Lighting Bugs
Margo Fallis

“I want you to come and sit outside with me tonight,”
Annie said, moving towards the door.

“Why? Don’t you know the humidity is high and it’s
like a steam bath out there?” Bo reminded her. He
wasn’t about to budge from the recliner. “Look at
this! It’s so hot the duct tape is meltin’ and stickin’
to my arm.” He gently peeled his arm off the tape,
leaving a few hairs behind. “Ouch!” he hollered.

Annie sighed and ran her fingers over a small tear
in the door screen. “I know it’s hot and humid, but
I want to watch the fireflies. August’s the perfect
month to sit out at night. Soon the mosquitoes will be
swarming, speaking of which, we’d better replace this
screen. Come on, Bo. Please?”

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times,
they’re not fireflies! You and your fireflies! Down
here in the South, we call them lightnin’ bugs,
not fireflies.”

“Fireflies, lightning bugs; what’s the difference? I
still want to watch them. Will you sit out with me or not?”

“You know I will,” Bo winked. The sun’s ready to set.
I think we should go outside right now.” He grunted and
groaned and wriggled himself out of the comfortable chair.
“I’ll grab the lawn chairs. Where do you want to sit tonight?”

Annie went out the front door without answering. Bo
headed for the garage. She stood on the porch waiting.
Taking a deep breath, she smiled, “I love the smell of
magnolias and honeysuckle.” Moments later Bo came
around from the side of the house carrying two folding
chairs. Annie grabbed one. “Let’s sit under the magnolia
tree. The fireflies, oops, I mean lightning bugs, like
to hang around the pine trees on the other side of the
yard. If we sit here, we can have our very own fireworks
display tonight!”

“Under the magnolia tree it is then. I’ll put my chair
right here and you can sit next to me.”

Sweat began to run down the back of her neck. “Whew! It
is a humid night. I’ll run back inside and get us a glass
of lemonade. We can sip it as we watch our light show
tonight.” Annie jumped up and ran up the porch steps
into the house.

“Don’t bother puttin’ ice in the glasses. It’ll
melt in five minutes in this heat. Hurry back.
I just saw the first flickerin’,” Bo called.
Annie came back carrying two glasses of icy cold
lemonade. Water immediately began to condense and
run down the sides of the glass, dripping onto her
hand. “Ah, there you are, just in time. It’s gonna
be fireworks tonight. Just look at them all.”
Already the flying beetles were beginning their
performance. “Take your lemonade and hush. I want
to sit in peace and watch them. Oh, look! Don’t
you just love the way they dart across the yard
from one tree to another?” She sat down and
sipped her lemonade.

Bo put the cool glass up to his forehead, allowing
the water to drip down his cheeks. “You know what
those flickers are, don’t you, Annie?”

“Of course. It’s some sort of chemical in the
firefly’s backside and it gets all shaken up
and glows.”

“Ha! Ha! Ha! You’re right about that, but the
real reason is because they’re wantin’ to mate.
They’re callin’ to each other and how many times
do I have to tell you, they are not fireflies!
They’re lightnin’ bugs!”

“As I said before, what’s the difference? I’m
not from the south, Bo. Up north, we call them
fireflies, and besides, you’re just making all
that mating stuff up.”

“No I’m not. I’m serious. It’s their matin’
call. Birds have bright feathers to attract
the opposite sex. You’ve seen the way them
peacocks strut about. People preen themselves
before meetin’ the right gal, don’t they? Well,
lightnin’ bug’s butts glow.” Bo slapped his
knee and started laughing.

“That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.
I remember when I saw my first firefly. Don’t
give me that look. I can call them fireflies
if I want to. We’d just gotten home from
shopping and we were carrying the groceries
into the house. Do you remember that?”

“Sure do. You were so startled by the lightnin’
bugs that you dropped the bag with the eggs
in it. You thought it was someone aimin’ a
laser gun at you. I nearly died laughin’,”
Bo said. “Now that was funny!”

“All I saw was this green light glowing near
my head. What else was I to think? It was funny
now that I think back about it.”

Bo put his lemonade down on the grass next to
his feet. He looked into Annie’s eyes and
stroked her hand. “You want to know what I
think? You watch too much television with all
that talk about laser guns!”

“A few seconds later I saw another flicker
just a few feet away. That’s when I realized
they were fireflies. I couldn’t believe it.
I’d never seen anything like that before.
Here was this little bug fluttering around
on a hot, steamy night and its little behind
was glowing bright green.” Annie caressed Bo’s
arm. “Baby, you’re all hot and sweaty. Drink
some more lemonade!”

Bo pulled his arm away. “Annie, they’re called
lightnin’ bugs! And we’ve sat outside every
summer’s night since then. It wouldn’t be so
bad, except for these blasted mosquitoes. I get
three new bites every night.” He swatted his
face, squishing the mosquito and leaving a red
blotch on his face. “Look at this! He bit my
face! Well, he paid the price. He’ll never
suck another drop of my blood!”

“Stop your complaining, Bo. Put some bug spray
on.” She listened to the cicadas and crickets
chirping. She looked at her husband. “I love you,
Bo, and I love this bantering we do back and
forth! Besides that, how many husbands and wives
share quality time like this together, sitting
under a magnolia tree covered with huge, white
flowers, sipping icy cold lemonade and watching
the fireflies.” Annie stroked his hand!

“Lightnin’ bugs!”

Annie put her lemonade down next to her chair
and walked over to the magnolia tree. She
stuck her nose inside one of the blossoms.
“I mean, look at these flowers. They’re exquisite
and they smell like perfume. See how they absorb
the moonlight.” She plucked off a petal and
rubbed it on Bo’s face. He took a swallow of
lemonade. “How many glasses of that lemonade
do you think we’ve drunk over the years, Bo?”

“Several hundred.”

“And how many times have we sat here talking
and resolved some major problems? That wouldn’t
have happened if it weren’t for the fireflies.”

“Oh, Bo! Stop correcting me! You gave me our
second wedding anniversary present while we
were sitting out here. The fireflies were out
thick that night. They danced around us like
tiny ballerinas. You reached over and took my
hand and gave me a little square box. I opened
it and inside was a gold necklace. It had a
firefly charm with a diamond on its butt. I
still wear it. In fact, It’s around my neck
right now; see.” She slipped the necklace out
from beneath her shirt.

He reached over and held it in his hand. “You’re
goin’ to make me cry, Annie. I can’t believe
you’re wearing it around your neck. That makes
me feel much happier about givin’ you this!”
He put a tiny wrapped box in her hand.

“What’s this?” Annie gasped.

“Why don’t you open it and see?”

“Oh, Bo. Now I’m going to cry,” Annie sobbed.
She lifted the lid off the box. “ I love them.
Now I have some earrings to match my necklace.
I bet I’m the only woman around with firefly
earrings. Oh, Bo! They’ve got diamond butts
just like my necklace.”

“Lightnin’ bugs, Annie. Lightnin’ bugs!”

Suddenly dozens of fireflies surrounded the
couple. “Look, Bo! They’re dancing for us.
It’s almost like they know tonight’s a
special night!”

“It’s a magical night, Annie, my love. We’ve
got the stars twinklin’ in the evenin’ sky,
lots of sweet, white magnolia flowers sprinklin’
their heavenly scent around,” he mocked, “and
now the fireflies are embracin’ us.”

“You just called them fireflies, Bo,” Annie
gasped. He smiled a huge smile. “You can be
so romantic sometimes. You’re my very own firefly,
I mean, lightning bug! I love you.”

“I love you too, my sweet little firefly.”
(C) 2003 Margo Fallis

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