and lighter than Mommy. When his family bobbed together in the yard, laughing, Baby Balloon tried to bob with them. Then the wind pushed. His string went taut, then loose, and up he floated. He kicked his tiny feet at empty air. From high above, his family looked like colored dots. "Come down, sweetheart!" Mommy Balloon called. She was pink and round, with soft closed eyes and a gentle smile. She was the one who always caught him first. She stretched her string as far as it would go, but Baby Balloon drifted higher. The more he pulled, the farther the breeze carried him. Mommy Balloon's smile faded. "Hold on. I'm coming." But she could not reach him. Baby Balloon watched her grow small below. His string trailed useless behind him. Every gust took him toward the clouds. A soft white shape sat above the yard, billowing at the edges, light and airy. If the wind kept pushing, he would drift straight past it and never come back. Baby Balloon stopped fighting the wind. He looked down at his own string. "Mommy! My string! Grab my string!" Mommy Balloon understood. She darted beneath him and snatched the loose end. Her weight tugged him down a little, but not enough. The breeze still lifted them both. "You're too light," she said, breathing hard. "I can't anchor you alone." Then Baby Balloon saw it, tangled in the grass near the fence. A leash, braided from many colored ribbons, red and blue and green and gold woven together. One end made a loop. The other end lay long and heavy on the ground. "There!" Baby Balloon pointed. "Tie me to that!" Mommy Balloon pulled him low, hand over hand along his string. She looped the braided ribbon around his string and knotted it tight. Then she wound the long end around the fence post. Baby Balloon held his breath. The wind came again, strong and cold. Baby Balloon rose, but only a little. The ribbon snapped taut and held. He bobbed at the end of it, level with Sissy and Mommy at last. He did not drift away. He laughed and spun in place. "Now we can play!" he shouted. But the leash tied him to the post. He could float, and he could bob, but he could only go as far as the ribbon reached. Sissy rolled a ball across the yard, past the fence, toward the open field. Baby Balloon lunged after it. The ribbon yanked him back. The ball rolled on without him, out of reach, while his family chased it into the wide grass beyond his short leash.