Boy Meets World
Fireflies
By. Tate Icasa
The Philidalphia sun set lazily on the horizan, a sliver of dark orange casting darkened shadows on the world within its reach. The sky was a dull gray-blue color with tinges of orange the closer it was to the sun, and in the other direction was the full moon, a large white disc that looked almost flat, but not quite. Scattered around it were the fait twinklings of distant stars. The clear, warm air held the scents of summer; barbeques, swimming pools, and freshly mowed grass.
Close to the house a man stood over a grill, the glow of the fire in it reflected hin his eyes. In the window one could see a woman moving, hurrying to prepare the rest of the dinner. The night was surprisingly calm and quiet.
Then a boy ran and put his face and hands on the glass, smudging it in his excitement.
"Come on, 'opanga!" He yelled over his shoulder, pushing the door open. "I can see some!" He ran out into the yard, bare feet on summer grass, and forgot to hold the door open. But the girl didn't mind. Her light blond hair was held in a sparkly purple scrunch and in each hand she held a jar.
"Cory, come back!" She called. "You forgotted your jar!" She looked at one of the jars in her hand worriedly. "I hope the fireflies can breath in there."
"'course they can, 'opanga." Cory said, snatching his jar away from her. "See?" He spotted a firefly and dove for it, tripping over his own feet in the process and ending up on his face.
Topanga giggled and held up the jar, the cap a couple feet away. After several second a little firefly flew into the jar and she capped it, holding it up proudly.
"Good job, Topanga!" The man called from his nearly permenant place beside the grill.
Topanga grinned and took off running through the lawn, Cory right behind her, grinning even bigger than she was. Finally exhausted, they collapsed side by side, out of breath and still laughing, clutching their jars to their chests.
After a while they stopped laughing and calmed down. Cory looked over at Topanga, then up at the sky.
While they had had their fun, the last sliver of the sun had slipped away, leaving the stars, moon, and the light spilling out of the house as the only lights. The air had gotten crisper as well.
Cory sat up, and Topanga did the same, strands of grass clinging to her hair. Cory held up his jar and looked at it skeptically. Inside was one tiny bug. Its bulb was out and it seemed to move awkwardly. He got the impression that it was limping. Topanga looked at it sympathetically.
"Aw, its hurted. You should let it go." She said.
"If I gotta let mine go, you gotta let yours go." He said stubbornly.
"Okay." She said. "You go first."
He unscrewed the cap of the jar and dumped the poor bug out. It limped away into the darkness.
Just then the door opened angain and an older boy ran out. He lookeed at them and grinned.
"Aww!" He teased. "Cory loves Topanga! Cory loves Topanga!"
"I do not! I do not love her!" Cory yelled, standing up. Topanga did the same.
"Eric, don't tease your brother." The man said, cutting off Eric's reply.
"It's your turn." Cory said.
"Okay." Topanga said simply. She held up the jar, with its several inhabitantas and unscrewed the top. The fireflies seemed to float out and surround her. She realized this and twirled around in them happily.
Cory watched her, watched the firefly light that seemed to make her glow like one of them, and felt a smile tugging at his lips.
"Com on, kids, dinner time!" The man called to them.
Now Cory did smiled, and held his hand out to her. She looked at it for a second, then took it and smiled back before they ran back toward the house.
Oh yeah, Eric was so right.
