The Moth and the Lamp
There are some creatures that spend their entire lives searching for light without ever understanding what it is. The girl thought about that as she sat on the porch after supper, listening to the chorus of tree frogs rise from the creek. The porch lamp had just come on when a small brown moth appeared from the darkness. It circled once, twice, then flew straight into the warm glass globe. She heard the soft tapping of frantic wings, a sound so faint it could have been mistaken for rain beginning far away. The moth had found what it believed it had been looking for, only to discover there was no way back out. She climbed onto an old wooden chair, unscrewed the warm globe, and held it carefully in both hands. The moth did not leave. It fluttered against the invisible walls of its own fear, convinced that every opening was another prison. The girl tilted the globe toward the night and waited. Finally, after several quiet moments, the moth drifted into the darkness without ceremony, disap...