Proof The Bible Is True

Heading to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in June had become an annual tradition for a group of camping friends and me. That’s the only time the species of firefly Photinus carolinus, the only known synchronous fireflies in the western hemisphere, puts on a not-to-be-missed show.

 

The darker the night, the more spectacular the experience. On this particular evening, we were in luck. The new moon was just a pale sliver in the eastern sky as my friends and I crossed the footbridge that leads across Jake’s Creek from Elkmont campground.

 

 

We made our way up a steep, narrow road to distance ourselves from the gathering crowd. Because flashlights are discouraged and must have the lens wrapped in red cellophane, only a couple of us carried one.

 

When we found a spot we liked, we spread quilts on the rocky ground and spoke in hushed tones as the sky turned from gray to dark blue to black. As total darkness finally descended, the synchronous fireflies began their magic. Dozens at first. Then hundreds. Then thousands. Maybe even millions, if it were possible to count them all. They didn’t blink on and off in metronome-like fashion. Instead, a great cluster of fireflies twinkled like tiny white Christmas lights and then went completely dark.

 

Six seconds later, the twinkling began again. Then darkness.

 

All up and down the mountain, as far as the eye could see, great waves of twinkling and then darkness swept past us.

 

I lay back on my quilt and watched in awe. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but that’s exactly what happened. And my friends didn’t mean to go off and leave me, but that happened too.

 

When the firefly show was over after a couple of hours, they folded up their quilts in the quiet darkness and headed back to the campground.

 

No one thought to call the roll to make sure everyone was present. We were, after all, grown-ups who knew it was important to stay together in the wilderness. When I realized I was alone in pitch-black darkness, my heart began to race.

 

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