MEREDITH VIERA: Good morning. Citing the equal-time provision, network lawyers have advised us to interview the 6,790,926,010 other people around the world who were not trapped in a runaway balloon last Thursday. So, let’s get started with…um….Curtis Lisspenard of Spotsylvania, Virginia. I hope I’m pronouncing that right?
CURTIS LISSPENARD: Lisspenard or Spotsylvania?
MV: Oh. Ho-ho. That’s true, that’s quite good. I suppose either one could’ve tripped me up.
CL: Well, very very close on both fronts! Good job. It’s LissPENard. But I’ve heard all sorts of things and believe me, you were quite close.
MV: I’m glad to hear that. And thank you so much for joining us this morning.
CL: Thank you. The pleasure is all mine.
MV: Now, Curtis, Spotsylvania is 1,474 miles from Fort Collins, Colorado….
CL: I wouldn’t know.
MV: OK, but fair enough to say it’s a good distance away?
CL: Oh, certainly. I wouldn’t argue that.
MV: So it would’ve been really quite remarkable had you been inside that balloon.
CL: Oh. Uh, yes. That would really….that would be something.
MV: And… what do you think it would’ve been like inside there? Soaring through the clouds?
CL: Um. I imagine… just very, very exciting. Fast. And, uh, just very exciting.
MV: And frightening?
CL: Oh I suppose. Yes, I imagine it would be. If it swooped, or, uh, dropped suddenly.
MV: Terrifying to think about.
CL: Yes ma’am.
MV: But it turns out—that whole time—you were not aboard the balloon.
CL: No ma’am. No I was not.
MV: And where were you?
CL: I was at work. Over at the U-Store-It in Fredericksburg. It’s a…storage facility. Self-storage.
MV: And did your relatives or friends try to contact you during this time?
CL: Um, this was Thursday? I don’t exactly recall but I do not think so. Sometimes I don’t get any bars when I’m in the units themselves. Sometimes later I’ll see that I got a message. And it never even rang.
MV: So if they had thought you were hurtling 10,000 feet above ground in a runaway balloon….well, I have to think that would’ve been harrowing for them.
CL: Oh I would think so. My wife, certainly. She’s afraid of heights. Even a elevator can get her stomach a-jumpin’.
MV: And the children.
CL: Oh. Uh, let’s see, they would’ve been in school. But I suppose if the principal had called them down to the office, yeah, that would be of some upset to them.
MV: Well thank goodness you’re alright.
CL: Well thank you.
MV: And when we return from the break, a look at some do-it-yourself fall fashions. Ooh that’s fun. We’ll be right back.
Jack Silbert, curator