The Firefly Story
Little Alex Wakemon lived on a large hay farm in the country. For his fifth birthday, he was given a tractor of his own to ride in the fields. Not a real tractor with an engine, but a small three wheeled one which he could pedal. He loved to take long slow rides through the tall grass near dusk, just as the sun was falling behind the treetops of the forest that surrounded his family’s home. This time of the day enchanted young Alex. The bright yellow light of the summer sun was not yet gone, yet it was still there, fading into somber shades of purple and black. The world expanded in those brief half hours. As if the light that remained were freer, able to move between the blades of grass unhindered. His young brain could not put these things into words, yet he felt them in the pit of his heart. He loved his farm. He loved his tractor. He loved this time of day. He loved them all like he loved his mother and father.
The common way that Alex went, was to start at the barn closest to his house and work his way south, over a half mile of field, to the southern edge, where the tree line began and the shadowy forest bordered the grass. As twilight dimmed, and the stars came into the sky, Alex saw faint glowing balls of yellow light near the bottoms of the tree trunks. What these were exactly eluded him. But being an intelligent boy he reasoned it out as best he could. If the sun was going down, then the stars must come up, just as the sun came up out of the earth somewhere far away. This meant that the stars rose up to the night sky from the forest near his home.
When little Alex had figured out that the entire night sky was filled with stars that rose from his forest, he was naturally excited. He did not yet have a concept of how many people there were in the world, but he knew he was one of the luckiest.
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Father Firefly flew around the moss covered trunk of an old oak tree. His wings fluttered quickly, his tail pulsing a bright green light. Below him, Mother Firefly gathered food and Baby Firefly tried to get his week-old wings to lift into the air. He had seen his mother and father do this before, and though he’d thought about it, and realized flight was a beautiful thing, his tiny insect brain was just now coming to the conclusion that he could be flying as well.
So he pulled all of the energy into his little body that he could muster and flapped his wings as fast as he could. Soon enough, his body lifted off of the ground and his tail was pulsing as bright as his father’s ever had.
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When Alex left for his evening ride on this day, he brought with him an old mason jar. Alex had seen his mom making jams and preserves in these jars. He knew that they meant a lot to his mom, in the same way that his pedal tractor meant a lot to him. So he decided to thank his mom by capturing a star from the forest near the field.
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Father Firefly’s wings beat rapidly when he saw his son taking his first flight. He took off himself and flew close to his son, making sure that nothing bad happened to him along the way. They were now far away from their home in the tree, and out among the amber coloured grass. Already, Baby Firefly was being more adventurous and flying farther than his father ever had, and that distance made father firefly nervous. He worried that although his son could fly, he would not be able to react quickly, that any number of bad things could come for the young one and he would’nt see it in time. He worried that the world would put out his son’s light.
But Baby Firefly was not nervous at all, his wings bore him faster and farther away, his tail shone brightly. It was the brightest that Father Firefly could ever remember any firefly’s tail getting, and a great feeling of pride became mingled with his anxiousness.
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Alex pedalled slowly, savouring the dying sunlight, looking for just the right star to take home to his mother. They fluoresced all around him, but he did not see one that he felt fitting of his mother’s love. So he continued on, looking for the brightest star he could find. Soon enough, he saw the brightest star in the entire field, floating upwards towards the sky, about to be out of reach and in the heavens. He pedalled over to it as quick as he could, his glass jar at the ready, prepared to capture the brightest star in the field and show his mother just how much he loved her.
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Father Firefly paused and watched his son fly upwards instead of outwards. The nervousness was all gone from him now. He watched his son fly and knew that Baby Firefly would be OK. His flying was good enough that he would be able to avoid the predators of the sky. The worry disappeared. The pride in him grew. His wings beat fast as he watched his son float upward into the darkening sky.
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Alex got off of his tractor a few yards away from the star he wanted. It was flying upwards slowly, but it had a good lead on him, and if he didn’t get it soon it would be out of his reach. Even if he jumped as high as he could, he wouldn’t be able to reach it. So he rushed towards it, his jar held over his head, ready to swing it downward, right over the top of the star.
He closed the distance quickly, and even though he had to stretch upwards, standing on his tip-toes, he managed to bring the jar down on his prize. He threw the lid on it and closed it tight, his heart beaming with accomplishment . In his head he imagined his mother grabbing him up and giving him a great big kiss on the cheek, thanking him for the beautiful star. He loved his mother very very much and especially loved it when she smiled at him. He knew this star would make her smile.
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Father Firefly was panicked. His son had been flying overhead seconds before, when all of a sudden his tail light had been violently jerked down beneath the tops of the grass. He flew down and searched as fast as he could for any trace of his son, a brief flash of green light, the sound of young beating wings. But he saw nothing and heard nothing. He flew back up over the grass and scanned the horizon for any sign at all, but he found none. Baby Firefly was gone.
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Alex ran back to his tractor and pedalled home, clutching the jar in his armpit the whole time.
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Father Firefly flew around for longer than he’d ever flown before, flying until exhaustion at last forced him to the ground. He rested his wings for as long was necessary, then flew as fast as he could back to Mother Firefly, where he rested at the trunk of the tree, without beating his wings at all.
Mother Firefly sensed that something was wrong. Her husband had not returned with her son. He was resting on the bottom of the trunk instead of flying around, and worse, his tail was completely dark. There was no light coming from her husband tonight, and this worried her. She flew down next to him and looked for any reaction, when she did not get one; she flew off into the field as fast as she could to search for her baby. And though she too looked for as long as her wings would hold her, she did not find Baby Firefly. She was forced by the limits of her own body to return home, where she sat next to her husband in the dark. Neither of them flapped their wings. Neither of them made any light.
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Alex’s mom was standing on the back porch calling his name, the sun was now almost gone and the little light that remained of the day moved freer than ever. Alex pedalled through the grass as fast his little legs would push him, breaking through the last row of grass and into his backyard where his mother waited. His little body burst with energy at the sight of her and he jumped off of his tractor, tipping it over and tripping. He got up and ran towards her as fast as he could, holding the star in front of him with both hands, swinging it back and forth with joy.
He reached up and held the jar towards his mom.
“I brought you something mommy.”
“Oh? Did you catch mommy a firefly?”
“No, it’s a star. It’s the brightest star in our field and I caught it for you mommy.”
“Oh it’s a star is it? Well it’s beautiful and I love it.” She smiled as brightly as Alex hoped she would. He threw both of his arms around her legs and squeezed them tight, looking up at her with an enormous grin on his face. He was proud that he had made his mommy smile. She bent down and picked him up, leaning his head over her shoulder.
“What do you say we get you ready for bed? Huh? Sound good?”
Alex nodded his head in agreement. He was tired and ready for sleep, ready to get into his pyjamas and hear his father read him a bedtime story. They walked into the house through the screen door. His mother sat the jar on the kitchen table and carried him out of the room. Alex had one last look at the star, the prize he’d worked so hard to bring home to his mother. Already it seemed to not be shining as bright, dimming, gradually on the table.
“I love you mommy.”
“I love you too sweetie.”
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Alex went to bed that night the happiest little boy in the whole world. In the morning, the star in the jar was no longer glowing at all.
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