JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers HAVING FUN WITH HIS HOBBY- Freshman David Smith, 14, of Thousand Oaks High School creates balloon art for patrons of Fuddruckers restaurant in Thousand Oaks. David's hobby has become a moneymaker. Parents who take their children out to dinner to local restaurants for kids-eat-free nights are getting something really special in addition to a break from cooking.

They get delighted kids.

That's because a mildmannered Thousand Oaks High School freshman is dropping by and making balloon animals.

With an okay from the managers, David Smith, 14, goes into restaurants and quietly asks, "Would you like a balloon?"

"At first he worried about his performance and feedback and was reluctant to do it," his sister Kaytie, 18, said.

An employee at Islands in Newbury Park, Kaytie talked to her manager and got permission for her brother to come in to work with her on kids' night, she said. Then she convinced David to do it. He quickly learned his worry about negative reactions was unfounded.

"Who can be upset with someone who gives you a monkey on a tree?" Kaytie said.

No one, it seems.

In fact, his customers are delighted—which is good, because he only works for tips.

"I was able to overcome my fears and give it a shot," David said.

At school David is an honor student who participates on the wrestling team. A few months ago his cousin Drew Smith, 20, taught him how to twist balloons. Now he's expanded his education to include learning new shapes and creating new objects. He's also putting to use an entrepreneur class he took at school, he said.

Recently at Fuddruckers restaurant on Moorpark Road, David ran into Simi Valley boys Hayden Harrah, 15, and Holden Harrah, 11, who were out to dinner with their dad, Brad Harrah, and their friend Nick Feathers, 11. As soon as they saw what David could do, the two boys were asking their dad if they and their friend could have balloons. Soon Nick and Holden had monkeys climbing a banana tree, and Hayden had Spiderman swinging from a pole.

"He did a really good job," Brad Harrah said.

At a nearby table, Annette Miyasato of Newbury Park was with her children, Brennan, 9, and Caysie, 6. Brennan got a monkey and Caysie a pink poodle.

"When one person gets something like a monkey, then a lot of times that's what everyone wants," David said.

He also makes a shapely little mermaid, a sword and a variety of other balloon creatures and objects. Technically David is called a balloon twister, but the young man with red hair and braces calls himself a balloon guy as he walks around in flip-flops, T-shirt and Hawaiian shorts making people happy.

He warns his customers to keep the creation away from heat, sharp objects and grass. He recalls making balloon animals at The Lakes shopping center once and having to redo a lot of them because they popped on the lawn. If nothing bad happens, the balloon creations last about six days, he said.

"Just in time for them to come back next week and get another one," he said.

He's putting the money he makes into a savings account for college.

"I want to be a lawyer or an engineer," David said.