Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable

His little feet make footprints in the beige carpet, as he trundles across the room. A single light-bulb hangs from the ceiling-fan by a chain. The fan swoops and cracks. The bulb flickers. It’s filament, a burning bronze ember, on the verge of blowing.

“Mummy!” “Daddy!” the boy cries out.

Elsewhere, another boy plods through squelching sod. Beneath a dark sky glittering with a million stars. Grass tickles his toes and a summer’s breeze caresses his skin. He quietens his breathing, listening to the croak of crickets and the rustling of rabbits in the long grass.

“Mummy!” “Daddy!” The boy wails. “Spider!”. Images of the gangly cranefly, laying siege in the corner of his bedroom, assault his mind. 

The boy in the grass grins. He has a marvelous secret to reveal to the night.
From his pocket, he draws out a glass object, round and dusty. It emits a cerebral glow. “Ooooh” he says, a smile unfolding like a parachute.

Mummy and Daddy sit on the couch, their unblinking eyes drinking in the glow of phosphorescence. “What is it?” they snap, without shifting their gaze.

The boy under the stars cradles his lantern carefully. He takes a seat on a log and waits…

“A spider” the boy whimpers. Dad groans as he heaves himself up from the couch.

From his seat on the log, the boy witnesses magic stirring. Ten, twenty, one hundred… hundreds! of dancing little lights rising from the grass. Fireflies!

“Where is it?” Dad snarls. “U-up there.” the boy says, directing a quivering finger towards the corner of occupation. In one swift movement from the large hand, the speck of consciousness that was the crane fly, is no more.

The footprints the boy has left in the mud are a great clue to Mum and Dad and the other members of the community. They find him hunched over his lantern, eyes sparkling, fixated on the luminous light-show before him. 

Joyous delight fills the air. They gather around him. Hugging, laughing, kissing, gasping.

Basking.
In the love for themselves.
In the love of one another.
In the love of nature.
Basking in boundless love. 

In the dark, spiderless room, the boy tucks himself into bed. Lying awake, he listens to the sound of Mum and Dad fighting, the honking of horns, the drunk people shouting in the street. He closes his eyes… and dreams.
Of fireflies.