The Firefly

Rahul had to get out of his house that night. How he would manage to do that, without his parents observing him, needed careful planning. Today, he would be very, very good. He would have his dinner without fuss, and feigning a headache, (something his mother always seem to suffer from) he would go up to bed.

At 8.30 pm, he was in bed. Now, he would have to wait for his parents to go to bed. The problem was staying awake. He kept pinching himself every minute, to keep himself from dozing off.

Rahul felt under his pillow to make sure that his net was there. He had constructed it himself with little bits of netting and a wire loop, and it had a stick for a handle.

He woke up with a start! All was still around him. Looking at his bedside clock, he realized it was 2 am. He must have dozed off. But now he was wide awake. On tiptoe he went, a white figure in his pyjamas, down the stairs, careful not to step on the one that creaked and finally he reached the front door.

Opening it, he felt braver. It was a full-moon night, and the garden seemed silvery. Holding the net in one hand and his slippers in another, he went out and closed the door behind him.

Rahul was a collector. A collector of shells, shiny stones, bright wrapping paper, matchbox labels and tiny models of cars. The latest craze was collecting insects. Beetles and bugs in little matchboxes, with holes on top for air, were lined on his bookshelf. Today, he had to catch a firefly.

The scene that was before him was magical. The dewy grass and cool breeze lifted his spirits. And woke him up good and proper. Now, for that firefly. He hoped to find a dark corner where the three tall trees formed a canopy of sorts, and moonlight made specks on the ground.

He had barely entered the nook, when he heard voices. He stopped in his tracks and pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. OUCH! My God! What a din they made, almost as bad as the boys at school. School! He wished his friends were here. They would never believe him if he told them about this!

“Oh no,” said a caterpillar to another, “Someone’s coming.”

“So late at night!” “How could he have known that we are having a moonlit party?” said another, munching on a leaf.

“Shh… what a din you make.”

“Chomp…Chomp…he’ll catch you and put you in his net as he did with Bugsy Beetle.”

“Let me tell you,” began Miss Ladybird, “that it is not proper to eat in such a manner.”

“Oh, SHUT UP!” came a unison of crackly voices. “The boy is almost here, let’s hide.”
They scrambled under leaves and twigs.

Rahul stopped to listen. Never had he imagined himself to be such an ogre.

“Well,” he thought, “ to work”, as he spied a firefly among the bushes. He quietly crept towards it, when he heard it say, “ Come along, come along, I don’t have all night. Will all the little bugs line up and come together?” it said, lighting the way for the tiny-tots.
Rahul paused, not wanting to disturb their nocturnal activities.

“How could he catch the firefly and leave the little ones in the dark?” He waited patiently for it to come back.

“There it was!”

Rahul managed to put the net over it, when he heard it cry out, “Oh no, don’t, I am needed in the insect kingdom.They cannot see in the dark.”

“You can light up my insectarium,”said Rahul, grinning.

“Bb…but…why do you want to catch us? We’ll die very soon.”

“I’ll give you leaves to eat and water to drink.”

“Little boy, our lives are not very long, let us live in peace in the wilderness.”

Rahul hesitated, but stilling the voice in his heart , he went inside his house stealthily and took out a matchbox.

“Oh no!” screeched the firefly, “Don’t put me in that little cave, I’ll die. I need to fly about, I need to light the way for others.”

Rahul pondered, and said, “But you just said that your life is very short. Why is it so?”

“Because…,”said the firefly, “Mighty Nature has made us live a short life, clambering, creeping, crawling about, as we did not value our time in our previous lifetime, and wasted our lives away. A life is for living for others. You do the same, and see what happiness it brings you.”

Pausing to catch its breath, the firefly continued, “Anyway, what will you do with us? You will show us to your friends, and very soon, when we die, you will throw us away. Let us live and die in your garden.”

Rahul paused awhile.

Shuddering, he remembered the time he had got locked in the garage by mistake.He had spent an hour there, imagine spending a whole lifetime?

One by one, he picked up the matchboxes and went out into the garden. Slowly, he opened them and let out the insects.

“Firefly, firefly, light up their way back to their homes,” he said.
“Sure, little boy, and thank you.”
“Goodbye,” said Rahul, as he saw it flitting among the bushes, a friendly glow in the dark.