Glow-worms

The temple was surrounded by an unkempt garden; there were shrubs growing everywhere without restraint; monkeys that loved to jump and play; chirpy birds and any number of creepy worms and beautiful butterflies.

Mother insisted that, on the eve of school examination, I had to visit the temple and seek Lord’s blessings. Every prayer had to end with three circumambulations of the temple.

It was already dark; and I was scared. But still I had to go. I prayed and began to circumambulate the temple with some trepidation.

Backside of temple was poorly lit and every shrub appeared like a sleeping monster. Suddenly power went off.  Darkness enveloped me; in an instant every monster in the garden awoke from its slumber.

Scared, I just stood rooted to the ground.

And then, to my astonishment, I saw little stars twinkling everywhere. It was amazing and unbelievable. Some twinkling stars were flitting around me; a couple of stars landed softly on my arm.

Carefully, I pocketed two twinkling stars.

“Why did you catch glow-worms? Release them,” mother admonished me, pointing at my shirt pocket.

“These are stars from the Milky Way.”

But mother was right; I had two glow-worms in my pocket.

I released the glow-worms and still felt elated.

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A post for A to Z April (2015) Challenge

G for Glow-worms

You may like to read my earlier posts

D for Daring Deeds

E for Entrance

F for Freezer