>>> Item number 27847 from WRITERS LOG9404A --- (241 records) ---- <<< Date: Sat, 2 Apr 1994 18:35:02 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: FAQ: Up, up, and Away! Up, up, and Away! Copyright 1994 Mike Barker Just before true sunrise, the air is still and the light is faint and tricky. The clanks and squeaking sounds of cloth and plastic and metal rubbing and sliding are clear in that pause before the world wakes. Colors jump from the overall grayness as vaguely seen figures bustle around, unrolling fragile skins, bolting odd skeletal frameworks together, yanking cords that make sudden flames roll, puffing shimmering life into the bulging strange mounds that wobble and bounce oddly, waiting for the sun to come. Then the fleet flounders up, firming, rising suddenly into the sky with a bound as hot air balloons lift themselves into glory. There a bright red one glistens in the sunshine for a brief moment, then sinks again. Here a dull brown one swells, riding serenely in majestic silent display amongst the flock. Some faster, some slower, some higher, some lower, but all scudding lightly in the morning air. Perhaps today's ride will be bouncy. Cold air, raindrops, storm tossed currents, even lightning bolts from the blue, all may sometimes make one falter, or even go down despite all the friendly help and advice from other members of the flotilla. Some coast ahead, some lag, but when the evening comes, the talk isn't about who was first or fastest or highest, it's about being there, taking part, enjoying the ride wherever it may have taken us. Welcome to WRITERS. The balloons are being prepared, the air is still right now, and the sun will rise again soon. If you can, we'd love to have you with us, as we rise again, and go up, up, and away on the winds of words into those places only readers and writers share... Come take a trip with us? We've got sights to see and places to go, and words that flow and tickle and tease across the thin skins warm and high... to glory we must fly, and soon... come fly with me... So breath softly in the early morning hush, and wrestle with your undercarriage, but tug the lanyard lustily and let the rising warmth of your own flames fill your fragile skin and lift you into the light, raising you to where the world is serene and wider than your dreams. Don't forget to tell your friends here on WRITERS how you liked the ride, okay, and point out any special sights or wonders you have found as you fly with us today and into the future, bright or dark, together. -----------------------------------------------------------------