"I don't really like balloons," said Alice. Balloons always popped or flew away, and there wasn't really much point to them. She had liked them when she was younger, but then she'd had other things on her mind, like Rutledge. "I don't like it when they pop, either," she agreed. "Popping always makes such an annoying sound." Then again, the fact that she tended toward migraines, especially after one of Bumby's sessions, meant she had grown rather averse to loud noises in general.