The Fireflies

Many years ago, I worked at an adolescent residential treatment center (a sort of juvie therapy thing) out in Sattler, in rural Texas, some thirty miles from Austin. Out in the hill country, rural and isolated.

Lot of our kids were urban toughs, from Houston, that someone thought might be able to manage probation with some therapy, right?

I worked the afternoon and evening shift, and one night in the summer, I saw a familiar thing outside... and so I checked... and then I rounded up all the kids and said, "We are going outside."

There was much complaint and refusal; it was dark out, and we are NOT going for a hike, or to play volleyball or whatever, we wanna watch TEEVEE!

I killed the TV and said, "The TV will be turned back on ... IF everyone in this cabin goes out and stands on the porch for THREE MINUTES. Every one of you. You don't even have to get off the porch. Stand or sit on the porch for THREE MINUTES, and I will time it. And if EVERY ONE OF YOU (there were eight in my cabin) is out there, standing on the porch, in three minutes, I will come back in here, turn on the TV, and shut the hell up."

They grumbled, but got up and headed for the front door. And when the door opened, they were gobsmacked.

It was the most fireflies even I had seen in years. All OVER. It was like looking into the night sky, a starfield, in blinking fluorescence. The kids in back had to shove the kids in front aside in order to get out and see; the ones up front were just standing there with their mouths open.

Houston's a major city, with a population in the millions, and light pollution to the point where it never gets very dark, even miles from the city. Sattler, on the other hand, had a population in the hundreds at the time, and practically shut down the streetlights after eight PM. You could look up and see the Milky Way smeared across the sky. And the fireflies were numerous enough that they literally lit the common area and volleyball court with their eldritch greeny yellow glow.

The kids stood their, stunned and silent. None of them had ever seen anything like it.

I timed myself. Three minutes. And 180 seconds later, I went back in the living room, and turned on the TV... and muted it. If they wanted sound, they knew how to get it. But I wanted to see who remembered.

A half hour later, I took a twelve pack of diet sodas out on the porch and asked who was thirsty. The boys were all amenable... and then Robbie The Car Thief asked, "Has it been three minutes yet?"

"It's been half an hour."

Robbie spewed Diet Sprite over the railing. "Why didn't you call us back in?"

"I agreed to turn the TV back on in three minutes. I did so. You could have come back in any time you wanted. I didn't tell you to stay out here. You seemed entertained. Didn't want to interrupt you."

Robbie was unmollified, and rose to his feet. Darryl the Former Crip said, "Sit down, man. You in that big a hurry to watch "Full House?" TV'll be there. Sit down. You blockin' the show."

Robbie looked angry. And then he turned around and looked away from Darryl and I and out at the courtyard. And he sat down and sipped his drink, and said nothing more.

And we all sat and watched the fireflies dance for what didn't seem like a very long time after that.