Magician in the Sky

“Grandma I’m bored.” And I just couldn’t eat another bite. It seemed all we did that day was eat sleep and talk with old people.
I was in Omaha Nebraska for a family reunion, with people I didn’t even know. “ Rennie why don’t you go out side to play.” Grandma said as she grabbed her deck of cards. “Fine,” I said under my breath. I walked out through the back door as the screen swung behind me with a loud crack.
The evening air was smooth and you could feel it slide down your throat. The dark of night hadn’t yet hit. The sun just hung there in the sky. It had been a long hot day in July. You could almost see how tired it was as it called to the Moon. “ Show your self Moon. So I may retire this day.”
The bright yellows and orange turned a pasty blue and purple. All the shadows faded and the world slowed down. Most people were doing dishes from their dinner. I thought to myself, “I’m the guest I need not fret.” Yet at this time a little bug becomes awake.
They fly around one or two at first, with flickers of light here and there. A slightest spark flashes before me. “Are my eyes alright?” I ask myself. I just have to blink to make sure I saw something. Then all at once there’s more and the moon has answered the sun.
Lighting bugs dance in the silk of the night’s sky. I cup my hands in hopes of catching a spark from the sky. Excitement over whelms me. Boredom has no home any longer. My heart races as I run and jump with great hopes of grasping one of these bugs. Each skip in my step draws me closer to the next attempted. They tease me each time, I say, “ I’ll get you one of these times.”
My mind plots new ideas but they escape me each time. I long for this tiny bug. I tell myself, “ I have to be sly and move like a jet as one flies by.” They fly around with acrobat skills’ swooshing around with zaps of light. All seems to be just for my delight. I can almost see the little bug smile with a slight gleam in its eye. Just teasing me with out any fright. “ Look at it gleam,” I think as I bit my bottom lip.
My fingertips twitch. All at once I swing and in my hand lays a dark bug nothing special, not like the light in the sky. I run to the dim porch light to see what I had caught. An ugly brownish black bug. Not the yellow gold shimming streak that shot in the sky. “Gross!” I believe I screamed out.
Slowly I open each finger one at a time. The smile I had quickly turned down. A bit of a tear began to roll down my dirty face. The little bug long gone from my hand. I go to wipe the tear away with some disgrace.
There I saw it, small as dust and simple as sand. Firefly magic left in my hand. “What’s this?” I wonder with wide eyes. A simpler mind could not explain. Only an ugly bug sat in my hand. But could it have been a trick of some kind? My feet began to skip. My grin reappeared.
I found myself looking for dots to appear, dots of light in the sweet night. All around me here and there lighting bugs filled the air. Rolling my eyes as they fly by. Wondering when I’ll catch my next magician of the night sky.