In The Balloon Factory, it was explained why Jason was afraid to inflate himself before coming to Gladville University, and now we have Emily's story.

At a family barbecue, Bod decides to drink a mysterious beer.

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Bob’s Flight
By: Soda-Cola

In a suburban house, Dave—a male bespectacled otter—was hosting a backyard barbecue for some of his family members. Right now Dave was frantically looking around when he spotted his husband—Bob, a walrus—lounging around near the food table. “Hey Bob,” Dave asked. “Have you seen Emily around?”

“Yeah,” Bob replied. “I told her she was free to wander around.”

“Bob, you know I don’t like her to be on her own. What if she gets herself hurt?”

“Relax. She’s just in the backyard surrounded by family. She can’t get into too much trouble.”

“She’s your daughter too, you know. If she gets hurt, it’ll be your fault!”

“You worry too much. Look, she’s right over there,” Bob said, pointing behind Dave.

When Dave turned around, he saw a five-year-old otter girl standing at the edge of the pool. Panicked, Dave ran towards her. “Emily!” he yelled, grabbing her. “Don’t run off like that. I was worried sick.”

“But Bo-pop said it was ok for me to walk around,” the five-year-old otter said in a sweet voice.

“Yeah, well. Bo-pop can be pretty reckless at times. What he may say is safe could actually be dangerous. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Sorry Da-pop,” Emily said solemnly before immediately brightening up. “I want to go swimming!”

Dave simply laughed as he walked his daughter over to the lounging walrus. “Emily and I are gonna go swimming, you want to join us?”

“Nah, I think I’m just gonna sit here,” Bob replied. “Want me to get you a beer when you’re done?”

“Bob,” Dave said in a stern tone. “You promised you were going to cut down for me and Emily’s sake”

“B-but I...oh fine!” Bob tried to argue. As much as Bob loved Dave, he did feel the otter could be way too overprotective at times. He was all for the safety of their daughter, but having one or two beers wouldn’t turn him into an alcoholic. As much as he wanted to argue, he didn’t want to upset Emily. So when the two otters went inside to change into their bathing suits, Bob sat grumpily in his chair. When he turned his head, he saw a beer can on the table with a note taped to it that read “For Bob”. Normally, Bob was wary of mysterious drinks, but it was a hot day and he could use a drink. Besides it was one beer, what’s the worst that could happen? Bob grabbed the can, punctured it with one of his tusks and drank it all in one go to avoid getting caught.

A few seconds after Bob finished his beer, Dave came out wearing pink swim trunks with white flowers—something Bob got him during their honeymoon—with Emily wearing a cute mint-green swimsuit. “Last chance to join us,” Dave said, not seeing the beer can Bob just hid.

“You two go ahead,” Bob said. “I’ll be your life-guard if anything goes—bwoooorrrrrrrrrrp!” Bob covered his mouth, blushing. The incredibly loud burp drew the eyes of everyone at the party. Emily burst into laughter.

“Excuse you,” Dave said.

“Thanks,” Bob replied. “That was a big onerrrrrrp.” Now it seems Bob couldn’t stop burping constantly. Everyone around him were growing concerned while Emily found it hilarious.

“Are you alright?” Dave asked in a worried tone.

“I’m fine,” Bob said. “Just a little gas.” Bob was then surprised when he thought he heard his voice getting higher. Bob’s stomach then began emitting bubbling sounds, and then began to balloon out a bit. Bob jumped out of his chair which caused the beer can to fall to the ground. Dave picked it up and removed the note to reveal what Bob had just drank. Helium ale, a prank beer that inflates a person when they drink it. Especially dangerous when drunk outside, which is exactly where they were right now.

“Bob!” Dave yelled. “You drank beer behind my back, and now you’re inflating with helium!”

“I am?!” Bob asked, his voice all squeaky. He continued to balloon, becoming bigger and rounder. “Well don’t just stand there, somebody tie me down before I float away!”

Everyone was running around panicking, looking for anything that would keep Bob from floating away. Emily meanwhile couldn’t stop laughing at the situation. “Bo-pop’s a squeaky balloon now!”

