The Lightning Bug

Inspired by actual events on the way home from post writing group festivities.

   As she walked along the moonlit street with the cool breeze in her hair, the vestiges of a night of comrades and jocularity clung to her like fine, silken spider webs, but the further she tread from the noise and warmth of the restaurant, the more they faded. Dreary thoughts wormed their way through her placid joy and stole her smile by measures. I need to do this. I should do that. I mustn’t forget to... Did I forget to? The mundane maintenance of the tedious machinations of life slowed her steps as she climbed the stairs of the too bright parking structure.

    Trudging up the last few steps, she spotted her car and took a few steps towards it before something odd caught her eye. A lightning bug hovered just below her waist in the middle of the lane, deep enough in the building that it was far from escape out into the night. She wondered how it could have gotten there, for surely fireflies weren’t prone to simply wander into parking structures. Perhaps someone’s car alarm had gone off and the blinking headlights had lured it, or maybe it hitched a ride in the bed of the pickup truck parked obliquely next to her. It was such an incongruous sight that it gave her a moment’s pause. She watched it in fascination until she eventually overcame her initial bewilderment then continued past the misplaced insect.

   She reached for the car door, but then turned and gazed at the poor creature again. Surely it would die if she did nothing. Speaking in soft tones as if to a child or a cringing dog, she reached out her cupped hand to delicately scoop the bug out of the air.

   “How did you get here little one? Are you lost?”

   The lightning bug settled onto her finger, seemingly content. She peered down at it as she paced over to the chain-linked break in the concrete wall.

   “Here, let me help you.”

She slipped her fingers deftly through the fence and held them next to the outside ledge. The firefly ambled off and illuminated the shelf via the wonders of its biochemistry before lazily lifting into the air and buzzing away to freedom. It wasn’t until she watched it go that she grasped that not only had she succumbed to the intricate trap, but also that it had been set uniquely for her.