“We want to go home too!” the two chimed together. “Can we ride back home with you?”

“Sure!” Al said. “I’ll give each of you 3 balloons, and then we can all ride back home together. Assuming, of course, that the wind blows in the right direction.” So Katie and Anna took three balloons and wrapped their cords tightly around their hands. “You have to hold on tight now!” Al warned them.
“Unlike holding balloons when you’re on the ground, if you let them go while you’re in the air, it won’t be the balloons that fly away but you who will fall down and go SPLAT!”

“We’ll hold on tight!” the two promised with very serious looks on their faces.

As luck would have it, the wind changed direction and started blowing east. All three let the balloons catch the wind and off they flew---back to St. Louis.

Meanwhile, back at home, Peter and Donna Westervelt were wondering where their two daughters were. They had just finished walking down their street and knocking on their neighbors’ doors to see if they knew where their children were. The only answer they could get was that the two were last seen riding a camel (of all things!) down the street. They were returning home and about to enter their house, very worried (and somewhat angry), when they heard a “Hey Momma! Hey Papa!” from high above them. They turned around and saw the three floating towards them on balloons.