Fireflies and Honey - November 12, 2007
Jimmy Johnson was born into the cold of a late fall morning, in his single mother's bedroom. Aided by his three aunts, with old rags and a tin bucket of warm water, he opened his eyes to a new world. He, his mother and his aunts all cried, each for different reasons. Thirty four years later, Slimmy J closed his eyes to an old world. Nobody cried.
Leonard sat on the hillside overlooking the park, finishing a half-pint of whiskey in the damp grass. The night was clear, he wished his mind would be that way. He'd come here many times in his years of homelessness. He always came alone--always, and only when he'd lost one of his friends. The park was as empty as Slimmy J's alley. And that's why he came here. He took the last shot of whiskey and, dropping the bottle, laid back waiting for the ghosts to whisper in his ear stories of a life past.
Out of the alcohol, upon the wind they came, and carried him to another hill, in another time.
"Look," Leonard pointed to a dot of star-like light, "it's a satellite."
Lauren looked in the direction of his finger. Her young eyes, much sharper than his.
"See it, moving across the sky there. It looks like a star."
"Oh yeah!"
He loved her enthusiasm. It reminded him of a place he hadn't been since he was a kid. A place where anything was possible, where imagination hadn't been dowsed by commercials, bosses, taxes, products... She lived in a place where dreams were as real as the blades of grass poking them through the blanket.
"What's a satt'ite?"
Leonard cringed. This wasn't going to be easy, "It's a machine that floats around the earth, like the moon."
"Why do they do that?"
He felt himself getting into a quagmire that would make Vietnam look like a lazy day in the park.
"People use them to talk to each other and to figure out where they are."
"How do they do that?"
He pondered a moment.
"Well, hold out your hands. Hold them up in the air."
She lifted her small hands and giggled.
He lightly pinched her left hand, "Imagine this hand is a mountain."
She giggled again.
He pinched her right hand, "Imagine this hand is a person on the other side of the mountain. Now keep holding your hands so they're lined up."
He turned on the flashlight and aimed it at her left hand, "Now imagine this hand," He pinched his left hand holding the flashlight, "is a person that wants to send a message to your hand. See, the mountain is in the way and your person can't see the light."
"Okay."
He held up his can of Coke and held it over her hand, "Now, imagine this is a satellite." He aimed the flashlight at the can, adjusting it until the light reflected onto her right hand, "See, I can bounce the light off the satellite, over the mountain, and your person can see it now."
"OH!" Her eyes lit up in a way the flashlight never could, not even the sun could.
As a teacher, he was happy she understood, but as a father, he was a bit saddened that he had stolen some magic from her.
"Are the stars satellites too?"
"No, those are suns. Some of them are much, much bigger than the sun."
"How come they aren't as bright?"
"Because they're very, very far away. You know how the lights of the city look small and get bigger as we drive closer?"
"Oh."
"If they're suns too, are there people closer to them, like we are to the sun?"
"There are so many stars that there must be other people around some of them. There are more stars than there are blades of grass on all of the earth."
He pulled a blade of grass from the ground, "If I just pull one blade of grass from the ground, there may be a bug on it, but probably not." He showed her the blade, free of any life, then pulled up a handful of grass. A firefly that had been hiding in the clump was startled, lit up and flew away, "But if I pull up a whole bunch of grass, then I probably will get a bug."
"Oh. Who put the stars and people there?"
His brain seized. There was no way he was going to try to explain even his own limited understanding of astrophysics to a five year old. That isn't what she was asking anyway. He contemplated telling her some crap about God or Nyx and the golden egg but decided the truth was always best, "Nobody really knows."
"Oh," she replied, with some disappointment.
"But you can believe whatever you want about that and it's as real as anything else."
Lauren concentrated on the sky. He could see the gears churning in her head. Several minutes passed with nothing but the sound of crickets and the occasional buzz of some winged insect zig-zagging past them. Finally she smiled, and Leonard learned the origin of all the stars.
