Fire Fly
It was a perfect summer evening in late June; the oppressive heat of the day had dissipated and a light breeze was blowing. The cicadas were droning on in the treetops while heat lightning illumined the distant sky and the fire flies were out.
There were more fire flies than either of the two children had seen before. Tommy and Jane both ran back into the house and found some old jars and poked some holes in their lids. Now they were ready. As they banged out the screen door their Mom yelled out, “Stay out of the woods, it’s not safe after dark.”
“O.K. Mom”, came the reply back in unison.
They had thought that because there was so many that they would have their jars full in no time. They began to catch one here and one there but not the huge amount they had expected. It seemed like every time they saw them, the fire flies were just out of reach. The bugs would blink off, and when they blinked back on they were three or four feet away.
Tommy said, “Is there something weird about these fire flies?”
Jane examined the few she had in her jar and said, “What do you mean weird?”
“I don’t mean the ones we’ve caught; it’s the rest of them. Most of them keep blinking off and on all at the same time and they seem to keep moving just out of reach.”
“You’re being silly”, she said. She thought he might be right but would never admit it to her little brother, besides it would just make catching them that much more fun.
They jumped and squealed and tried to catch them when Tommy noticed that they were getting close to the woods. “We better get back up to the house”, he said.
“Don’t be such a baby”, she said just as she caught one right at the very edge of the woods. They both looked around; all of the fire flies were in the woods as if they knew it was off limits to the children. Jane looked at Tommy, and he knew that look. By the time he said, “Don’t even think about going in there”, it was too late.
She called back, “Don’t worry I’ll stay on the path.” She was soon out of sight and the fire flies were everywhere around her. She began reaching out to grab great handfuls when suddenly all of the fire flies engulfed her and they began to blink their eerie glow in unison. This went on for less than thirty seconds but seemed forever to Jane. She would have screamed but was too afraid of getting a mouthful of bugs. As the fire flies left, Jane understood. She unscrewed her jar lid and let the few remaining ones go. She made her way to the back yard where Tommy was waiting for her nearly in tears.
He said through stifled sobs,” I kept calling and calling and you didn’t answer and then I saw this big glow going on and off, and I got scared.”
Jane wiped away the tear that had run down his nose and told him everything would be alright, and she reached down and let all of his fire flies loose.
Tommy asked, “What’d you do that for?”
Jane looked him in the eye and Tommy saw or thought he saw her eyes glow greenish-yellow only for an instant. She said,” They have the right to be free too.”
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