“Y-yes sweety!” Bob said. He tried to lean forward to look past his expanding girth, but he stumbled and nearly lost his balance. He was beginning to round out, his belly reaching past beach ball size and getting bigger. Filling up with beer foam, Bob was soon in a drunken stupor. “I’m a big old squeaky—hic—balloon!”

Bob’s body was now inflating past the size of a yoga ball and he was getting more drunk the more he inflated. Nobody was able to find anything to tie down the inflating walrus. When Bob’s limbs began to puff up into domes, he could barely keep his feet on the ground and was soon starting to float. As soon as Dave saw that his husband was beginning to take flight, he ran over and grabbed onto the rim of Bob’s pants. At first, Dave successfully kept his husband from floating away, but the bigger Bob got, the lighter he became, and soon Dave could no longer feel the ground. Thankfully, some of the other family members grabbed on to the otter to keep the two from floating off. Emily just kept laughing, everyone looked so silly to her, especially Dave hanging on to Bob’s pants.

Bob was so obscenely drunk that he had no idea what was going on. He certainly wasn’t able to hear the tell-tale sounds of fabric tearing. Bob’s clothes strained as they struggled to contain the blimping walrus. In the end, his clothes couldn’t take anymore and were ripped to shreds, with only Bob’s underwear remaining. Dave was back on the ground, still clutching onto the shredded pants, as he watched his husband float upwards.

Emily stood shocked, staring as one her dads floated off like a loose balloon. “DADDY!!!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. Bob was too drunk and too high up to hear his daughter’s voice. As Emily watched her dad float away, she broke out into tears, and Dave ran over to comfort her.

“Shh, shh. It’s ok,” Dave said, holding the crying girl in his arms. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

“Bo-pop’s gone,” Emily said tearfully.

“No no no no! Bo-pop’s going to be ok. He’ll be back.”

[sniff] “Really?”

“Of course he is. I promise, Bo-pop will be back as good as new in no time.”

***

Three days have passed since the pool party, and Bob has yet to come home. Dave called the police when Bob didn’t return the day after the party. It’s been an agonizing wait, especially for Emily. Dave tried his best to comfort her but Emily was just too worried about her Bo-pop to think of anything else. “Hey,” Dave said to Emily on the couch. “It’s almost lunch time. Is there anything you’d like?”

“Is Bo-pop coming back?” Emily asked in a monotone voice.

“Of course he’ll be back! He’s just lost. We just have to wait.” Though even Dave admitted to himself that they were waiting too long. Dave went over to give Emily a big hug when the doorbell rang. When he opened the door, he was met with a familiar looking walrus.

“Bob!” Dave yelled, hugging his husband.

“Bo-pop!” Emily yelled, running toward the walrus as soon as he entered the house.

“Ha ha! Come here you little angel!” Bob picked up his little girl and gave her the biggest hug he could. Bob was wearing a shirt and pants made of a thin, light blue fabric. Standard clothing hospitals gave to restored patients who didn’t bring their own clothes.

In the doorway, a German shepherd wearing a police uniform watched the touching reunion. Bob walked up to the police officer with Emily still in his arms. “Thanks for the ride home.”

“Not a problem,” the officer said. “Have a good rest of your day.” He then went back to his squad car and drove off.

Dave and Emily felt so relieved to have Bob back home. “Oh my god Bob!” said Dave. “Where have you been all this time?!”

“Well,” Bob began. “Some details are a little blurry. I just remember feeling very drunk and round and sort of just floating up in the air. Next thing I know, everything turned white and I was instantly sober and a ghost. When I saw how high up I was, I was terrified, but after a while, I thought it was pretty cool. I’ve never flown so high before, so I took some time to enjoy myself, flying around and all that. Then I remembered, ‘Emily, she must be so worried,’ so I dive bombed back to ground level to find my way home. I then found out that I was blown into the next town, so it took me a while to find my way back. I thought I’d never find you guys if it weren’t for that cop. He recognized me, took me to a hospital to get restored, and brought me home to you guys.”

“Well it’s great to have back,” Dave said. “We’ve been so worried.”

“Don’t ever do that again,” Emily said, hugging Bob with a tear in her eye.

“Don’t worry sweety,” Bob said. “It won’t happen again.”

The three of them were all joined in a group hug, happy to be together again.