Awakening

Chapter 6

“Carla, this will be fun! You’re telling me you have never done it before?” Emma asked exasperated.

“Yeah when I was like six,” I said.

 “Come on, please?” she begged.

I tried with all my might to avoid her. She always gave me these puppy dog eyes and for some unknown reason I could never resist them. Keeping my arms crossed I looked up at the ceiling. “Nope,” I said.

 “Come on, you’re my best friend. It’s not like I’m asking you to do anything bad. I just want to catch a few to observe their behavior. Please,” she whined.

I finally made the vital mistake of looking into her eyes. They were large and wide, she was simply begging me. I couldn’t say no, even though I wanted to. Heaving an exasperated sigh I threw my arms up. “Fine!!” I said.

“Thank you! Now here’s your jar,” she said handing me a clear mason jar.

Standing I couldn’t help but groan. “How many do I have to get?” I asked.

Emma stopped to think a moment. “Probably about 20 or so.”

“20?! I have to catch 20 fireflies?”

 “Oh stop acting like it’s a lot. It isn’t and you know it,” she said as she marched out to her front porch.

Shaking my head I followed her. It was dark out, the stars laid a beautiful twinkling blanket out over the night sky. Looking out over her large front yard I watched as hundreds of fireflies twinkled, making everything seem so surreal. Ever since the fireflies had come out last month Emma had been dying to go out and catch them. She wanted to study their behavior or some nonsense. I thought it was a complete waste of time but as usual my opinions didn’t matter because here I was running around her yard trying to catch the little glowing things.

I remembered doing this when I was little with my parents. I used to run around and catch as many as I could. My dad would always warn me not to squish them. Even though I felt a bit like a dork I found myself determined to catch them. From years of doing this as a kid I knew the secret, wait for it to glow, catch it quick, and then put it in the jar even quicker. Emma however couldn’t seem to get the hang of it. I watched as she tried to capture one of the illuminating bugs. She couldn’t seem to keep track of it. Since it was dark, after they would glow you would loose sight of them. I couldn’t stop laughing as Emma twirled in a circle looking like a complete goofball.

Finally leaving behind my self consciousness I allowed myself to have fun. I helped Emma catch the rest of the little bugs. She couldn’t make it easy however, when she would catch one she would take too long putting it in the jar and three more would escape. I would be thrown into fits of laughter only to have her glare at me. It was all too much for her in the end though and even she couldn’t stop laughing at herself.

We both fell onto the cool grass, looking up at the bright stars and the blinking little critters that floated just out of reach. I relished the sound of our laughter. It never failed; every one of her ‘experiments’ ended like this. Holding the jar of fireflies next to me I watched as they glowed and I smiled as I listened to Emma’s giggling.