Billy followed the small cloud of fireflies as they slowly drifted and curled through the deep night shadows of the park. Darkness transformed the park in ways that were surprising. The swings, which were usually full and busy, now swayed at a sluggish and ghostly pace in the steady evening wind. The long, low limbs of the oak trees, which during the day were so enticing to climb, lurched to and fro like giant fingers stiffly reaching for anything that came close. Places where Billy had played with Ollie and his pals seemed no longer welcoming and friendly, but rather mysterious, gloomy, and even a little frightening.
Billy tried to pretend that Hannah of the Runny Nose was with him, and Perry of the Sticks and even Muddy Butch, but in his pretending, they appeared as ghost versions of themselves, all pale and dim with eyes gleaming and eerie smiles.
“Yikes!” he whispered, quickly closing his eyes and shaking his head to make the pretend go away. He’d forgotten that sometimes pretending did what it wanted, especially when he was scared. It was like pretending decided to play a trick on him and made him see things he really did not want to see. Especially at night. In the dark.
Closets, the dark under beds, and shadowy places made pretending a “tricky customer.” Usually, Billy sort of liked that about pretending. It made it more like real life ’cause real life almost never did what you wanted. But Billy only liked it if Ollie was with him when the pretending got nutty. Being afraid with somebody, especially Ollie, made afraidness a lot less fearsome.
But the fireflies helped Billy feel better. And so he kept following them. They were real-life things that seemed made up and magic. Like rainbows and glowworms and hummingbirds and magnets. Fireflies were so cool that you almost couldn’t believe they were real, and they made Billy wonder what else there was in the world that seemed too good to be true.
So he kept following them deeper into the park, much farther than Billy had ever gone before, to a part of the park that seemed wild and overgrown. From this point on, Billy wasn’t sure if he knew the way home. So he decided to leave a trail he could follow. A trail of action figures from his backpack. The first one he pulled out was one of his oldest, Grongo the Twig Man of Planet Zoxxo. Billy had had Grongo for so long he couldn’t remember not having him. He placed the little action figure on top of a fair-sized rock that was at the place where Billy decided the park ended and the unknown rest of the world began. “Stay steady, Grongo,” he said. “I’m counting on you.”
As Billy walked away, he was sure that he was being followed by monsters. But he held his light saber tight and wouldn’t look back. And then the battery in the light saber died. Then the wind began to blow even harder, and the fireflies were being pushed all around, breaking up and spreading out in a way that made it difficult for Billy to know which way to go or which ones to follow. Then it started to thunder. Just a rumble or two at first, but soon louder and closer. This was “bad news” and “bummer” and “in trouble” all put together.
By the time the rain started and the first flash of lightning lit the sky, Billy felt like he had lost just about all his brave. Some fireflies scattered under the trees. But most of them had taken shelter under a strange-looking structure. It was a huge smiling boy with a pointy hat! And for a few seconds, Billy was sure his make-believe had gone completely nutty. A GIANT SITTING BOY?! Then he remembered—this boy was made of wood and plaster. This boy was the entrance to the old carnival. The place the other kids called the Dark Carnival. The giant boy looked pretty creepy, but the rain fell harder and the lightning and thunder were close. So Billy huddled under the boy as the storm raged all around. He felt so lost. As lost as a little boy could feel. But he was not alone. The fireflies rested there with him. Several crawled around onto his hand as he shivered, lighting up for just an instant and then going dim and lighting up again. But it was hard not to see monsters and ghosts and skeletons. So Billy thought only of home and his parents and his best friend, Ollie.