Curious Little Milo

Milo was a curious little boy.  He was always getting into mischief.  If he smelled freshly baked chocolate chip dream cookies, his nose would lead him around the house until it found the source.  Then, when his big sister Kylo wasn't looking, Milo's nose would lead his hand up, up, into the jar, where it would snatch a cookie or two and carefully bring them back down and into his mouth.  Both at the same time!  He was sneaky like that.

If his ears heard some strange sort of scratches, Milo would tilt his head and shuffle his way out of the house and into the yard.  His feet would scurry this way and that, with his ear twitching and itching itself towards the source.  When it finally settled on the fence, Milo would peer through the slots in the boards to see Mr. Humphrey sawing on some boards.  Mr. Humphrey loved fixing things.  He fixed his shed, then when he accidentally burned it down in an unfortunate barbecue accident, he built it back up again.  On those hot days, Mr. Humphrey loved drinking lemonade.  The good thing for Milo was that he also loved Lemonade.  When Mr. H wasn't looking, Milo would slither over the fence like a sneaky snake, and sneak a couple of quick sips from his cup.

While watching tv with his dad, Milo loved feeling the cushiness of the fluffy pillows piled high on the couch.  His fingers would investigate the corduroy grooves, and would scratch at them until it sounded like fingers strumming on an old, beat up banjo.  Zuppy, zup, zup.  Zuppy, zup, zup.

So, you see, Milo was quite keen on being aware of what was going on around him.  This came in handy one deep, dark, night.

One deep, dark, night, while Milo was sleeping in his bed, a splash of light began to shine across the wall in his room.  Now, an ordinary boy his age would have just kept on sleeping, but Milo had the sense that something was going on and his eyes flicked open.  To his amazement, just above his head, some little lightning bugs were dancing a jig.

"Hey, what are you bugs doing in here?"

"Excuse us, sir, but we were under the impression that you were fast, fast asleep.  We did not mean to wake you."

"Mmm, that's okay.  But why are you in here and not outside?"

"Oh, it is because your wall is the perfect wall for jig dancing."

Milo squinted as he looked up to the wall.  He didn't realize it until now, but the wall was definitely the perfect light dancing wall.  It was big and white and... and, well that was all.  No posters, no pictures, no shelves or switches.  Just a big, blank wall.

"We love your wall because it is so clean.  So pure.  It allows us to dance and sway our lights all through the room.  Let us show you what we mean."

Milo sat up as the bugs moved into their starting positions.  There were 6 of them, and they all fluttered their way into the centre of the room.  They held hands, but Milo could barely see this as their lights all slowly dimmed down until there was hardly any light at all.  Milo was just about to point this out to them when suddenly BANG!  Their lights boomed on all as one, casting a circular beam across the room and onto the wall.  Their formation tilted and turned as the circular light turned and transformed into different shapes and sizes.

Milo was amazed.  The light seemed to be alive.  One moment it looked like an ordinary circle, the next it resembled a pizza with a piece being taken out of it.  Suddenly it was a T-Rex on the wall, clawing towards Milo, who jumped back under the covers of his bed.  The bugs saw this and they immediately turned the T-Rex into a puppy dog.  With Milo still cowering under the covers, the bugs began to bark and pant.

Milo peaked out and then, when he saw the light puppy, he laughed and laughed.  The puppy leaned on the wall towards Milo and tried to nip at his ear.  Milo giggled, as even though the light could obviously not touch his ear, just the thought of it made it tickle.

Finally, the bugs formed a circle again.  They twisted, up, up, up until they hovered just beneath the ceiling, then bam!  They all scattered and faded away.  It was so dark now that Milo wasn't sure if they were still in his room.

"Um, you bugs still here?"

"Yes, sir!" a voice rose from the dark.

"Do you guys think you could do that again? Or maybe you could show me another jig?"

"Oh, I don't think so."  Said the lead bug.  "We must get going soon."

"Oh, please... just maybe one tiny little bit of another dance?"

"Well, okay.  But only if you tell us your name."

Milo knew he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but he also knew that he probably wasn't supposed to talk to Lightning bugs either, so he figured it would be okay.

"I'm Milo."

Suddenly, the bugs all lit up and formed a giant glowing hand.  It reached out to shake Milo's.

"Nice to meet ya', Milo.  My name is Ziggy.  These are my companions Miggy, Tiggy, Swiggy, Sliggy and Greg."

Milo reached up for the hand, and to his surprise he could feel the warmth of it, as if it was a real hand that belonged to someone really big, like his Dad or a giant or maybe God or something.  He gently pressed his fingers against the warmth and it felt like a nice, toasty mitten.  Not sweaty or slimy like a clam or anything.  Just a nice, warm, handshake.  Like Milo was some sort of grown up making business deals with lawyers or something.

"Ok, Milo.  we could do another dance for you, or we could sing you a song."

"Both!  Both!" cheered Milo, wheeling and dealing at his best.

"Okay, okay." conceded Ziggy.

The bugs all came to the centre of the room again.  The lights went out.  Then Milo heard a small hum.  Normal humans probably wouldn't be able to hear it, but Milo was no ordinary human.  Remember, he had sneaky ears.

The hum slowly built into a nice, dum, de-dum beat.  The lights began to glow, this time in the form of a star.  The bugs were probably screaming their words, but since they were so small, they just sounded nice and soft.  Like a lullaby.

"We sing and dance, we dance and we sing.
we glow in the dark, and the light that we bring.
Is a light that shines on down, shines on down to you.
And when our light finally dies, some sleeping you must do.
Oh.... some sleeping you must dooooooooo.  Boop, boop, be-do."

They sang it one more time....

"We sing and dance, we dance and we sing.
we glow in the dark, and the light that we bring.
Is a light that shines on down, shines on down to you.
And when our light finally dies, some sleeping you must do.
Oh.... some sleeping you must dooooooooo."

And just as Ziggy was going to lead the group into the 2nd verse about monsters and aliens, Miggy hushed them down.

For down on the bed, all cuddled up tight in his blankets, was little Milo.  All of his curious and sneaky little senses were all tuckered out.  Milo was fast asleep.