“You gotta put holes in the top. Sara had killed one of ‘em like that. Dad said it died in the jar because it had no air to breathe. Bugs breathe too, you know, Grandma? I don’t know what they eat so you gotta let them out in the morning, but not too early or the birds will get them. At night, after you catch them, you can put the jar up on your dresser and watch them glow.”
“Ok, Billy, I get it. How many did you catch last night?” Grandma said over the phone. I could tell from her voice that she was smiling.
“Six. Sara accidentally let one go, so really five.” I love catching fireflies in the summer. My best friend Sara and I just finished first grade and we are so much better at catching them than when we were in kindergarten. You have to practice.
“Wow that sure is a lot! I have to get going to straighten a few things out before you come and visit. Do you still love strawberry ice cream?”
I nod. It’s my favorite! I don’t know why Grandma keeps forgetting that.
“Billy?”
“Yes?”
“Do you still want me to get some strawberry ice cream?”
“Yes, thank you Grandma.” I say that real slow. Grandma is getting older and sometimes she just doesn’t hear. “Love you times a billion!”
Tomorrow, after I eat my breakfast, I’m gonna go to the airport and fly down to FLORIDA! That’s where Grammie lives. I am going to spend the whole summer there with her. I’m gonna get to fly down there all myself. Grandpa had to leave Grandma to go to heaven a long time ago, so she gets lonely. She won’t be lonely with me around.
Sara is my best friend, but also sometimes my girlfriend. We have known each other since pre-school. I like Sara because she is very pretty, but mostly because she likes to play outside games with me. We live on the same street and play every day, even on weekends. Our favorite thing to do is to catch fireflies. Sara never wants to take the fireflies home with her, though. I am always the one to do it. Sara chases them with me, but I know she is too scared to actually catch them in her hands. She runs after them just as fast as she does when her kitten runs out into the street, but once she gets close enough she says, Oops! and pretends like she just missed them. It gets me mad sometimes. We could catch maybe three times as much if she just tried. Lately I just put her in charge of holding the jar.
She’s a scardy cat sometimes, but she’s pretty good at Red Rover. We always make sure we were on the same team. One time I could barely hold onto her hands because it was so hot and my hands were sweaty. Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Troy come over!! Her hand squeezed mine harder and harder as Troy wobbled to over to our team’s side and then made a turn for us. He runs funny, like a penguin that’s late for something. Sara squeezed hard. Troy let out a huge puff of air as his stomach hit our arms. We held on. Troy is sort of heavy, but for a second our arms held him up in the air. I squeezed her four fingers even tighter but it was no use; our hands slowly slipped away. Troy belly flopped onto the hard grass. We had to call a meeting and everything because we weren’t sure if Troy’s team really won that round since Troy fell down, but still broke the chain. Our team ended up winning that round since we remembered that you have to actually run through the chain, not fall down on it. Everyone one agreed accept Cry Baby Troy. He had to go home anyway because he was all dirty with mud and grass stains.
Anyway, I like Sara. She is moving to Montana while I’m gonna be gone at Grandma’s during the summer. That’s why we are having a sleep over tonight. We made a promise not to fall asleep. I heard Dad say that no one lives in Montana. Good thing Sara has her kitten or she’d be pretty bored. Sara says she’s gonna come back to Chicago when she grows up. We plan on having a farm together one day. With horses. Oh, and pigs. I wanted the horses.
Tonight Mom and Dad are letting us stay outside late. 8:30. We are going out and getting fireflies. You can’t come out too late or you will miss them. They come out about an hour or so after dinner. Gives you just enough time to play a quick game of baseball or walk the dog if you have one. What we’re gonna do is get a bunch of them and put them all over the room in jars. Sara says that’s mean. I told her it’s like an organic night-light since they are natural in all. We learned all about organic things in science class.
Sara is sleeping over at my house. My sister has to stay in the basement with us and watch us. Most of the time, my sister doesn’t like me too much, so I know she won’t stay too long. She waited until she thought we were sleeping. She called out, “Billy, you sleeping?” but I didn’t answer her so she would think I was. In the dark I could feel my lips smiling so I had to turn my face into the pillow so I wouldn’t laugh.
My sister just left. I count each step she goes up to make sure she is upstairs. I waited like five minutes after that just to be sure. “Sara?” There was no answer. “Sara.” Still nothing. “Sara, come on!” I said again. “Sara!” I said in the loudest whisper I could. Suddenly, I heard the sound of jingles coming closer and closer. There were warm licks on my face. It was Bagel, my dog. “Stop it Bagel! Stop!” I laugh. I love him. I try pushing him away, but that only makes him want to lick me more. His large paws are on my chest now. “Sarrrrrrrrrra- Sara! Help!” I blurt. Sara let out a laugh. There was a noise upstairs. We sat as still as statues and just listened for a while. Not even Bagel made a noise. After a while, Bagel must have gotten tired of standing that whole time because he fell to the floor with a large “whoop”. We laughed at how silly he is.
“Will you marry me?” Sara asked me.
“You mean like right now.” I asked her.
“No, I think we need to finish junior high or something.”
“My sister is not allowed to go on dates alone with boys and she’s in high school.”
I could tell she was thinking because she was quiet so long. “What happens after high school?”
“I think you start growing up then. But you have to watch out because if you get in trouble, you might go to jail.”
“Yeah.” I hope I didn’t end up in jail. “Ok, I’ll marry you after high school. Just try not to get in trouble until then. What kind of ring do you want?”
“Nothing too flashy. We need to save money for the baby and animals we are going to have.”
