Catching Lightning Bugs




Sara Etgen-Baker



 
© Copyright 2023 by Sara Etgen-Baker
        Photo of Granddad courtesy of the author..    
           Photo of Granddad courtesy of the author..

When I was a little girl, Granddad and I spent many summer evenings together sipping lemonade and swinging back and forth on his vintage metal porch glider. On one such evening, I sat with him; and we watched the sun sink lower in the Missouri sky. The trees gradually became silhouettes against a newly silver sky. I sat with him silently watching their branches sway in the wind. Soon it grew dark, and the first sound of the nighttime creatures came—the chirping crickets and the buzzing mosquitoes.
Then out of nowhere a mysterious yellow twinkling appeared in the night, quick flickers and crackles of incandescent light too fast for the naked eye. The soft warm glow of lightning bugs sliced through the darkness, dipping beneath the black walnut trees. I was enchanted and imagined Granddad and I had discovered the lair of a great magician.

“Want to catch some lightning bugs?” Granddad asked, a smile spreading over his face.

“Capture that magic?” My voice quivered with excitement. “Can it be done?”

Granddad looked at my face; leapt out of the swing; and fetched a Mason jar from his work shed, its lid pierced with holes. We walked barefoot into the darkness, following the flickering lights. I ran toward them hoping to capture them, but in my eagerness they escaped. Granddad cupped his hands and lunged.
 
“Look!” he said, making a peep hole into his hand. With my face pressed against his thumbs, I caught my first close-up glimpse of a firefly.

The jar grew full; and when Granddad tucked me in that night, he placed it beside my bed. The glow of the lightning bugs mesmerized me; and long after everyone else was asleep, I was still wide awake watching the golden lights flare in the darkness.

Now, so many years later, I’ve forgotten most of the dolls and toys of my childhood. But the night Granddad and I caught lightning bugs and made them into a nightlight is forever imprinted in me. And I’m reminded that there’s so much ordinary magic dancing around the backyard. 



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