Helium

by Charlie Kelley-Pegg





I went to a party supply store the other day to buy some balloons and

There was a sign on the door

That said they were out of helium

See apparently

There’s this big ass shortage

Because our helium comes from underground

And the U.S. deposits in Texas and such

Are being depleted

Which is scary, sure

But kind of funny when you think about it

The same air that traps balloons

On ceilings of gymnasiums in middle schools

A couple days after Abuela’s funeral

Her friend Estelle and I went hiking

On what used to be

One of her favourite paths

She told me about Abuela’s last days

How immobile she was and everything

Estelle had witnessed all of it

But you know

Most people I talk to them one day, next day they’re dead.

It’s an old age thing.

I asked if she thought Abuela was ever in much pain before she passed

She said there was no real way to tell

But that pain was one of the biggest reasons people are so afraid of death

She continued the tangent by telling me that

A woman in an elderly couple she knew had contracted some

Life terminating illness and she and her husband didn’t want to be apart so

They made a suicide pact

Got the supplies and

Ended their lives by inhaling helium

It’s relatively painless they say

Says Estelle

She switched the subject and

We moved on from the conversation

But I will never forget that.

The thing about this helium shortage is that

Because helium is a very light gas,

It has to be captured quickly,

Or it will float up into space.

I have to wonder if the same is applicable

For the elderly couple with the gas inhalant masks on

Will they stay still in space or

Will they just float away?





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