We looked across the pool to the
second floor condo and saw little
lights flickering in a jar and we

wondered if the owner of the
condo had caught lightning bugs
and put them in a mason jar,

but it was winter in Arizona
and we had never seen lightning
bugs there at that time of year

and we aren’t there in the summer
so we don’t know if lightning bugs
are around then or not. So we asked

the owner of the condo about the
lightning bugs and she said she bought
the jar at a local store and that it

is battery operated and solar-powered.
So, we bought two jars, brought them
home to Michigan and hung them on the

balcony railing which faces south to
get the maximum sun and every night
we watch the flickering in the mason

jars and are carried back to our youth
when we ran around the neighborhood
catching lightning bugs and putting

them in mason jars with holes punched
in the lids so the lightning bugs could
breathe and our mothers would say to

let the bugs go because they would
die if left in the jar even with the
holes our fathers punched in the lid

for air and we don’t have to run
around the neighborhood doing that
now, in part, because the neighbors

already are suspicious and, in part,
because doing that takes a lot of
energy, as we recall.