“Ok.”
“Ok.”
I didn’t tell Sara, but I’m thinking we should get the farm first and then get married. I want Bagel to have some room to finally run a bit and lose some weight. Bagel was named after his favorite food- bagels. On the first day he joined our family, he stole a bagel! His favorite are the cinnamon ones with a little cream cheese spread on top. I always let him have half of mine.
Bagel has his head on my pillow. I pat his head and body. I can tell he is happy because I can feel his tail thumping against my foot. Once in a while I would hear a zippp and a pop. It was the fireflies flying into the side of the jars and hitting the top of the cover.
“Maybe we should let them out,” Sara whispered.
It got quiet after a while. “I think they are sleeping now,” I told her. The fireflies weren’t glowing as much.
Sara and I were pretty quiet after that too. I was thinking about the farm again, but I was getting tired. The digital clock said 11:45. “It’s a quarter till noon”, I let Sara know. Miss Jensen had just taught us how to tell time this year, I’m pretty good.
“We better sleep then.”
“Yeah”, I said. “Night.”
In the morning, Sara and I got up and went upstairs to have breakfast. I am pretty excited about leaving in a few hours to go to Florida. “What do you think the fireflies look like in Florida?” I ask Sara.
“I think they are a bit bigger there. Maybe they glow red.”
“Maybe.” It was going to be wonderful. I knew the fireflies would be even better over the ocean. That’s where Grandma lives, right on the ocean. Maybe you could swim with them. Or maybe run all over the beach. “I bet they look like stars when they fly over the ocean and blink their lights.”
“Yeah, you’ll have to pay really close attention or you might mistake them for shooting stars and make a wish that won’t work.”
Sara was right. It was going to be a little difficult. “You want me to catch one for you and send it to you to Montana?”
“No, that’s ok.”
I bet Sara would change her mind after I called her from Grandma’s. I promised to call her right after I saw my first one.
It was almost time to leave to go to the airport. I was going to give Sara a kiss before I left. Sara and I kiss a lot. She is pretty good, but doesn’t like doing it when people are watching. She always gives me a quick kiss on my cheek. This time I wanted it to be special so when my luggage was getting packed in the trunk I took Sara to the side of the garage where no one but Bagel goes because Dad always forgets to cut the grass there. I put my lips to her cheek and counted to seven, since that’s how old we were. I wanted it to be special.
Sara waved to me as our car pulled out of the driveway. She even blew me a kiss. I caught it and put it in my pocket like Mom had showed me. On the car ride there Mom told me all about the waves and everything. I’m pretty excited. It’s going to be like a huge swimming pool I guess.
“And when we get to my house, we’re going to have dinner. I have a very special friend coming over that I want you to meet. His name is Mitch.”
“Ok, Grandma.” I was glad Grandma still had friends too.
Grandma’s house is the only one on the block! Actually, there is no block really. The house is on the beach. There are other houses too, but they are pretty far away on the beach. I don’t know if I could walk over to them that far by myself.
“I gotta go outside Grandmmmmma.” I called.
“Stay on the porch; Mitch will be here any minute.”
Mitch is late. Now I’m going to miss the fireflies because of him. “Fine.”
When Mitch finally got here, he took forever to eat. I wish he would stop talking so much. He keeps on talking about how he used to be a teacher and all about his students. Doesn’t he know that you aren’t supposed to talk about school so much during the summer?
“So buddy, your grandma tells me you’re a pretty active guy.”
“Yeah I like to play outside.” I tell him.
“Great. How about right after we finish up here I go show you around some.”
“Yes! I’ve been wanting to see the fireflies here. Sara and I catch so many at
home. Sara thinks they probably glow a different color here. I can’t wait to call her and tell her all-”
“They are called lightning bugs.”
“What?” What’s this Mitch guy talking about?
“Lightning Bugs. They are not really flies you know. They are beetles.”
“Oh.”
“How’s that for a lesson?” He winked at me. “We don’t have any lightning bugs on the beach here buddy, they need vegetation to eat and hide in.” He patted me on the head. Only grandma does that.
“I don’t like you!” I ran out onto the porch.
I knew that wasn’t a very nice thing to do to Grandma’s special friend, but I was pretty angry. I knew Grandma would come looking for me. She sat down beside me and put me on her lap the way I like. “Grandma, you didn’t tell me there were no fire- I mean lightning bugs out here.”
“I thought you would be mad and wouldn’t want to come if I did. You know Billy, maybe it’s time you stopped catching them.”
“Why?”
“You know the reason they light up that way?”
“No.” I had never thought about that.
“Well, when they light up, they are trying to find another lightning bug to love. They use the light as a signal to them, so they could find each other. When you catch them and put them in the jars, you are taking them away from the lightning bug they love.”
“Oh.”
“Have you got someone you love, Billy?”
“I’ve got someone I love. I love Sara.”
“Do you?”
“We are going to have a farm together one day when we both grow up. Oh, and get married too.”
“Isn’t she moving away?”
I forgot that Sara wouldn’t be home when I got back to Illinois. I wonder what will happen to her house. I don’t think you can take a house with you. “Yeah.”
Grandma puts a kiss on my forehead like she always does. “Ok, Billy, ok.”
I let her hold me like that for a while. I hear the porch creaking and know that Mitch has come outside.
“Have you ever seen a crawfish?”
“Yeah.” I said that even though I hadn’t. I’m not sure what that kind of fish that is, but I’m not gonna ask just in case stupid Mitch makes fun of me again.
“We have crawfish here. You’ll like the crawfish.”
I wonder what they look like.