I didn’t see very many lightning bugs this summer. Not that kids would go out and collect them these days. Kids don’t do many of the things like we did back in our youth.
My closest friend from my Indianapolis era had a mom from England. I became closer with her as my friendship with her son grew. She called me “Sheppie.”
My mom was a single working mother, so I was a latchkey kid. Which meant I spent most of the time at my buddy's house down the block.
“Sheppie? Will you be spending the night?
My buddy and I spent hours at the neighborhood pool. We played home run derby, ouija board and Strat-o-Matic over at his house. His mum always had a snack for us and a quick story.
My mom worked at the News station often on Sunday nights. That was great for me because I’d get a Sunday English dinner. My friend’s mom made a gorgeous roast with potatoes and Yorkshire pudding almost every Sunday night.
One evening she told us about her first night in America. My friend’s father was in the military stationed in England. That is how his parents met.
Her first night was at her in-laws home in Freeport Illinois. She was nervous as all eyes were upon her. She was bombarded with questions and felt pressured on her first night with her new family.
It was a warm summer evening and that didn’t help this poor English girl. The house was crowded, there wasn’t air conditioning and the dinner was very heavy. Not what she preferred for a humid evening.
Her new husband and mother-in-law were very close. They both had a great sense of humor and played well off of each other.
My friend’s mom came to a point where she needed to get some fresh air and get her bearings straight. So she ran out hastily to the front porch.
Her husband wasn’t far behind and his mom was right there as well.
My friend’s mom confided to her GI husband that she felt out of sort and missed England. She needed a glass of water because she was seeing flashes of light going off in the yard.
The husband and his mom figured it out that it was the lightning bugs, they don’t have lightning bugs back home in England. So the new American family kept my friend’s mom in the dark and didn’t explain to her why she was seeing flashes before her eyes.
This made it even more stressful for the misplaced English bride. Her husband sat next to her on the porch and her mother-in-law handed her a cold glass of water.
She continued to worry about the flashing small lights that she was seeing. Her new family pretended like it was just her seeing them.
She tried calming down, but the flashing wasn’t going away. Then she noticed that the moon wasn’t in the sky that night.
She turned to her husband and I can still hear her brilliant accent,
“Bob, the flashing light isn’t stopping and I can’t even see the moon!”
…without skipping a beat, her new mum said, “Bob? What is the moon?”
and Bob replied, “Well mom, the moon is something they have in England at night.”
Hearing that America has no moon and not knowing the flashes before her eyes, my friend’s mom wanted to go back home to England.
The two jokesters calmed her down and explained to her what lightning bugs were and that America has the moon as well.
She never moved back to England and Doreen Grilliot eventually became my English mum. She played a large part in getting me through during my exile in Indianapolis.
I’d do anything to sit at her cramped kitchen table with my buddy Bobby and have Sunday supper. Just to hear her stories and call me “Sheppie” with her lush accent.
“Supper is ready! Get off that bloody Quija bored before you populate my home with dead relatives!”
I didn’t expect to tell this story on the Morning Chalkboard, but I thought of it when I looked out on my block and saw very few lightning bugs. It’s the little things in life that bring back our fondest memories.
It is the first day of October. The Chicago Bears will probably end the day with defeat. The only thing that could make that any better for Bobby Grilliot and I would be his mum’s roast and her Yorkshire Pudding.
Happy Sunday Funday all you Chalkheads. It’s going to be a brilliant day to put the smile on the sun.
