Chapter 2.
Throughout the firefly world, the word spread that Luke was an expert flier. He also had a special talent. Luke could turn his light on quickly, and often. Most fireflies had a slow light, but Luke’s light blinked rapidly. He also had the energy to make his flashes repeat often.
Luke, Lenny, and Jaime became inseparable. Every evening they flew together doing spirals and dives. They used their taillights to signal each other while they did their aerobatics. Their favorite sport was hunting mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were very jittery fliers, and catching one was hard. Luke flew ahead of Jaime, and Lenny blinking his light to attract attention. When a mosquito came after Luke, Lennie or Jaime would pick it off in midair. The trio then landed to have a snack.
All of the fireflies on the ground watched as Luke led his friends in amazing aerobatics. They wished they could fly and blink the same way.
At the far corner of the yard, a night crawler inched his way out of the ground into the grass. It is a nightly ritual for him. His name is Stretch. Night crawlers are large earthworms that live in the ground. They move about tunneling through the soil by expanding their body to enlarge the hole. After the hole is larger, they stretch. They pull the rest of their bodies forward. As they move, they swallow the soil in front of them. The worm digests the organic matter in the soil while non-organic matter is cast from their long bodies. The skin on an earthworm has many tiny fingers that are sensitive, to heat, light, and touch. Since earthworms do not have eyes, they rely on their sensors to feel their way about.
On this night, Stretch came out of the ground
for two reasons. First, he wanted to eat grass, and second he was to deliver a message. Stretch received the message in his sensors through vibrations in the ground. He did not know where the vibrations came from. He knew the message was special, and he would have to deliver it. Stretch lay munching on grass when a firefly named Torch landed nearby. Torch got his name from his mother. She named him after his tail light, which glowed brighter than any other firefly’s. It was even brighter than Luke’s was. Torch was an average flier, but his light was a bright yellow. They could see his flashes from across the yard.
The worm sensed the glow coming from Torch’s tail, and slowly stretched his way toward him. Torch was snacking on a drop of nectar when Stretch wiggled up to him.
“Hi,” said Stretch, “Don’t be afraid, I eat grass not beetles.”
“What do you want?”
“I have to deliver a message, and I need your help.”
“How can I help?”
“A fire fly can fly and send signals, can’t he?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“Help me find Morty Angel.”
With that, Stretch snapped back into his hole. He was afraid Torch would come after him in anger. Stretch peeped back out of the hole.
“Whom do you expect me to find?”
“Morty Angel,” he said.
“Who is Morty Angel?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how am I supposed to find him?” asked Torch.
Stretched inched his way out of the hole once Torch had calmed down.
“All I know is that I’m supposed to find Morty Angel. I have to give him a message from God. The vibrations I am getting are clear. You are the first one I found to ask for help.”
Stretch was tired after digging and eating dirt all day. All he wanted was to come out of the tunnel, breath rich fresh air, and to eat some freshly cut grass. The grass was like eating steak after sifting through all that dirt looking for organic matter to eat. Stretch and his friends worked day and night digging tunnels. The tunnels serve as channels for water to feed the roots of the grass, shrubs, and trees.
Torch, on the other hand, lived above ground hiding in shrubbery during the day. Eating nectar from the flowers was his favorite activity. He had to be careful not to let the Phyro family flashes fool him. The Phyros were not friendly like Torch’s family. They mimicked Torch’s flashes to lure him to them. If he fell for the trick, The Phyro fireflies would eat him. Phyros are cannibals, and the Lucerns are not. Torch is a Lucern.
Torch flashed his tail light. Stretch sensed the bright light, and snapped back into his hole. After Torch finally killed his light, Stretch began to wiggle out again.
“Wow,” he said, “that is a bright light.” “Why is your light so much brighter than all of the other fireflies?
“My parents had bright lights too; In fact, everyone in my family has bright lights.”
“Use your light to find Morty Angel., Signal to all of the fireflies to find Morty Angel.”
“What do we do if we find him?
“Send him to see me; I will give him the message directly. I’ll come out of the ground every night at dark, and stay here next to the lilac bush.”
“I’ll do my best,” answered Torch.
Torch flew to the top of the Lilac bush and began signaling. Soon, a small group of his cousins came and asked, “What is happening?” Torch explained and asked them to spread the word, “Find Morty Angel, and send him to Stretch the worm.”
The word spread all over the yard, and into the next, and the next. The fireflies spread the word throughout the insect world of the night. Within a few hours, the search for Morty Angel progressed across the town through all of the yards, “Find Morty Angel for Stretch.”
To Be Continued . . .
Filed under: Cartoons, Characters I knew, children's writers, family, Fire Fly Air Force, Garden, Gardening, Warm and Fuzzy | Tagged: Aerobatics, Fire Fly, Lucerne, Night Crawler | Leave a comment »
