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A CIRCLE OF FIREFLIES

Today is my first overnight camping trip, just grandpa and me, Brendan.

"Will you be afraid?" he asked.

"No," I told him. "Grandpa, I'm almost eight years old." He gave me an awesome high-five. For an old guy, he's kind of cool. My mom and dad didn't want to come. I wish they would have.

"They still need time to work things out," Grandpa said.

"I hope soon," I heard him whisper. It's almost a whole month now since I went to live with my grandpa.

"Do you think we'll ever live together again?" I asked.

Grandpa took a long time to answer. "Yes," he said. He couldn't look at me. I think he was angry with his son who used to hit me a lot, and my mom, too.

I looked up at the moon. It wasn't smiling. I think it was sad like me. "Stop worrying so much, Brendan," grandpa said. "You're just a little boy."

"But I can't stop thinking about them," I said back. "I want us to be happy again, like before."

"Come here," grandpa said. "I want to tell you something." When my dad called me, I ran very quickly. If I came too slowly, he would slap me. Not my grandpa though. He loves me too much.

"You might hear a lot of noises in the woods tonight," grandpa said. "This is where animals live. Night is when they walk around. Like when you and I go hiking, except we do it in the daytime."

I looked up at him. He had a cap on, the one I got him for Christmas last year and his heavy bush jacket. "I'm not afraid when I'm with you, grandpa," I said. Then it was time to set up our dome tent. I helped push bamboo poles through the right places.

"Please don't stand on the tent walls. If you get a hole in the side, rain will come in," grandpa said. After it was finished, the dome tent was higher than me.

"Grandpa. Are we going to make a fire now?"

"Don't you think it's kind of late? You must be tired. Besides, we can make a fire for breakfast."

"No. I want to see the fireflies. Tonight, okay?"

"I don't think they're around this time of year."

Sometimes I have to be patient with grandpa, like right now. "Let's have a fire. Please."

"Alright, a small one. For a short while anyway," grandpa said. The older man looked fondly at his grandson; such a little guy with a packsack full of concerns.

"Thank you grandpa," I said back.

"First, we put our sleeping bags in the tent. Then a blanket for each of us to keep warm, right?" grandpa asked.

"Yes grandpa," I said. I even brought my daddy's old 'Star Wars' pillow. Grandpa had a really huge pillow.

"Are you warm enough, Brendan? I could get you a sweater

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