Chasing Fireflies

There’s just something about the first day of summer that makes it indescribable, but I guess I’ll try to explain it. Mine started on Saturday June 7th, 2008, a hot and muggy day of over 95 that made me groan in realization that the summer would be a scorching hot one. I woke up at 6:30, like I had for every day of school. My sleeping pattern took a while to get used to, therefore I got up at the same time every day, including the weekends.

My brain immediately went into school-mode, despite the obvious fact that I had taken my finals and was absolutely and completely done with high school. I had graduated the day prior, and you would think that my mind would retain that fact, but like I said before, my sleeping pattern is pretty whack.

So I got up and got dressed, I even brushed my hair, before walking out to the kitchen to eat breakfast. My father was sitting on one of the bar stools we used as chairs (hey, it isn’t our fault that the last owner’s put a concrete bar in the kitchen) and sipping his usual cup of hazelnut coffee out of his ‘I love my Daddy’ cup that I gifted him for Christmas many years back.

“Laurel,” he said when he noticed me. “Why are you up so early?”

I shrugged. “Don’t I get up this early every day?” I grabbed the Lucky Charms out of the pantry and then a bowl from the cabinet above the stove.

“Well, yes, honey, but I just figured that you’d sleep in on your first day of summer break.”

I stared at my dad, realization flooding through me. “Oh, uh, yeah. Of course. I guess I wanted to get a head start on summer.” I shook my head in disbelief of how stupid I could be, and apparently my dad caught my gesture.

“It’s fine, Laurel. You can go back to bed if you want to.”

I shook my head, pouring the cereal into the bowl. “It’s no use now, honestly. I’m already up and awake.” I yawned. “Besides, I’m kind of craving these Lucky Charms.” I popped the cereal box closed and returned to the pantry.

My father smirked. “You and your Lucky Charms.”

I laughed, then grabbed the milk out of the fridge before pouring some into my bowl. After grabbing a spoon, I sat down at the bar stool next to my father’s and began eating. “So what are you going to do today?” my father asked.

I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it. I’ll probably just hang out with the guys all summer, like I always do.”

My father took a sip of his coffee. “You should think about doing something exciting. Maybe you should go hiking or camping or something.”

“We could, I guess. It’s just that with the band and everything, they’re pretty busy.”

“So make time,” my father countered. “Ask them to take a few days off from practicing. It’s always great to just get away from everything for awhile. Look, Laurel. You just graduated and I… I don’t want you spending your summer before college doing the exact same thing that you always do. I want you to go out there, experience life, have some fun, because if there’s any time in your life to do just that, it’s now.”

I scooped up a bite with a lot of marshmallows and chewed and swallowed before replying. I wasn’t trying to avoid the subject, I just wanted to think about my answer for an extra minute. “I think you’re right, dad. I don’t want this summer to be like every other one I’ve ever had.” I got down from the stool and rinsed my bowl out. Turning around to face my father, I said, “I’m going to call Pat and see if he wants to come over, okay?”

“That’s fine with me, but it’s still before seven o’clock.” He pointed to the grandfather clock behind him in the living room. “You don’t want to wake him, do you?”

“Don’t worry, dad. Pat gets up pretty early. It’s Garrett that sleeps in as late as he can.”

My father smiled. “Alright, go ahead. Just be quiet once he gets here. I don’t want your mother to wake up.”

“Is she still not feeling well?” I asked.

My father shook his head. “Yeah. I really hope she gets over this cold soon.”

I nodded and walked back to my room. Deciding against calling Pat (his parents were cranky if you woke them up), I texted him a Want to come over? (: and set my cell phone down on my bed. I finished getting ready in my bathroom, then checked to see if Pat had texted me back. He had. Sure. Be there in ten.

I unlocked the front door and opened it, just so Pat wouldn’t ring the doorbell when he arrived. I sat with my dad, who had finished his morning coffee, and watched the morning news until I heard footsteps at the front door. I got up and smiled as Pat slipped off his shoes and came over and hugged me. “Hey!” he said. “What’s up?”

“Not much. I’m just super bored. Want to hear something funny?” I motioned for him to follow me to my bedroom, knowing that my dad would want to have some quiet time while he watched the news.

Once we got into my room, Pat sat in my desk chair and continued our conversation. “What?”

I laid down on my stomach at the end of my bed and looked up at him. “I woke up at 6:30 and got ready for school.”

Pat laughed. “You’re crazy, Laurel. Let me guess, you ate Lucky Charms?” I didn’t say anything. “God, you’re so predictable,” Pat said.

I playfully punched him. “Shut up.”

I sat up and Pat sat down next to me on my bed, picking at the flyaway threads of my comforter. “Tell me again why you have a comforter on your bed in the summer?” he asked.

