A Flash in the Night

When my Dad and his wife moved from Alexandria to Indiana a while back, they were planning on this being their last move.

They sold the townhouse, sold or gave away many of their earthly possessions, and then put everything else into a U-Haul van. She and my Dad drove the U-Haul out together a week before closing on the house in Virginia, signed the papers on the house in Indiana, moved their things into their new house, turned the van in, and flew back to Washington.

For that last week in the old house, they slept on an air mattress on the floor, while they cleaned and scrubbed the house to within an inch of its life before they turned it over to the new owners.

The day of paper signing came, and my step mother insisted that the plants needed to go with them. She had an extended container garden on her deck, and she wanted to take all of the containers- filled with all of their plants - with her.  Tomatoes, Zinnias, herbs, and geraniums.

So, Dad folded down the seats in the back of the jeep and put all of the plants, lock, stock, and barrel into the back of the car.  My step mother insisted that she was going to drive the Jeep, because she didn't trust him not to dump all of the plants somewhere along the way.

Dad took everything else and put it into the Buick, including the cat.  He put her cushion on the front seat next to him, the litter box on the floor in front of her, and the princess settled in for the journey to Indiana.

They left town fairly late in the afternoon, after the keys had been turned over to the new owners.

Dad was driving the Buick with the princess, and my step mother was driving the Jeep with her beloved plants.


Their plan - ridiculous as it seems in hindsight - was to drive straight through the night and avoid the traffic around the big cities - Columbus and Indianapolis - first thing in the morning.  Leaving DC a little after 2 in the afternoon, they planned on arriving at their new home at 2 in the morning.  Not really a big deal, right?

So, they headed out.

My dad has always had a lead foot, and he was soon out of sight.  He made the 12 hour trip in a little under 10 hours, stopping once for food, gas, and a bathroom.  (To this day, I can't understand HOW his bladder can go that long between stops.) 

My step mother was a little bit slower.  She stopped for coffee on the way out, and found a friend she hadn't seen in a long time while she was there.  After catching up, she left, but not early enough.
She got caught in traffic around Frederick.
She also stopped for coffee, food, and a break every couple of hours. 

Around midnight, she was still several hours out, and she decided that she was going to pull over for a while and take a nap.

She pulled off at one of the rest areas, leaned her seat all the way back, and started to doze off when suddenly - a bright light filled the car!

Startled, she opened her eyes, sat up and looked around, but she could see no one near her.

She laid her head back down and closed her eyes when  - FLASH - there it was again!  A bright yellow light, so bright that she could see it through her eyelids filled the car.  Once again, she sat up and looked around, but there were no other cars in the rest area, and nobody was in sight.

Muttering things not lawful, and more than a little freaked out, she put her head back down once again and had barely closed her eyes when -FLASH- there it was again!

This really was it.  She got up out of the car and walked around.  Nobody was in sight.  It was a beautiful country night.  The only lights were the lights around the restrooms themselves.  Not even the truckers had pulled in for the night.  They were still booking down the highway, trying to make time before they had to stop for the night.

As she walked back to her car, she saw it again - FLASH - and FLASH- again - and again!

Looking in the window of the car, she found the source of the bright flashing lights inside of the car.

Lightning bugs had made their home on the plants and in the containers she had so lovingly insisted be installed in the back of the jeep.  They were flying around inside of the car, doing their Flashdance routine now that the a/c was off and the heat of the night was coming in through the windows.

Now that she was fully awake, she couldn't help but laugh at herself and the terror that the bugs had caused her.

She popped herself back into her car and drove the rest of the way out with her very own dancing brigade of lightning bugs announcing her arrival in her new home!