The day had dragged on. Lari looked around the street as she left work. She felt as if she had just ran a marathon with cement shoes on. You wouldn't think that being a marketing assistant would make someone so tired.

The street was full of the regular faces. People that she saw everyday, but never really looked at. Lari sighed as she waited for her bus. I need a vacation, she thought.

A young girl walked by, licking a dripping ice cream cone and holding a large red balloon. The girl didn't care that she had dripped chocolate down her shirt. Lari watched her with envious eyes. There had been a time that Lari wouldn't had cared either.

Down the street she saw the balloon vendor. He wasn't doing much business with the office crowd. Lari checked her watch. The bus was late. She looked at the balloons again.

She walked down to the vendor.

"How much?" She asked.

"Three dollars."

Lari paid the man and picked out a large green balloon. She giggled as the balloon bounced on the string. Some of the other office workers glanced at her with strange looks. She bounced the balloon again, and laughed.

She ran down the street singing Ring Around the Rosie. To heck with waiting for the bus. She had to go play.