It seems that a little girl was at a huge pond one night with her dad. She was playing in the mud and decided to make mud-balls for the fireflies to play with. She made many many mud-balls and her father poured honey on them for the fireflies to eat. Soon, all of the mud-balls were covered with an unimaginable number of fireflies and they lit up. The fireflies tried to get away, but were stuck to the honey and the balls ended up rolling into the pond and floating in the sea of night reflected in the water.
Leonard shook away the memory, sent the ghosts away. He gazed up at the night sky. The stars dimmed and brightened like fireflies in the midnight park. He didn't know whether it was real or the whiskey.
He held scant hope that some muddy little girl might be gazing back.
Posted by Warren Mann at 7:00 AM
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Comments
Wow, man. This is really good stuff.
Posted by: Wayland at November 12, 2007 09:18 PM
Hey I really liked this one, osm. My favorite sentence: "But you can believe whatever you want about that and it's as real as anything else." That's awesome, man.
wm: thank you, sir.
Posted by: nostalgiphile at November 13, 2007 06:35 AM
Wow, that is all i can say. I'm glad you went back to Leonard too. The others have there moments . Leonard just clicks for me though. Thank you.
Posted by: Matt at November 13, 2007 06:46 AM
Wow.
Posted by: Jason at November 13, 2007 11:19 PM
He felt himself getting into a quagmire that would make Vietnam look like a lazy day in the park
great line, it made me laugh out loud
Posted by: rufus at November 19, 2007 10:28 AM
I read and enjoyed all your white dwarf stories, those were truly a great way to kill a slow day at work.
but the diatech story didn't do it for me. and i was kinda loosing intrest, then you go and write these stories which sparked my intrest again.
The whole consept of looking at things from the other side of this "glamorous" world is something that really intrests me.
it's really great stuff. keep it up and i'll keep reading :)
Posted by: Gegnar at November 21, 2007 08:38 AM
Been enjoying the story a lot. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving boss, and looking forward to the next one.
wm: thank you sir!
Posted by: Kotenku at November 24, 2007 03:51 PM
Are the stories not being posted as quickly as whiteDwarf due to time contraints, lack of interest, maybe both, or doing a whole bunch at once in preparation to post them all in one go? Not trying to sound demanding (or jerk-ish), but I suppose that much like satellite TV (1 million channels, nothing on), the internet has ten billion pages, and I kinda enjoy going to about eight of them, including this one.
Anyways, Good(no, great!) writing, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and thanks for a great year of fun stories.
Cheers.
wm: 1) i'm going for quality not quantity. 2) been dealing with finding a job, etc. 3) these will probably come in clumps, with pauses in between. 4) thanks for reading!
Posted by: Just Wondering at December 1, 2007 08:01 PM
Awesome. I lost interest in the Diatech story and haven't been back for a while, but read all of these in one sitting. Back up to the White Dwarf standard, it seems. Keep it up!
Posted by: Gene at December 14, 2007 03:26 PM
Yes! Good to see you back, I am enjoying it immensely. My favorite quote was: "As a teacher, he was happy she understood, but as a father, he was a bit saddened that he had stolen some magic from her.". Beautiful :)
I'm excited about the coming chapters. Also, I still want to read the Diatech story, hope you get around to it eventually. Best of luck jobhunting, and keep flexing those fingers!
wm: thank you! actually, i have found a new job - been working there two weeks now. it's keeping me very busy and exhausted.
Posted by: froogger at December 21, 2007 04:37 AM
Are you gonna post anything this year?
Posted by: www.zyoose.com at June 11, 2008 03:37 AM
did you get loaded on H and kick the b
Posted by: zach at August 28, 2008 09:56 PM
please post more!!! Your stories are amazing!
Posted by: Risa at October 15, 2008 12:43 PM
I'm wondering what happened to you as well ?
You have a lot of talent in your writing. You should write more and take the path less travelled so to speak...
It's been a year almost, where are the updates?
Posted by: Marko at October 23, 2008 02:10 PM
It's been a year man. Are you ever coming back?
Posted by: Jonathon at November 12, 2008 08:47 AM
*serves some cake*
Posted by: froogger at November 13, 2008 01:59 AM
its been almost 2 years. are you dead? :P
Posted by: Jeffy at June 5, 2009 02:58 PM
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