Holly Martin - One Hundred Proposals

Frank was pulling levers and cords behind us and we started to drop gracefully towards the fields. As we drew closer, I could see the bright colourful cars of the chase crew as they attempted to follow our progress. They were still so tiny at this stage, like toy cars in a miniature village.

Harry nudged me gently and pointed me in the direction of Badger’s balloon.

A long banner unfurled from the basket, easily twenty or thirty feet long, and in beautiful hand painted letters – surrounded by flowers, hearts and stars – were the words, ‘Marry Me.’ Upside down.

‘Shit!’ Harry said with vehemence, dropping his hands from me like I was a hot potato.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ I said. ‘It’s lovely, you must have gone to so much trouble for this.’

I quickly grabbed my phone from my pocket and took a few photos.

‘No Suzie, fuck!’

I looked around to see Frank on the floor of the basket, clutching his chest, sweat beading on his forehead, his skin turning a very sickly shade of grey.

I knelt at Harry’s side as he clutched Frank’s hand.

Frank was clearly struggling to speak.

‘Phone an ambulance,’ Harry muttered, and I fumbled with my phone – hoping desperately that we would get a signal this high off the ground. Thankfully it rang straight through to the emergency services.

I explained the problem and Harry quickly rattled off where we were – though how he knew that, I didn’t know. As we were seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I was told an air ambulance would be despatched.

As I finished the call and shoved the phone in my pocket, my ears popped – and Harry’s clearly did as well, as with sickening clarity we both suddenly stared at each other. We were dropping, and way too quickly for it to be safe.

We leapt up and to our horror saw the ground coming up towards us at a terrifying speed.

Harry grabbed the valve for the burners, turning them as we’d seen Frank do mere minutes before. The burners kicked into life and with a roar, flames erupted into the balloon.

But was it too late, the speed of the dropping balloon had already picked up too much momentum.

Frank desperately tried to say something to us and Harry knelt next to him again, listening to his whispered instructions.

Harry leapt up and masterfully started turning levers and looking like he knew exactly what he was doing.

‘Can I help?’

He shook his head and, trusting he was going to do something to save us, I returned my attention to Frank. He was still breathing but with great difficulty. He was obviously in a lot of pain.

I was panicking wildly, and not just about our impending doom. I racked my brains for any first aid knowledge that could help Frank. Should I put him in the recovery position, perform CPR, lie him down with his legs in the air, his knees up to his chest, should I get hot water and towels?

Would the air ambulance get here in time to save Frank? Would they end up shipping all three of us to the hospital after our crash to the ground?

‘Shit Suzie, we’re coming in to land. This is it. Hold on – it’s going to be rough.’

I grabbed a rope on the side, crouching over Frank to try to protect him. To my surprise, Harry’s body was suddenly round mine – protecting me and Frank in a solid cage.

The basket hit the ground hard, jolting my head back into Harry’s… and everything went black.

Chapter Four

My eyes snapped open and I blinked against the glare of the blue sky. Frank.

I tried to sit up but a strong hand pushed me back. ‘Stay still, you banged your head pretty hard.’

I looked up into Harry’s face, silhouetted against the bright morning sky. ‘What about Frank?’

He pointed over to the far side of the field where the paramedics were helping Frank onto the air ambulance.

‘He actually seems fine. I don’t know whether it was the shock of landing so hard or whether it wasn’t even a heart attack to start with, but after we landed the pain just seemed to go away. He even had enough strength to shout at his boys to make sure the balloon didn’t get caught up with the burners. He didn’t even want to go to the hospital, said it was a whole lot of fuss for no reason, but they’re taking him anyway just to be on the safe side. I’m more concerned about you.’

‘I’m fine.’ I sat up and Harry helped me. As I looked at him, I realised he had two clumps of bloodied tissues stuck up each nostril. I reached out to touch his cheek. ‘Are you ok, did I do that?’

‘Yes, well more specifically the crash did it. It’s ok, just wouldn’t stop bleeding.’

One of the paramedics came running over, having safely instilled Frank in the helicopter.

‘You’re awake.’ He knelt down next to me and shone a light in my eyes. ‘Any dizziness or pain?’

I shook my head. I felt a bit sore but I’d had worse headaches than this before.

‘Well, there doesn’t appear to be any concussion but just keep an eye on her for the next few hours. If she starts feeling dizzy or blacks out again – take her to the A&E straight away.’

Harry nodded solemnly, though I couldn’t take him seriously with his bloodied tissues sticking from his nose.

The paramedic returned to the helicopter and as soon as Frank’s sons climbed on board, the helicopter took off, flying over us and then disappearing into the hills.

The two other men that worked for the company were just loading the already packed up balloon into their car and the trailer.

‘Where’s Badger?’ I asked.

‘His balloon apparently landed in another field. They’re just going to get him now. So as proposals go…?’ Harry trailed off, embarrassed.

‘Well a near death experience is definitely adrenaline filled. My heart was pounding, there was close, physical contact. It’s not a proposal I’m likely to forget.’

Harry laughed.

‘In all seriousness, the banner was beautiful, it must have taken you ages.’

‘I didn’t actually see it before Frank keeled over. Did you take some photos?’

‘Here.’ I yanked my phone from my pocket and showed him the photos. His face fell.

‘It’s upside down. Oh I’ll kill him.’

‘It’s an easy mistake to make.’

‘I don’t care, I’m going to kill him. So apart from the near death experience and that your proposal was upside down, would it have been the perfect proposal?’

‘I loved it – the scenery, the views, the champagne, the banner, that anyone would go to that much trouble to propose to me would be amazing. If you wanted a real reaction, I think you would have got one.’

Harry scowled and then stood up and helped me to my feet. ‘Come on, let’s go home.’

Proposer’s Blog

Day 3: The Hot Air Balloon Proposal. Location: Over the fields of Hertfordshire.

I know the consensus will be split down the middle here, with half of you thinking ‘Awww, a hot air balloon proposal, how romantic,’ and the other half thinking ‘how clichéd, he might as well do it on top of the Eiffel Tower if he’s going to trot out these old fashioned proposals.’ I’m not sure where Suzie stands on this issue. I knew she had always wanted to go in a hot air balloon, and I want to make her dreams come true, but ultimately I know she’s looking for something unique. So I tried to balance this out with my proposal written on a hand painted banner as we floated majestically above the sun-kissed fields. It was perfect. Well, at least in my head.

Things started well, better than well actually. When Suzie realised she was going hot air ballooning, she threw herself into my arms, shouting for the entire world to hear how much she loved me. Now for all you would-be proposers out there, I imagine hearing the words ‘I love you’ are quite pivotal when you’re about to propose. Who would have thought it – Suzie Mackenzie, champion of the extraordinary proposal, was won with a simple hot air balloon proposal. She really is an old romantic at heart.