I looked at Pat. “Because, Patrick, I get cold.” I shifted on the bed, laying my head on one of my pillows and laying straight.

Suddenly, Pat groaned and declared, “This is so stupid.”

I laughed. “What is?”

Pat propped himself up on his elbows. “This whole summer. We just graduated and what do we have to show for it? A summer filled with going swimming and… well that’s about it.” He laid his head back down on the pillow. “This summer is going to be like every other summer and you know it.”

“What if it isn’t, though…”

“What do you mean?” Pat asked, sitting up again. His weight caused the bed springs to groan and we shared a laugh.

“What I mean is… what if we do something this summer? Something, I don’t know, crazy. This summer can be anything we want it to be if we have the determination to make it happen. We could go skydiving, or rock climbing, or even scuba diving.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“My dad and I had this talk this morning. He suggested that we go camping or hiking or something along those lines. He said that he doesn’t want my summer to be like all the rest. And he’s right. It’s our last summer before college and you said it yourself: all we’re doing this summer is swimming. Swimming, Pat. That’s seriously the only thing we have to look forward to this summer? That’s crazy.”

Pat’s eyes widened. “What?” I asked, laughing.

Pat shot up out of bed and ran down the stairs. A moment later he barged back through the door and placed a book next to me. When I didn’t do anything he motioned to the book and smiled. “Read it, Laurel. This is the key to our summer.”

I rolled my eyes. “Where did you even get this?”

“I saw this in your basement the other day. We went down there to get some Fruit Roll-Ups, remember?” I nodded. “Anyway, it caught my interest and it seems like this could help us figure out stuff to do this summer.”

“There’s no way a book can be the ‘key’ to our summer,” I announced, disbelief laced in my voice.

But Pat just rolled his eyes back at me, picked up the book, and said, “This book… is genius. Laurel, just look at the title: Boredom for Bored People. It’s crazy and outrageous but it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Sure, whatever.” I grabbed the book from him. “Now what’s this book all about?” I opened it to the first page and read aloud, “Dear Reader, if you are reading this you must be very bored.” I scoffed. “This book can literally read minds, wow!” Pat smirked at me. “Anyway, going on: I, as a book, can’t really do much to help you, because, duh, I’m a book. This is so stupid,” I announced.

“Just keep going.” Pat sighed, pointing to where I left off.

“That being said, my writers certainly can help you. This book has been carefully designed for people just like you; people who are bored out of their minds and just need something to do. Wherever you are, this book has something for you to do, whether it’s buying a smoothie at the mall or playing checkers for the first time in years (because let’s face it, sometimes you’re just that bored). Please take advantage of this gem you hold in your hands; it could really become handy in times of severe boredom. Like right now, right? May I remind you that you’re still reading this and not finding things to do? So go on already! Read away! Just promise me you won’t tear any of my pages out, because that would hurt, you know? And my writers wouldn’t like that…just saying. Sincerely, Boredom for Bored People.”

Pat smiled at me. “So… what do you think?”

I glanced down at the book again before replying. “It’s a persuasive beginning, that I can say. I say we try it.” Pat joined me on the bed. “Alright, so we’re at home and,” I flipped to the table of contents, “there is a chapter called “Chapter 4: Boredom at Home”. How wonderful, right?”

I was about to flip to Chapter 4, but Pat stopped me. “Wait. What’s that?” He pointed to the bottom of the page.

“Wheel of Boredom,” I read aloud. “Sounds interesting. Page 377.” I turned to page 377 and looked at the page. There was a wheel of things to do and a little turner on the side of the page. “Do you want to spin it?” I asked Pat.

Pat shook his head. “Nah. You go ahead.”

“And we’re definitely going to do what it says?” I asked, turning towards him, waiting for his answer.

“Oh yeah,” Pat replied. “We’re going to do it.”

“Alright, let’s just hope we don’t get something too crazy.” I flicked the turner with my index finger and watched the spinner spin through all the choices before landing on a small gray box. “It says, ‘go on a road trip’.”

Pat raised his eyebrows. “A road trip, eh?”

“I guess. But I don’t think we could do it. I mean, how long would we be gone? A few days at most, right? And where would we go?”

“It depends, I guess. We‘d definitely have to plan it around the band’s schedule, but I think it could be done.”

Before I could respond, Pat’s cell phone went off. “Hold on,” he told me, picking up his Blackberry and pressing the call button. “Hello?” he spoke into the phone. “Oh hey John! … Really?! … And we’re all going? … Okay, great! I’ll tell Laurel. … Alright, man. … Yeah, okay, bye.”

I looked up at Pat questioningly. “What did John want?”

“Well,” Pat replied, smirking, “I believe we just found ourselves some road trip buddies.”