My friend Karen, who is 10 years old, told me this story for inclusion into Children Fiction Books. Karen thought this short story would fit right into Children Fiction Books. Karen went on a one night boat cruise on a lake. It was to look at fireflies … and anything else worth looking at.

Karen’s family bought tickets to ride in an open air boat cruise. The pilot would drive the vessel into the remote circumference of the lake and look for fireflies. Karen and her family boarded the boat at around 7:30 pm. It was quite dark on that autumn night. The conditions were right to view at fireflies.

The pilot of the boat steered the vessel effortlessly. He looked around alertly, as if expecting something to happen. Karen said it was not very re-assuring after he did it repeatedly. The pilot was alert, as if expecting another boat to creep up silently behind him. The motor of his boat was quite loud and drowned out other sounds.

The tour guide for the boat cruise had earlier given a prep talk. Mr Tinsel said the lake was deep and warned against any hanky panky that would endanger the safety of the passengers. It was mandatory for all passengers to don life jackets. The boat was open air, with an open deck so it was easy for any passenger to fall overboard.

The fire flies looked like twinkling Christmas lights on a tree. When a fire fly flew by, the viewers could see the blue light twinkling in the dark. There were several species of fire flies in various sizes but usually the common variety was of the smaller species.

The fire flies sometimes flew across the lake from one end to another. Mr Tinsel had informed the tour that only female fireflies flew about. The male fire flies never or seldom flew.

How to catch a fire fly?
Mr Tinsel said to cup one’s hand and follow the flight path of the fire fly. The catcher had to sweep from the tail end of its flight, following behind the fly, and moving towards it from behind. The firefly is not able to see the hand from behind it so the catcher may succeed this way. It is like sneaking up on it.

Karen saw quite a few fire flies in flight across the lake. Several passengers swatted at them, trying to catch them. It was not as easy as it looked. None succeeded at catching a fire fly. This was especially difficult since only the bare hands were used. It might have been easer with a long net specially designed to catch insects.

A fire fly has a short life span of about 2 months. It does not live well in captivity. It requires a clean, chemical free environment to live in. Deforestation, pesticides and global warming have slowly reduced the populations of fireflies living at the shores of the lake.

A net used to catch insects.

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