Lightning Bugs

When I was a child in the USA in the 50s and 60s we used to catch "lightning bugs" every night from late Spring until early Fall. They were everywhere filling the skies with magic. Over the past few years I suddenly realized that you hardly ever see them any more. The other night a large group of neighbors joined us in our yard for a lovely Spring evening in Atlanta. As the night wore on, a few of them made the announcement that they were going to pay for us to get mosquito "protection" for the summer. I don't like being eaten by mosquitos, but I looked up and was stunned to see one lone lightning bug. I wondered what gassing areas in neighborhoods could possibly be doing to the bugs and to us! My friends said I'd change my mind when my 2-year-old grandson got a mosquito bite, but I think instead of his life without the wonder of seeing the sky filled with little living flickers of light.