The Phyro King Gandor received flashes from his spy, Prince Lex. Lex told him the story of Torch’s rescue. The king became furious. He was upset that an outsider interfered with his business. A complete stranger stole a meal right out of his hands. He wanted revenge. The angry king planned an attack on Luke’s Lucern clan. Gandor sent flashes to his subjects. “Go immediately to where the air force is performing for Morty.”
Phyros sneak into the crowd at the fire fly competitions often. They loved to capture insects to eat. This time though, Gandor’s plan was to capture the air force. Gandor called for his Phyro fliers to hide in the grass to watch the show for Morty. On King Gandor’s signal, the Phyros were to fly up to capture a Lucern. He pictured thousands of Phyro’s, flashing in midair, and catching Lucerns. His tribe would meet afterward for a great feast. One by one, the Phyros took off to the meeting place with their taillights off.
Morty nosed Skye upward and leveled off just below some low clouds. Nancy hung onto Morty’s curl scared.
“This is higher than I’ve ever flown before,” she said. “Everything looks so small from here.”
“Look down,” said Morty. “Do you see the fire fly flashes everywhere?”
“How beautiful they look from above,” said Nancy, “Look over there.”
She pointed with her tiny front leg. Morty spotted what she saw. They were streaks of yellow light from fireflies flying in formations.
“That must be Luke,” said Nancy. “We found him. We found him.”
Actually, it was not Luke. It was Jaime, and his squadron. Ben ran into the yard. Morty and Nancy watched as he captured Jaime, and placed him into a jar. They also watched the beautiful formation break up as the squadron scattered to avoid capture. Just then, Morty spotted the very bright signal again.
Short, short, short; pause, long, long, long; pause short, short, short, then darkness. Ben’s friend grabbed at the light just after it went dark.
“That’s him,” shouted Morty.
“It’s Torch, the firefly whose signal I saw once before, he disappeared just as Ben’s friend went to grab him.”
“Hold on,” shouted Morty. He made himself and Skye invisible, and landed in the yard. He hopped onto Ben’s shoulder. Nancy clung to his curl. They peered into the bottle to look for Luke.
“He’s not in there,” said Nancy. “It’s not Luke.”
Next, Morty went to the boy who swiped at Torch. They looked in his bottle. Torch was not there either. Neither Morty nor Nancy saw the bright light.
“He must have escaped,” said Morty, “I missed him again.”
“Look up,” said Gracie, “there in the sky over the next yard.”
Morty spotted the light too. It was bright. It blinked the same way as before, short, short, short; pause, long, long, long; pause, short, short, short.
Morty pushed the turbo-blaster button. They streaked through the sky chasing Torch. Morty leveled off and slowed just as Torch began his dive toward the Phyros.
“Oh no!” said Nancy.
“What?”
“Look below,” she said, “Those are Phyros.”
“What are Phyros?” he asked. Torch dropped fast, and Nancy could see that the Phyros were ready for him. She lost her husband to the Phyros. Nancy knew, by the way they blink their lights. These fireflies were not as friendly as they looked.
“No time to explain, we have to rescue him, dive, dive, dive,” she screamed.
Morty nosed Skye downward and dropped fast, but Torch stayed ahead of him. Morty pushed the turbo button again. Everything became a blur. Morty leaned to his right, and held out his hand while he used the other to steer out of the dive. Skye pulled up just before hitting the grass. Morty caught Torch in the palm of his hand, and closed his fist around him just as Torch floated in front of the Phyros.
Skye soared upward with Nancy still clinging to Morty’s curl. Torch was safe in Morty’s hand. The Phyros below all flashed, and chased after Morty. They were very angry since they had lost a meal. The scooter leveled off and hovered above the Phyro yard. Nancy breathed more easily, now that they had flown out of the reach of the Phyros. Morty opened his hand to free Torch.
“Where am I? What happened?” asked the frightened Torch.
“Safe in Morty Angel’s hand,” said Nancy, “He just saved you from becoming a Phyro-burger.”
“I don’t believe it,” Torch exclaimed.
“Look down there,” she said. “See the Phyros swarming; Morty caught you just in time.”
“No, no, I don’t believe I found Morty Angel,” said Torch.
“It’s more like he found you,” she said.
“He did find me,” interrupted Morty, “if I had not seen his signal, and his bright light, I couldn’t have known who he was.”
“Thank-you for saving me Morty, I have a message for you.”
“I know. I found Stretch. He told me all about your work to find me to give me the message.”
“Can we go find Luke now?” asked an impatient Nancy.
“Of course,” said Morty. He moved Skye slowly through the air above the yards.
The three of them, Morty flying the scooter, Nancy and Torch resting on his curl, could see that the flurry of activity caused by the children had subsided. All the lightening bugs had shut off their lights to hide from the kids. I am sure Gracie helped with that, thought Morty to himself.
Ben and his friend had gone back into the house for the night. They were in Ben’s dark bedroom watching the fireflies in the bottle. A short time later, the friend’s father came to take him home.
Morty waited until the house went dark and everyone was asleep. He landed by the Arbor Vitae tree next to the house.
“It will be safe here,” he told Nancy and Torch, “Wait for me to come out. I’m going to set your friends free.”
The bedroom was quiet. Ben was asleep. Gracie lay on the pillow next to his head. The jar with the lightening bugs was on the dresser. The lid was on loose. A few of the beetles flashed dimly. Morty could hear them crying softly. Jaime clung to the underside of the lid looking for a way to get out. The bedroom window was open, and a cool breeze swept into the room. The curtains moved ever so gently.
Gracie was almost asleep when Morty entered. He put his hand gently on her shoulder not to startle her.
“Morty, what are you doing here? I thought you would be gone longer?”
“I’m here just for a moment,” he said. “I have some friends waiting for me outside. I came to free the fireflies.”
“Ben will be disappointed if they disappear,” whispered Gracie.
“I’ll make it look like they escaped,” said Morty.
“How will you do that?”
“Watch me.” Morty gently tipped the bottle on its side then turned the lid just a bit. The lid came off and fell next to the jar.
“Come out little beetles.” Jaimie, who was on the underside of the lid, was airborne and heading into the breeze that came from the window.
“Thanks,” he flashed to Morty. Morty blinked his halo in response.
“Go to the arbor vitae. Friends are waiting there.”
Morty lifted the screen further for the beetles to escape. One by one, the fireflies flew out to the arbor vitae. While they left, Morty told Gracie the whole story about Nancy, Torch, Stretch, and the Phyros.
“Gosh,” said Gracie. “You have been busy.”
“I have to go now. I have a special message to deliver, but I need your help to deliver it.”
Morty explained his plan to Gracie. He would be gone with the fireflies. She was to bring Ben to the patio behind the house on the night when there was no moon.
“Please have all of the house-lights out too,” he said. “It will make the delivery more special.” He blinked goodbye then disappeared into the night.
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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.”
