T47 - Human Sequel

When trying to determine just what it is that makes humanity unique, the topic of language never fails to come up. It is the bond that holds societies together, the skill that allows us to share ideas; it is even the code on which our technologies run. When looking to understand the past, language is the remainder that brings the most reward, for nothing can bring the past back to life as vividly as language.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 1)

2009

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, GUEST HOST: Tonight, the runaway balloon drama – a 6-year-old boy feared to be on board, maybe plunging to his death out of the swiftly moving craft. The child named Falcon the focus of air and ground search efforts and a captivated nationwide TV audience. The three hour ordeal lived by his desperate family has a happy ending. They’re all here next on LARRY KING LIVE. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I’m Wolf Blitzer sitting in for Larry tonight.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 2)

2009

We want to go right out to Fort Collins, Colorado right now, to the very happy family. There you see that beautiful family standing by. Richard and Mayumi Heene, they are here, and their three boys, Falcon – he’s the 6-year-old sitting next to his dad; Bradford is 10, Riu is eight. Congratulations to all of you.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 3)

2009

All of us are so excited that little Falcon is fine, because so much of – so many of us all over the country today were deeply worried that he was stuck in that balloon. That balloon was out of control, simply flying around the skies of Colorado for a couple of hours. Fortunately, he was hiding out in the garage attic the whole time in a box. Richard, walk us through slowly but surely, what exactly happened to Falcon today and how all of this got so way, way out of control.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 4)

2009

RICHARD HEENE, BALLOON BOY’S DAD: OK. Yes, so we were setting up our family experiment for my wife and I’s anniversary. It’s a good excuse. And, anyway the kids helped to actually construct the saucer- looking craft. We had glued panels of plastic wood and, you know, they helped paint it. And the experiment was for one of our family inventions. And we’re trying to build a craft to where people can no longer drive in their car and just kind of elevate and float to work at 50 to 100 feet off the ground.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 5)

2009

BRADFORD HEENE, BALLOON BOY’S BROTHER: Sure. Falkie went up to me – I got this all on camera. Falkie went up to me and he went like this: I’m going to go sneak in that flying saucer. And I saw him go in. But I didn’t see him go in that – in the big…

kulupu mama Jine (panel 6)

2009

M. HEENE: We just got surprised that the balloon – the craft, it kept going up. And it’s supposed to stay 20 feet above the ground. And that surprised us first. And, Richard and I kind of argued with, you know, I am supposed to tie it and it was not done correctly. And we – we are so involved we forget about where the craft went. And, meanwhile, Bradford had said Falcon is inside of it, Falcon inside of it. And we couldn’t hear at first. And then I realized, what? And that’s the moment we realized what’s happening.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 7)

2009

R. HEENE: He’s asking, Falcon – did you hear us calling your name at any time? F. HEENE: Uh-huh. R. HEENE: You did? M. HEENE: You didn’t? R. HEENE: Well, why didn’t you come out? F. HEENE: You had said that, uhm, we did this for a show.

kulupu mama Jine (panel 8)

2009

R. HEENE: Yes. Let me interrupt this real quick. I think I can see the direction you guys are hedging on this. Because earlier you had asked the police officers the question. The media out front, we weren’t even going to do this view. And I’m kind of appalled, after all of the feelings that I went through, up and down, that you guys are trying to suggest something else. OK? I’m really appalled, because they said out in front that this would be the end, and I wouldn’t have to be bothered for the rest of the week with any shows or anything. So we said OK, fine, we’ll do this. So I’m kind of appalled that you guy would say something like that. You know?